Rajasthan: ‘Jaswant won 2,000 km from home, what is 700 km for son Manvendra?’

On Monday, hundreds of cars left Jasol for Jhalrapatan, where Jaswant Singh’s son Manvendra will contest on a Congress ticket against Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. “Agar woh yahaan se chunaav lad rahe hote toh hum mil kar unko jita detey (If he was contesting the elections from here, we would all have ensured his victory),” said Yusuf Khan, sitting in his one-room shop that rents out tents. For more than 15,000 residents of Jasol, one of the largest gram panchayats in Barmer, the Assembly election is a chance to win back their pride. Several people from the village have followed their leader to Jhalrapatan, camping at a dharamshala in the town ever since Manvendra filed his nomination.

Some who have not been able to travel 700 km to Jhalrapatan are holding prayers for Manvendra’s victory. “We have held prayers and havan since Manvendra filed his nomination papers. None of us have forgotten Singh and his family’s betrayal at the hands of the BJP, and (Vasundhara) Raje in 2014,” Ishwar Singh, Jasol’s former Sarpanch, said. Those who have followed the leader to Jhalrapatan claim they are working day and night to ensure they avenge the “betrayal” of 2014.

Jagdish Mali (32), who works at a factory in Jasol and claims he has never been involved in politics, said he started campaigning for the Congress after he heard that Manvendra will face Raje from Jhalrapatan. “Hundreds of young men from Jasol have arrived here. We visit villages in the constituency everyday and ask people to vote for Manvendra,” Mali said.

Mali will soon return to Jasol with some youths for a day to conduct another havan at a nearby temple, praying for Raje’s defeat from Jhalrapatan. He is confident of Manvendra’s victory since Jaswant Singh had won the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Darjeeling, 2,000 km away, on a BJP ticket. “If Daata can win from Darjeeling, nearly 2,000 kilometres away from his home, what’s a 700-km distance for his son,” he asked.