This is a constituency in which the campaign for the Lok Sabha election has no bearing on the Lok Sabha election. It is a constituency in which,for all practical purposes,two castes,not political parties,are squaring off. And it is a constituency in which one of the two top candidates is not just an outsider in the area,he isnt even from the state. Welcome to Dausa,where one of the most extraordinary campaign stories of this election is unfolding. This epicentre of the Gurjjar reservation agitation used to be Sachin Pilots seat till delimitation made it a reserved constituency. Reservation is the biggest poll issue. Several Gurjjars died fighting for it in the bloody protests of 2007 and 2008. And their determination to obtain Scheduled Tribe (ST) status is matched only by the rival Meena communitys determination to not allow them to get it. Two independents,a Gurjjar and a Meena,are the two biggest candidates in Dausa. Their campaign discourse is dominated not by Lok Sabha,2009,but by parliaments next scheduled review of reservation,2010. The BJP and Congress candidates are side-shows. The Gurjjar candidate is Qammar Rabbani Chechi. He is a Gurjjar from Jammu and Kashmir. He was brought in to fight for the cause of Gurjjar reservation because his Rajasthani castemen,who are in the general category,could not contest a reserved seat. Chechi qualified because in J&K,Gurjjars are ST. By coming to contest in Rajasthan,he also underscored a fact that had been apparent during the agitations that Gurjjar caste loyalties can overshadow state boundaries. Chechis opponent is the veteran Meena leader Dr Kirori Lal Meena. He stood as an Independent after the Congress denied him the ticket. He has been promising he will not allow Gurjjars to share the Meenas share of the reservation pie. Chechi,who was an active participant in both Gurjjar stirs,says he came to Dausa because his community insisted. The BJP and Congress fielded Meena candidates who have always dominated the region and benefited from reservation. The Gurjjars have shed blood,but got nothing, he told The Indian Express. In a public speech in Lalsot earlier this week,he announced: I will champion the Gurjjar cause in Parliament. I will ensure inclusion during the reservation review in 2010. The failures to get their demands addressed even after two massive agitations has made the Gurjjars apathetic to all established political entities. The BJP and Congress said they would shed their differences to give us ST status. The reservation bill has not been passed even after eight months. So we have unanimously decided to reject all major political parties, said Umrao Singh,who organised several Gurjjar meetings during the 2007 stir. Singh added that Dausa had rejected even Col Kirori Singh Bainsla,leader of the agitations,who is now the BJP candidate from Sawai Madhopur. Still,the fact remains that the Meena vote in Dausa far outnumbers that of the Gurjjars. Dausa has close to 3 lakh Meena voters,some 2.5 lakh SC and Brahmin voters,and 2 lakh Gurjjars and an assortment of minorities and other castes. Chechi claims he has the support of Muslims and Brahmins. Though I am not against the Meena community,some of their leaders are too authoritarian and every other community will vote against them, he says. And he believes he will gain from the three-way split in the Meena vote between Dr Meena and the Congress and BJP candidates,both of who are Meenas too.
