Digvijay’s darkness

It's sowing season, and parts of Madhya Pradesh are angry because they don’t have the eight-hour power supply promised by the governmen...

It’s sowing season, and parts of Madhya Pradesh are angry because they don’t have the eight-hour power supply promised by the government. Chief Minister Digvijay Singh realised this the evening he visited Savrok, the closest thing he has to an ancestral village, after filing his nomination papers.

Savrok and at least 20 neighbouring villages have not sown crops because they have been without electricity for two-and-a-half months. ‘‘A few days back we installed a new transformer but it blew up because of excess load. In this area, the land stands barren. For three years, there was power but no water. This year there is water but no power,’’ said Virendra Singh, a relative of the CM.

Digvijay and brother Laxman Singh have realised that resentment is brewing in the state, and particularly in Guna district, their hometurf. Digvijay is contesting the Assembly elections from Raghogarh and Laxman is the MP from Rajgarh district.

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‘‘BJP workers drink and then set out on motorcycles to burn transformers. They stop repairs by holding up the threat of the EC,’’ said Laxman Singh while speaking at Chachod Assembly constituency near Raghogarh.

‘‘Chhotte sahib ne theek kaha, transformers bahut jal rahe hain. Hum sab jante hain taar kaun kaat raha hai, pakadvana padega (He is right, transformers are being burnt. We all know who is doing this, and will get them caught),’’ the CM said.

Family ties could help Digvijay at Savrok (Virendra’s aunt is the sarpanch) but the other villages nearby are not so forgiving. ‘‘Our fields are lying fallow. The thakurs of Savrok can afford the diesel to irrigate a part of their fields but we can’t,’’ said Chandra Bhan, a farmer in Araskhera.

It is a sentiment that farmers in almost every nearby village repeat. Near Vijaypur, Raghogarh constituency, Chandan Lal of Badarpur village is filling up a huge container with diesel. ‘‘We get power for barely two hours, and diesel is expensive. It will translate into votes for Shivraj Chauhan (BJP candidate against Digvijay),’’ said Chandan Lal.

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Another 40 km away, farmers at Digvijay’s own rally in Chachod say the same. ‘‘We get power for less than four hours. We haven’t begun sowing but soon we will need more power to ensure we can plant wheat,’’ said Jai Mandal of Gherai village. Further away in Tilhan and in villages near Biora—all in Rajgarh — farmers spend nights at their wells to make use of the three to four hours of electricity they get daily.

Their resentment is worrying Congressmen. Former Union Minister Kamalnath has been quoted from Chhindwara as saying that the Centre is responsible for the power crisis in MP. Whatever the truth of such charges, if the power crisis continues it may make this a single-agenda in the state.

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