Munde vs Munde in Beed, ‘god’ vs man in Solapur

A normal breakfast in a Maharashtrian home in the sleepy town of Solapur in the south of Maharashtra might not be the usual ussal-missal or batate-pohe but the more nationally known idlis and vadas. That is because Solapur nestles close to Karnataka and has a considerable south Indian influence and a large number of Lingayat residents.

At the sprawling home of Congress candidate Sushil Kumar Shinde, you have both options for breakfast - Maharashtrian or South Indian, served by Kannadiga speaking attendants who seem very comfortable with the Marathi cuisine and Marathi milieu as well.

Although the temple town of Pabdharpur, where sits Maharashtra’s resident diety Lord Vithoba, is part of the Solapur parliamentary constituency, there have been no overtly religious influences on this region. Maharashtra, since the times of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, has always had socialist ethos and it is in that spirit that Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar is taking on Shinde, a fellow Dalit from this open general constituency.

Strangely, though, the BJP this time has denied its sitting MP a ticket to award one to a saffron-clad godman with a flowing beard, a sight that puts off most Maharashtrians who like to keep state and church strictly compartmentalised. One may not find too many of Jai Siddheshwar Maharaj’s kind in Maharashtra - in fact such godmen are rare in a state that still upholds the egalitarian ethos of Jyotiba Phule, Shahu Maharaj and Babasaheb Ambedkar. Siddheshwar is a Lingayat and one does not know what the BJP hopes to achieve by fielding him unless it is to draw away the upper caste votes that may have gone to Shinde. The BJP also hopes Shinde’s Dalit vote bank will be dented by Prakash Ambedkar who is being widely accused of playing to the BJP game plan across Maharashtra.

Siddheshwar recently told the people of Solapur that they did not need to go to a temple for “dev darshan” because he was God himself and they need look no further, they could come to him for the grant of every wish and satisfaction of every desire (also donation of hundis). That did not quite go down well with the people of Solapur. Even the Lingayat community, which has been agitating for recognition as a separate religion, does not quite consider itself Hindu.

Looking at the reactions, Siddheshwar hastily backtracked but he might have alienated himself vis-à-vis all but the hardcore BJP voters who were already queasy about having to accept a saffron clad godman as a political leader.

Shinde is trying to win the poll on his past record as the state Chief Minister and Union Home Minister. He had brought the National Thermal Power Corporation to Solapur during his stint as Union Power Minister but the real bread-and-butter issues, apart from saffron-robed godmen and castes, are a severe lack of water in the region and the shutting down of many textile mills in this town famed for its Solapuri Chaadar or exquisitely woven cotton bedspreads. Most of the mills producing this exquisite product have been run to the ground during Demonetisation and the subsequent faulty implementation of the Goods and Services Tax regime.

Yet, there is a sharp divide between traders who will still support the BJP no matter what and the common people affected by the ruling dispensation’s faulty policies who are torn between caste considerations and economic well-being.

Solapur went to polls on April 18 along with Beed in the Marathwada region where the contest is a piquant one between two Munde cousins, both of whom are not in the fray. Pitted against Bajrang Sonawane, a farmer, from the Nationalist Congress Party, is Pritam Munde, daughter of the late Gopinath Munde, who had won the seat by a huge margin on sympathy vote after the death of her father in 2014. But the two leaders really battling out are her sister Pankaja Munde, a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government, who recently invited controversy by saying the BJP would change the Constitution if it returned to power, and her first cousin Dhananjay Munde, leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative Council, who has consistently exposed Pankaja’s alleged scams in the government. He refers to her as ‘chikki chor’ for inflating the bills of nutritious meals provided to children in anganwadis. That resonates with the masses who have got used to referring to Narendra Modi as ‘chowkidar chor hai’ and Dhananjay’s constant refrain at the campaign has been a taunt to Pankaja, “Don’t worry. You are going home after these elections.”

The reference is to the Maharashtra Assembly polls due in October this year. But before Dhananjay pulls down Pankaja, he must wrest Beed for the NCP and he is leaving no stone unturned for the same.

The third high profile constituency that went to polls on April 18 was Nanded, one of the only two constituencies won by the Congress in 2014. Former Chief Minister and current state congress president Ashok Chavan is seeking re-election from this constituency riven with factional fights within his own party. The BJP wishes to bring him down this time round and make a statement but lacked a suitable candidate itself and had to borrow one from the Shiv Sena. Chavan countered that with a rally by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray who is being accused of surreptitiously working for the Congress and the NCP. He is succeeding to a large extent in dividing the Marathi vote and driving it away from the Shiv Sena and thus the BJP. For the same purpose, Thackeray held an enormously successful rally in Solapur. How far he has really succeeded remains to be seen.