Urination row fades in BJP stronghold: ‘Can’t rebel against party’

Wary of tribal backlash in this region, the BJP has replaced Shukla, a four-time MLA, with Lok Sabha MP Riti Pathak as its Sidhi candidate. While the BJP had won only 16 of the 47 Scheduled Tribe-reserved seats in Madhya Pradesh in 2018, it had kept its grip on Vindhya Pradesh, winning 24 of 30 seats, including Sidhi, largely due to the unwavering support of the Kol tribes and Brahmin voters.

The jilted Shukla has vowed revenge, and declared that he will contest as an Independent. The Congress has also fielded an upper caste, Thakur leader Gyan Singh, making Sidhi one of the hottest contests of the polls.

Rawat is conscious the attention is already moving on from him. “The government is racing to build my home before the elections. But what after that? I can’t work because of my security escort (the Shuklas in the region, who are Brahmins, are angry since the episode). I got Rs 6 lakh in compensation and used at least 5 lakh in building my home… My wife’s Ladli Behna stipend money helps sustain my family. I want a government job,” he says.

‘CM good… officials a problem’

Rawat wasn’t the only one the BJP government tried to placate ahead of the elections. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who took the lead in offering “penance” to the tribal and washed his feet as the media watched, rushed in development projects here in recent months.

Walking his sheep across a field in Madhuri Kothar village, Ramesh Kumar Mishra, 36, nods towards a JCB machine working on a railway platform. “It was in 2011 that the railway line from Rewa to Sidhi was announced. Three elections have passed,” he says. Railway officials attribute the delay to Covid and land negotiations with locals.

Mishra long stopped paying heed to these reasons, and moves on to complain about the stray cows eating his crops, with the promised gaushalas not materialising. However, he doesn’t hold Chouhan responsible – underlining the dilemma the BJP faces in this election, where the electorate that wants change also has little bad to say about its four-time CM.

“The CM is good,” says Mishra. “It’s the corrupt officials who are the problem.”

Mishra is also unhappy over the denial of ticket to Shukla, a fellow Brahmin. But again, he is willing to forgive. “Party se bagawat nahin karenge, Riti Pathakji humari bahu-beti hain (We won’t rebel against the party. Riti Pathak is like our daughter, daughter-in-law).”

At Naudhiya village, serving tea at his ramshackle shop, Suresh Kol, a father of four, recounts how he took a loan of Rs 90,000 to set up the structure. What about schemes for tribals like him? “Do you think people from my community run offices?” he says. “They are all corrupt.”

However, like Mishra, Suresh doesn’t see an alternative to the BJP. “See, the party hasn’t done anything great, but they also haven’t done anything wrong. I am fine living like this… The government has given electricity and roads, that is enough.”

The despair, though, seeps through. His voice rising, Suresh adds: “I can manage… I don’t need them to help me out!”

Fellow tribal Chotelal Kol, 35, whose 11-member family shares a mud-brick home, got government benefits such as a handpump and a solar street light nearby, two months ago. “The government also made toilets, though of poor quality,” he says.

‘Drain has come, water will follow’

Among the group of Scheduled Caste women sweeping the roads in the village is Sumintra Saket, 31, a mother of six, who largely survives on the Chouhan government’s flagship Ladli Behna Yojana stipend of Rs 1,250 per month, with the money she earns selling tea barely enough.

As the CM ratchets up his pro-woman pitch to return to power, Saket knows where to draw the line. The roads leading to her home are “the only development”, she says, adding that the government tends to work like this near elections. “They repaired a hostel nearby and laid the foundation of a medical college.”

Evidence is everywhere. At Amarwah village, heavy machinery is at work on a tunnel to connect the village to other areas in Sidhi. Sarman Rawat (29), a construction worker, is overseeing work on a drain outside his home. The drain had been a long-held demand of the Kol villagers, but work began only three days ago.

Poolbai Saket, 33, says she is still waiting for piped water to reach her home as part of the Nal Jal Yojana, even as the toilets built in 2014 have fallen into disuse.

Parvati Bansal, 35, a mother of five, quips sarcastically: “So much vikas has happened.” She hopes she will get a home under the PM Awaas Yojana, to replace her one-room kuchcha set, and her village will have a road.

In recent days, former sarpanch Butan Bansal, 50, has visited the family and assured them of a home. “Two hundred homes have been built under the Awaas Yojana, piped water is coming,” she says, admitting that toilets remain a problem.

Rawat is also looking ahead. “A drain will come, soon piped water will follow. They are building a tunnel and some railway infrastructure. I hope to get a better job.”

Shankar Bansal, 23, a Dalit, is hopeful too. While unemployed for months now, he says: “See, there is no discrimination against us. In the BJP government, no one forces us to work for anyone. We may have to travel long distances to work, but there is work,” he says.

‘In Rewa… all good’

If Sidhi has a mix of tribals and Brahmins, Rewa district is dominated by the Brahmin community, and has historically been better off compared to other districts in the region. There are fewer mud brick homes around, a 750 MW Rewa Solar Park and auto parts factories dominate the landscape, an airport is being built, and double-storey hotels have sprung up.

Among those who have seen new-found affluence is Ashish Sharma, 35, an autorickshaw driver and the owner of a two-storey home in Ajigarha village, located just next to the family’s old kuchcha house. He says he saved Rs 3-5 lakh over six years to build the home.

Sharma attributes Sidhi’s lack of development to its location, near hills. “Rewa got piped water, roads and electricity years ago,” he says, adding that those who saved money like him have prospered.

At Agdal village near the Chorhata airstrip, Saraswat Tiwari, 32, can’t wait for the airport to come up. “Soon, my land will be worth crores. We can set up a business. It’s all good. The BJP government has spared no effort to build this area,” she says.

Sashit Chaturvedi, a 38-year-old farmer, is not as optimistic, and he blames it on corruption. “The groundwater levels have gone down, the fertilisers and seeds are expensive. The government may have raised the minimum support price, but corruption eats away at my earnings. To sell 40 quintals of my produce to the government, I give Rs 15 to middlemen,” he says, adding that this time, “we need change in Vindhya Pradesh”.