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Journalism of Courage
FROM Prime Minister Narendra Modi to multiple visits by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and state ministers, from former WWE wrestler Khali to actor and its Lok Sabha candidate Kangana Ranaut, and even a “non-political” programme by religious guru Dhirendra Shastri, the BJP is leaving no stone unturned in its bid to ensure the re-election of Union minister Kailash Choudhary from Barmer.
On the ground, the contest seems tough, with Choudhary facing not just the Congress’s Ummeda Ram Beniwal, who has run a brisk campaign backed by the party, but also a growing challenge from 26-year-old Sheo MLA Ravindra Singh Bhati or “Ravsa”, as his supporters call him, who is a former BJP leader contesting as an Independent.
There is another undercurrent to the contest. The last time a Rajput won the Barmer Lok Sabha seat was 2004, when the BJP’s Manvendra Singh, son of its late founding member Jaswant Singh, was victorious. Some in the Rajput community, who have been watching the eclipsing of Vasundhara Raje in the BJP, feel Bhati has what it takes to be the next big face in Rajasthan politics. Both Choudhary and Beniwal are Jats.
While Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who is contesting from Jodhpur, is seen as the party’s tallest Rajput leader in Marwar, according to many members of the community, Bhati enjoys one advantage over him: “widespread acceptability beyond caste lines”.
Earlier this month, Bhati held a road show in faraway Bangalore – Lok Sabha seats falling under it also vote on April 26 – that drew hundreds. He has also held rallies in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Surat. His supporters say it is the help he provided to non-resident Rajasthanis during Covid and later which explains the spread of his reach.
Now, in the last leg of his campaign, Bhati has had a helicopter at his disposal. The Independent, who declared assets of Rs 27 lakh (along with wife’s), attributes it to the generosity of his supporters. Others point to Bhati’s former links with both the ABVP and the BJP, and the belief that he will join or support the party if he wins.
The chopper is certainly helping the 26-year-old cover what is one of the largest constituencies in the country.
The caste factor
On the streets of Barmer, every other voter has the numbers: Jats about 4.5 lakh, SCs and STs about 4 lakh, Rajputs 3 lakh, Muslims about 2.7 lakh, and “mool (the original) OBCs” about 6.5 lakh.
Kailash Choudhary has on his side the appeal of PM Modi, BJP schemes, the party machinery, and the Jat votes. He began his campaign telling voters: “Do not punish the PM for my mistakes.”
To Dinesh Kumar, 32, that appeal said exactly what has been wrong about Choudhary’s five-year “absent” term. “When we marry our daughter, the damaad is the one directly responsible for her well-being, not so much the sasur,” Dinesh quips.
The Congress maths includes Jat, SC and Muslim votes, with the Jats seen as angry with the BJP in the state, especially in Shekhawati. However, several Congress leaders, including former minister Ameen Khan, are unhappy with the party. Ameen incidentally lost to Bhati in the Assembly polls from Sheo, after votes were split due to the presence of Congress rebel Fateh Khan. Fateh, expelled by the Congress at first, has been taken back.
Congress candidate Beniwal, a former leader of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), seen as a party of Jats, is also not getting the support of RLP chief Hanuman Beniwal in his campaign. The RLP and Congress have tied up for the Lok Sabha polls.
Outside Palika Bazaar, near the Barmer Railway Station, Mewaram Panwar, 50, says the Jats will nevertheless vote for Beniwal, citing “jaati ka ganit (caste equations)”, dismissing the excitement for Bhati as restricted to youths and Choudhary as having done no work.
Om Prakash Khatri, 67, a life insurance advisor, with an office on Station Road, says: “Those saying the fight is only between Beniwal and Bhati are only seeing it from a caste angle and not considering the silent voter, which is with the BJP.”
Bhati is counting on the OBC and Rajput votes, getting Muslim support due to factionalism in the Congress, as well as on division of Jat votes due to both the Congress and BJP fielding Jat leaders. Besides, he is seen as attracting the youth and women voters, with his speeches, that are almost entirely in Marwari, being major crowd pullers.
Mahaveer Bohra, Congress spokesperson in Barmer, accuses Bhati of creating “an anti-Jat narrative”. “He only has the caste politics card, nothing else.”
Fuzzy ideology
Indeed, Bhati’s strategic silence on ideology appears to have won him supporters on both sides. While some see him as a closet right-wing leader who will eventually lend support to the BJP, others see him as a liberal who is hence attracting some Muslim votes too.
Earlier this month, the BJP lodged a complaint with the Election Commission over Bhati’s posters that carried photos of PM Modi and the BJP’s symbol Lotus and read, “Please forgive us Modi ji, we are giving you Ravindra instead of Kailash.”
At a recent rally, Congress leader Harish Chaudhary showed another saffron poster which said: “Desh mein Narendra, Thar mein Ravindra.”
However, in one of his recent speeches, Bhati addressed his “Muslim bhai”, spoke about “bhaichara (brotherhood)” and said there is “no difference between Hindus and Muslims”. Sheo, Barmer, Jaisalmer are still the only places where brotherhood still holds, Bhati said.
The son of a teacher belonging to a non-political family, Bhati came into prominence as a student activist at Jodhpur’s Jai Narain Vyas University. When the ABVP did not give him a ticket for the president’s post in the students’ union in 2019, he made history by becoming the first independent president in the university’s 57-year history.
Ahead of the Assembly elections in October-November 2023, he joined the BJP. Denied a ticket from Sheo, he contested as a rebel. With the Congress votes split due to the presence of a rebel, he won by close to 4,000 votes.
Standing outside a paan shop in Barmer, Rahul Panwar, 26, says he likes Bhati “for not being Left or Right”. “Plus, he talks about core issues. They have given the slogan ‘Bhati Dilli jaayega meetha paani laayega (Bhati will go to Delhi, bring potable water)’.”
Others belonging to mool OBC castes which Bhati is counting on, such as Revant Darzi, 40, and Ramesh Prajapat, 30, say they will vote for him as he will ultimately back the BJP. Prajapat boasts that all the 6.5 lakh mool OBC voters in the seat are with Bhati – “Prajapat, Kumawat, Sindhi, Darzi, Mali, Suthar, Devasi, Vishnoi, etc”.
Hoping to call out Bhati, the Congress at a rally asked him for his reaction to the recent controversial speeches by PM Modi in Banswara and Tonk, targeting Muslims.
Mukhtiyar Khan, 48, and Haji Farooq, 59, who run a cooler repair shop, have their doubts too. Khan justifies: “An Independent won’t be heard (in the power circles), so we want to support a party.”
BJP Barmer district president Dileep Paliwal writes off Bhati, saying that he has been in politics for 43 years and the present election scenario reminds him of 2014, when Jaswant Singh had rebelled but lost to the BJP. “The voter is smart. Why would they vote for an Independent when there is a BJP government in the state and Modi ji is returning at the Centre?” he says.
Ask Bhati about his ideology, and he answers with a dodge: “It is staying among the people and serving them.”
