After 8 yrs, Congress will be back

JAIPUR, NOV 22: In market squares across the state, declaring feelings is a popular duty. And the people know their duties. The squares are ...

JAIPUR, NOV 22: In market squares across the state, declaring feelings is a popular duty. And the people know their duties. The squares are full, crowded and even crushed at times. But the people are patient. They know. They have decided. They wait.

8220;This is the bulb that lights up my existence,8221; points Girdhari Singh inside a ramshackle four-room tenement in Kishan Garh, a town booming with marble trade in Ajmer. There are three others like him. All earn Rs 50 a day weaving cloth on powerlooms. Their monthly power bill: An impossible Rs 450. On November 25, they shall vote for the Congress. In the company of millions, heralding a Congress government after eight years in the desert State, they say.

Fifty kilometres away stands Kishanlal Berwa in the darkness enveloping Pushkar. He helps build houses. 8220;Last time, Bhairon Singh nobody calls him Shekhawat promised a lot of things. I haven8217;t seen him since.8221; In the last five years, Berwa, a Dalit, has helped build more than 50 structures. But none ofhis dreams. None for himself or his family. He will vote for the Congress.

Girdhari is a Rajput and Berwa a Dalit. But it8217;s making no difference. For varying reasons, communities are coming together in defiant unity and that is bad news for the BJP.

In the 160-km stretch linking Jaipur to Pushkar, in the centre of the State, lies the silent, nameless, faceless truth dawning on Shekhawat8217;s BJP. Busy trying to rewrite history in text books, the BJP neglected silence. Silence which signified unhappiness, something bad. Silence which hid something. In neglecting this silence, the BJP revealed the absence of the infallible intuition which helped it unseat the Congress and grow here.

This silence has spread by now. People know it8217;s pay-back time. 8220;Shekhawat did as he pleased. For five years he cared for none but his community, the Rajputs,8221; rails Basti Ram Chaudhary, a driver. He plans to cut his work short, rush to native Jhunjhunu and vote for the Congress on the 25th. Basti Ram will do what Sis Ram Ola,once a minister in the Gowda, Gujral regimes, will say. This time it8217;s vote for the 8220;Hand8221;. Curiously, it isn8217;t onions or potatoes which are the uniform complaint. Hike in bus fares, power tariff for farmers, rising tea prices, felt especially in the numerous tea addas, salt, corruption, lack of development and Bhairon Singh8217;s foreign visit for personal medical care. All are forming a deadly mix. Basically, people are angry. And when that is the case, any reason will do.

Leaving Bhairon Singh with only one ruse: a divided Congress which he hammers home in every rally. Twenty miles out of Jaipur is the Prem Sagar dhaba. It serves the usual dal, sabzi and roti. But there8217;s a Thomson colour TV for company. In the 20 minutes we spend eating, Raju, the owner, shifts from Doordarshan to Sony TV finally settling for MTV. 8220;The word is that Congress is winning. I have to go along with what people say,8221; he offers.Despite relative affluence, the BJP isn8217;t gaining any votes from this dhaba either.

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In reality, theBJP isn8217;t seeing much further than its nose here. The modestly dressed people who line up the State are hardly an advertisement for staying in power. At places, the desperation shows. BJP posters have sidelined its own 8220;Lotus8221; symbol for the atom. Pokharan II is the hope. Some are still with the BJP. Like Prakash Khandelwal, a trader in Jaipur. 8220;You think you can create electricity in your home. What can the BJP do if there is a crisis?8221; he fumes. The BJP has allowed him to grab footpath space.A few years from now, it will be part of his home. A favour returned for regular donations.

Or take Babu Lal Sharma who doubles up as a temple priest. 8220;We will stick by the BJP, come what may.8221; A pause later he adds: 8220;But the buzz is for the Congress.8221; For a priest, Sharma is remarkably lucid.The BJP is realising this too.