LS communal taint to Tonk poll fight: Why BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri has made the leap

Apart from attracting Hindu votes, Bidhuri will seemingly draw to the BJP the votes of the Gujjars disenchanted with the Congress’s treatment of Pilot, who has spent the past five years waiting to be suitably “rewarded” for his efforts; the area has a significant population of Bidhuri Gujjars.

Given the stature of Pilot, Bidhuri’s impact though may be limited to that.

Of the four Assembly seats in Tonk, the BJP currently holds only one, Kanhaiya Lal in Malpura. Deoli-Uniara is held by the Congress’s Harish Chandra Meena, Niwai by the party’s Prashant Bairwa and Tonk by Pilot.

Of the roughly 10.54 lakh voters in the district, 1.09 lakh or about 10.3% are Muslims. The maximum Muslim numbers are in the Tonk Assembly seat, with its 2.45 lakh voters comprising roughly 62,000 Muslims, 45,000 Scheduled Castes, 35,000 Gujjars, 16,000-18,000 Malis, 15,000 Brahmins, 12,000 Jats and about 5,000 Rajputs.

Niwai has a large number of SCs, followed by STs and Gujjars, while Muslims are just about 15,000; Deoli-Uniara has the largest number of STs, of the four Tonk seats, at about 62,000, followed by SCs and Gujjars while Muslims are just about 13,000; and Malpura has about 60,000 Jats, followed by SCs and Gujjars, while Muslims number just about 20,000.

While Pilot’s seat seems safe, the Hindu-Muslim polarisation may affect the other three seats in the district. Tonk-Sawai Madhopur MP Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria and Malpura MLA Kanhaiya Lal have also had FIRs registered against them, including for inciting riots. Inside the Assembly, Lal has claimed ‘land jihad’ in Malpura and claimed exodus of Hindus.

And if the BJP’s play is Hindu consolidation, there is an additional reason for it. The AIMIM has been trying to make inroads in Tonk and plans to field candidates here, which is sure to cut into the Congress’s Muslim vote. Earlier this year, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi held a rally in Tonk district, urging the community to consolidate its “political power” if it wants to have its “injustices and pain addressed”.

Citing National Family Health Survey data, Owaisi read out figures showing that the prevalence of malnourished children under 5 years in Rajasthan was highest among the Muslims at 32%, with the state average at 28%. Similarly, the wasting, stunting and anaemia figures among Muslim children were worse than figures for the state, he said, asking: “Who is responsible for this?”

Significantly, he also praised Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, saying that his call had led to the community sitting on railway tracks to get reservation, and pointing out that Muslims in the area don’t have a leadership.

AIMIM Rajasthan general secretary Kashif Zuberi hails from Tonk and may contest against Pilot.

Niwai MLA Bairwa says he isn’t worried. “Bidhuri has been appointed to counter Pilotji. But he is an outsider and will have no impact. Let alone Bidhuri, even the BJP MPs from Rajasthan haven’t been able to do anything for the state,” he told The Indian Express.

Dismissing the AIMIM too, the Congress leader says: “Everyone knows it is the BJP’s B-team, and they just try to damage our big leaders. Hence they could not win any Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh or in West Bengal.”

Before Bidhuri was appointed, the BJP held rallies in Rajasthan where the star was Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who repeatedly brought up the murder of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiyalal last year for a post regarding the Prophet.

In Jodhpur, Sarma said: “It is a matter of immense sadness that in Rajasthan, our people are beheaded.”

2018 Numbers

Tonk district has four Assembly seats: Tonk, Deoli-Uniara, Malpura and Niwai

📌 Cong won Tonk, Deoli-Uniara and Niwai in 2018; BJP won Malpura, which Cong had left for ally RLD

📌 BJP got 39.76% of the total votes in the four seats; Congress, RLD were far ahead at 52.67%

📌 The Cong high vote share was largely thanks to the big victories of Sachin Pilot in Tonk (63.56% votes) and Prashant Bairwa in Niwai (60.82%).