A vote for the BJP8217;s stand on conversions

Those couldn8217;t be the reasons for his win,. however. Ask Vasava and he says: 8220;I am known in my area only. But my party is known throughout the country and so are its good activities and intentions. The voters have stood by the BJP8217;s initiative to check conversions by Christian fora and criminal activities which were earlier rampant in Bharuch.8221;

Vasava, the 42-year-old farmer8217;s son from Rajgam, is perhaps only tribal leader in Gujarat with a masters degree in social work to his credit. So how did the notion of joining politics come about? Vasava points to an incident while he was at Gujarat Vidyapeeth in 1982 which changed his life.

8220;I once requested our Chancellor, Morarji Desai, to provide a ceiling fan for a group of tribal students. He began sermonising on the virtues of austerity, but I interrupted and told him that, being used to airconditioned chambers and vehicles, he did not have the right to say this,8221; he recalled. 8220;That event made me a sort of representatives of poor students then. Later, I became a wholetime BJP worker and got involved in some welfare activities in the Dediapada area8221;, he added.

A one-term MLA, Vasava says he knows the cause of the problems of the havenots. 8220;There are no roads, no water, no electricity, no good schools, no medical facilities in remote areas. People know little about progress8221;.

His first task, he says, will be to ensure 8212; with the help of party workers 8212; regular visits to each and every part of the constituency. 8220;Then there are small patches of roads, minor repairs to water sources, schools and dispensary buildings. If I request everybody to contribute to the improvements, I think it should work8221;.

What irks Vasava is the fact that tribals are not politically united; the Janata Dal, Congress and BJP always had different tribal leaders.