MP Report card | Mansukh Vasava, BJP Constituency – Bharuch

The Congress won the seat successively from 1957 to 1984 with Chandrashekhar Bhatt as the MP from 1957 to 1962, Chhotu Patel from 1962 to 1967 and Mansinh Rana from 1967 to 1971. Ahmed Patel was elected from three consecutive terms from 1977 to 1989.

MP Profile

Mansukh Vasava, who holds a Masters in Social Work from Gujarat Vidyapeeth, was associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) before he joined the BJP and became an MLA in 1994 from the now dissolved Rajpipla Assembly constituency in Narmada district. He also served as a deputy cabinet minister in Gujarat following his election as an MLA. Vasava contested the first general elections for the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998 and has retained Bharuch ever since.

Questions asked in Parliament

The subject of Mansukh Vasava’s questions in Parliament, apart from tribal issues, ranged from unemployment of youth to road accidents, railway projects, agriculture and farmer welfare to education, law and justice, and family welfare, among others.

Vasava raised unstarred questions about extending the “scholarship scheme for the vocational education and training of meritorious students belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities” to the “details of the demand and generation of hydropower in the country” apart from raising questions of “basic facilities such as electricity, health, water and education in the tribal areas of the country, especially Gujarat”.

He also asked about “schemes for educational development of tribal Communities”, “details of ongoing or proposed schemes by the government for the development of aboriginal tribes in the country” and others.

Vasava also had a starred question related to the energy conservation programmes being implemented by the country in December 2023. Vasava had asked if “the performance of the country with regard to energy conservation is not satisfactory as compared to other countries of the world and to what extent success has been achieved in meeting the set targets.”

To this, Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh at the time responded saying, “The implementation of various energy efficiency schemes or programmes have led to the overall energy savings of 50.81 million tonnes of Oil equivalent (MTOE) which is about 6.87 per cent of the total primary energy supply of the country for the year 2022-23, reflecting the monetary savings of around Rs 1,88,000 crore and CO2 emissions reduction of 307 million tonnes (approx.) during the year 2022-23.”

Participation in debates

In the backdrop of the arrest of AAP MLA Chaitar Vasava in a case of alleged extortion and assault of forest officers, Mansukh Vasava, on December 20, raised the issue of forest land ownership rights in a debate in the House. He said, “There are thousands of tribals, who have been given ownership rights on forest lands that were in their possession in the country. However, it is my request that the government must urgently take steps to give ownership rights to the tribals, who are in possession of some forest lands and engage in farming on those to live a sustainable life with their families.”

In December 2023, the BJP leader also raised the issue of irrigation to tribal populations of the non-industrial areas of Jhagadia and Dediapada in the Bharuch Lok Sabha constituency, as the population was primarily dependent on agriculture for subsistence.