Chhattisgarh: Advantage Congress as BJP finds its back against the wall in Bastar

In the second last week of March, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Bastar in Chhattisgarh received a call late in the evening from the party’s state headquarters. A succinct message elated the leader.

He was informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be visiting Jagdalpur, the divisional headquarters of Bastar, in the month end. The leader, who has been one of the party’s strategists in Bastar, planned to organise an election meeting of Modi. The event would have propelled the party cadre into election mode as they were yet to recover from the devastating state poll debacle.

The BJP cadre’s enthusiasm did not last long. The state BJP leaders were informed that Modi would only have a transit halt at the airport en route Odisha. The Bastar BJP’s plan was shattered, giving yet another jolt to the cadre.

Modi reached Jagdalpur; flew to Odisha’s Balangir and returned to take the flight for Telangana. The BJP leaders were surprised why Modi skipped Bastar. It was not Modi alone, even party president Amit Shah did not show any interest to hold any election meeting in the constituency, the seat BJP has been holding for the last six terms.

“The lack of enthusiasm of senior BJP leaders towards Bastar is because they seem to have lost hope and don’t want to waste energy in the region,” says political analyst Rajendra Vajpayee. It is not the case of over- confidence, he explains, as the party knows it has performed very badly in the state polls held in last November.

Given the state poll statistics, BJP is heading for a tight walk in Bastar that goes to the poll in the first phase on April 11. Of the eight Assembly segments under Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, BJP has been routed in seven constituencies.

The change of candidates, a part of the BJP’s strategy to induct new faces in all 11 constituencies of the state, has failed to bring about a big difference. MP Dinesh Kashyap and his family have been the face of the BJP in Bastar. Before Dinesh, his father and BJP heavyweight Baliram Kashyap, had represented the constituency four times.

BJP has fielded Baiduram Kashyap, a two-time MLA. But he is not a familiar face among the cadre and hence BJP poll managers are pulling all the strings to propel party workers into the election mode. The Congress has pitted sitting legislator from Chitrakote Deepak Baij against Kashyap.

Baij hogged the headlines as the Congress government, soon after coming to power, ordered returning lands to the tribals that were acquired for Tata Steel’s mega steel plant. The issue figures top in the election as the constituency is dominated by tribals that constitute 32 per cent of state’s population. Both the Congress and the BJP say they are confident of garnering tribal votes.

"The Congress reclaimed the state's tribal areas in the 2018 Assembly polls and will repeat the performance in the upcoming general elections," Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Trivedi says. Besides Bastar, Chhattisgarh has four seats for ST, including Kanker, Raigarh and Sarguja.

BJP, however, claims that in the general election, tribals will prefer the party. “In state polls, the Congress might have performed well, but the BJP has been getting all ST seats in the Lok Sabha elections since the state came into being (in November 2000),” claims Saccidanand Upasne, BJP spokesperson.

With Bastar as the focal point, both the Congress and the BJP have been focusing to sway the tribals. Interesting, tribals in Bastar have shown dull response during the entire election campaign. Otherwise, elections are a festive occasion in Bastar, infamous across the globe for deadly Maoist violence.

Surprisingly, not a single tricycle with loud speakers canvassing for the candidates has been spotted in the city, says Shiv Pandey, a local trader.

This is the time when people go to the forests to collect produce. This is the lifeline of tribals. Since the voters are in the forests, candidates and their supporters are not going to the villages, say some.

Vajpayee however puts it in another way. There are two basic reasons for the indifferent attitude, he says. “First, the Assembly elections have just got over and secondly, the voters seem least interested to change the mandate of the Assembly polls,” he says.

When former Chief Minister Raman Singh visited Jagdalpur last week, he deliberately avoided speaking about the 15 years of BJP rule in Chhattisgarh and the achievements of his government. “He spoke only about Modi,” says Vajpayee.

The selection of the candidate has been the biggest drawback for the BJP in Bastar. Baiduram Kashyap has failed to connect with the people. “Moreover, the candidates who lost Assembly polls by huge margins have been entrusted with the campaign,” Vajpayee says. “Just four months ago, people have rejected them; now again they are at the voters’ doorstep. That does not augur well for the BJP,” he adds.