She wants to be just like Mayawati and as the BSP's candidate from Madhya Pradesh's tribal constituency of Mandla,her dreams may not be so far-fetched. At 26,Jalso Dhurwey,who belongs to the Gond tribe,is one of the youngest candidates in the fray. While other women in this forested part of the Narmada valley were setting up home,Dhurwey was studying history and Hindi literature. I am a big fan of Mayawati. I want to be like her. I have no plans of marriage and want to work for sarvajan samaj, she says. Like her heroine,note party cadres,Dhurwey (26) is tough and tactical,walks alone and considered an academic career. Dhurwey now begins her day before sunrise and visits homes in a number of villages. She rests her head wherever night falls,sometimes in the forests near the Kanha tiger reserve. A passionate speaker,the MA Hindi student exhorts the crowd with Kabirs couplets and compares his progressive stance with the BSP. Kabira khada bazaar men liye lukathi haath,jo ghar funke aapna wo chale hamare saath (Kabir stands amid the ruins with a burning torch,follow me only when you can blaze away all worldly temptations), Jalso recites to The Indian Express. Jalso kat jayegi lekin bikegi nahi (You can kill her but cannot buy her), says Narain Patil,general secretary of the BSP's MP unit. Incidentally,she is pitched against the BJP's Faggan Singh Kulaste,a multi-millionaire who has won the seat in the last four elections. In contrast,Dhurwey comes from a family of poor labourers. Kulaste has done nothing for tribals, she says. They have no roads,power and employment. At a time when asset ownership is a deciding factor in the election tickets,her nomination was a cakewalk. She joined the BSP in 2006 and in two years single-handedly mobilised tribals for the party in Mandla and Seoni. We heard a lot about her work in the last Assembly elections. She was the unanimous choice for the LS seat, said Rajya Sabha MP and BSP state coordinator Raja Ram. As Mandla where the Gond tribe is dominant,followed by Baiga,SCs,OBCs and other minorities goes to polls today,the tribal battle promises to be a close contest,with Gondwana Gantantra Party in the fray along with Dhurwey and Kulaste,who is also a Gond.
