Tag: Madhya Pradesh

31,000 Women and Girls Went Missing in Madhya Pradesh. Where Are the ‘Saviours’?

Although a significant number of women and girls have gone missing in the state, only 724 cases have been officially registered. In Ujjain alone, 676 women went missing in the past 34 months, yet not a single case has been registered.

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government tabled data in the state assembly this July revealing that over 31,000 women and girls went missing in the state over the last three years, between July 1, 2021 and May 31, 2024. Of the total number, 28,857 are women and 2,944 are girls. The state had answered this question in response to the query raised by Congress MLA and former state home minister Bala Bachchan. 

Notably, the Madhya Pradesh government has constantly demonstrated its long-standing commitment to women’s empowerment and safety — from the Ladli Laxmi Yojana in 2006, Beti Bachao Abhiyan in 2011 to Ladli Behna Yojna in 2023 — former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan became popular as “Mama (uncle)” for introducing an array of such welfare schemes aimed at women in his nearly two-decade-long rule.

The government also raised the budget for the Women and Child Development Department from Rs 14,686 crore in the last fiscal to Rs 26,560 for the financial year 2024-2025. The recent revelation of missing women in Madhya Pradesh, however, starkly contrasts the claims of women’s safety by the state government highlighting a serious gap between policy and reality. 

In a conversation with The Wire, Bachchan underlined that women and girls are not at all safe in Madhya Pradesh, and the government has failed to provide them protection. He mentioned that he has recently helped a parent “rescue” their daughter from “falling into a trap”. In this case, the girl was being taken to Kolkata. She was stopped at the Indore airport when Bachchan called the authorities at the terminal.

“These figures come directly from the government, and they’re not even registering FIRs for every case which means that all claims of women’s safety are hollow. These numbers only reflect registered cases. Many cases go unregistered,” Bachchan said.

He added: “The government hides the data, which means the actual number could be much higher. The reported figures are meagre; only one in ten cases that reach the police station gets registered, and that too often requires significant influence. This should not be happening. It’s deplorable.”

Bachchan noted that as a former home minister, he also has to “make calls to get cases registered”. “Not everyone has that kind of access. Who listens when there is no government backing? People live in fear of the khaki uniforms in police stations as they misbehave and threaten them. Who will dare to fight the police to register a complaint?”

Although a significant number of women and girls have gone missing in the state, only 724 cases have been officially registered. In Ujjain alone, 676 women went missing in the past 34 months, yet not a single case has been registered.

Indore has the highest number of missing women, with a staggering 2,384 cases, including 479 in just one month, yet only 15 cases have been officially registered. Additionally, Sagar district reports the highest number of missing girls, with 245 cases.

Bachchan said that the government has provided minimal data because they fear it would tarnish their image. “Nobody will dare to speak against the government as the home ministry lies under the chief minister. The data is available, what matters now is the steps taken to resolve the issue.”

“This is a racket where people profit from trafficking women and girls to different states. Most of these missing women come from weaker sections of society who lack resources and knowledge. Hence, fall victim to such schemes. It is a troubling nexus,” Bachchan added. 

Ignoring the real crisis

Madhya Pradesh became the first state to make the controversial movie The Kerala Story tax-free when it was released in May 2023. The movie made headlines before its release for claiming that approximately 32,000 women in Kerala were converted to Islam and many were taken to ISIS-ruled Syria during the terror group’s peak. The Supreme Court of India amidst controversy had asked the makers to ensure that the film carries a disclaimer that the movie is fictionalised with no data to back its claim. 

Despite this, former chief minister Chouhan promoted the movie encouraging everyone to watch it as it exposes “Love Jihad”, religious conversion, and the hideous face of terrorism. “We won’t let Madhya Pradesh become another Kerala Story,” Chouhan had stated.

Astonishingly, the newly formed Mohan Yadav government keeps mum on the real 31,000 girls and women missing in Madhya Pradesh. 

Activist Rachna Dhingra highlighted that 31,000 girls and women are missing “is not a small number”.

“Yet, it barely made any headlines or caught media attention. Such a significant issue should have sparked widespread protests to hold the government accountable. The government’s policies have made no difference in women’s safety. Madhya Pradesh ranked among the highest in violence against women. The argument that these numbers exist because crimes are being recorded falls flat, as there is no decrease in crimes against women,” Dhingra noted. 

In 2022, Uttar Pradesh registered the highest number of FIRs for crimes against women at 65,743, followed by Maharashtra (45,331), Rajasthan (45,058), West Bengal (34,738), and MadhyaPradesh (32,765). These five states accounted for 50.2% of the total cases in India, according to the NCRB.

Alarming statistics on women and child safety

As per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2022 data,  nearly two lakh women and girls were missing in Madhya Pradesh between 2019 and 2021. This is the highest in any state across the country.

Notably, a Right to Information (RTI) report gathered by Child Rights And You (CRY) NGO said that 32 children went missing every day in Madhya Pradesh in 2022, of which 24 were girls (75%). 

Data obtained from the Press Information Bureau (PIB) website.

Bachchan pointed out that the government must be “ashamed” if “our women go to find work and disappear” after being entrapped. “The women should not be that compelled. Those sitting in government and talking about Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas must introspect and provide them employment.”

He added: “The area I come from is a remote tribal region with a very dire situation in terms of women’s safety. That’s why I raised this question; it was necessary. We are in direct contact with the people and have received feedback on such cases.”

Also read: How India’s Emerging Legal Framework Impacts Women’s Rights and Agency

In 2022, Madhya Pradesh ranked third in the nation with 3,046 cases of rape and gang rape. Rajasthan topped the list with 5,408 cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 3,692 cases; 22 women in Madhya Pradesh faced attempted rape, of which three were minors.

Additionally, Madhya Pradesh ranked third nationally for cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, child rape (379 of IPC) and sexual assault (354 of IPC), and sexual harassment under the POCSO Act (509 IPC) with 5,951 incidents. These included 3,653 cases of rape, 2,233 cases of sexual assault, and 42 cases of harassment.

Women’s safety and the saviour government

Arti Sharma of the All India Mahila Sanskritik Sangathan (AIMSS) said that it is concerning for society and the government which claims to be the “saviour of women”. Further, she underlined that while the Madhya Pradesh government campaigned vigorously for women’s rights, it failed to follow up their rhetoric with meaningful action to empower women. “They targeted a particular community in the name of women’s safety using anti-conversion law and propaganda movie The Kerala Story.  It created an atmosphere that women are unsafe because of men from a specific community. In reality, women of all communities are unsafe. Have these succeeded in protecting women?” posed Sharma. 

The Madhya Pradesh government has legislated the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 2021, often referred to as the “Love Jihad” law. The act prohibits and penalises forceful religious conversion under the pretext of marriage and was brought to protect women. In several instances, interfaith couples (Hindu women and Muslim men) have been subjected to harassment by individuals associated with Hindutva outfits. The law has been widely criticised for playing with women’s agency and patronising them. 

Huneza Khan is an independent journalist based in Bhopal. 

Activists, Former Bureaucrats Appeal For Rehabilitation of Families Affected by Sardar Sarovar Project

The petition pointed out that the rehabilitation of a few thousand affected families still remains pending and “the delay in providing justice by state and central governments and responsible agencies is particularly unjust towards Dalits and Adivasis”.

New Delhi: In an appeal to the Narmada Control Authority on Wednesday (June 19), several concerned citizens, retired bureaucrats, environmentalists, activists, academics, and people’s organisations from across the country have called for the immediate and complete rehabilitation of all the families affected by the Sardar Sarovar project and asked for the reservoir level to be maintained at 122 metres.

Further, the petition pointed out that the rehabilitation of a few thousand affected families still remains pending and “the delay in providing justice by state and central governments and responsible agencies is particularly unjust towards Dalits and Adivasis”.

The signatories have also sent a copy of the letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav, Gujarat chief minister Bhupendrabhai Patel and union Jal Shakti minister C.R. Patil.

Notably, social activist Medha Patkar is on an indefinite fast since June 15 demanding that all the people affected by the Sardar Sarovar project should be rehabilitated as per the Supreme Court order.

The full text of the letter is below:

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We, the undersigned hundreds of concerned citizens and organisations from across India are writing to  you in the context of the ongoing Satyagraha of oustees affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP), near Village Chikalda, in Madhya Pradesh. We are deeply concerned for the rights of thousands of oustees, who are yet to be rehabilitated and facing the threat of submergence. We are equally concerned about the condition of social activist Medha Patkar, whose indefinite fast has entered the fifth day, demanding a fair and just rehabilitation for all the people affected by SSP.

As you are well-aware, Narmada Bachao Andolan has steadfastly advocated for the rights of adivasis, dalits, farmers, labourers, fisher-people and the marginalised through non-violent means during the four-decade old struggle. They have firmly opposed any submergence without rehabilitation, a principle also upheld on multiple occasions by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. They challenged the dominant narrative of ‘development’, forced governments and financial institutions to adopt policies to safeguard the rights of the affected communities and the environment. Due their brave and valiant struggle, thousands of oustees were able to receive rehabilitation in the three affected states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

However, we learn that many families, especially Adivasi, Dalit oustees, and those dependent on natural resources, continue to suffer due to lack of effective rehabilitation. They face hunger and homelessness due to unresolved issues such as inadequate or poor-quality land allocations, pending R&R, compensation, and the lack of essential facilities like water, roads, and schools at court-mandated rehabilitation sites. The delay in providing justice by state and central governments and responsible agencies is particularly unjust towards Dalits and adivasis.

The decisions of the Narmada Tribunal (Tribunal Award), rehabilitation policies, and court orders have been consistently violated by the implementation as well as monitoring authorities. In 2023, the flood, caused by significant mismanagement in regulating water flow in many dams in the Narmada Valley and the delayed opening of Sardar Sarovar gates, affected approximately 150 villages in Madhya Pradesh and farming areas in Maharashtra. Adivasis, farmers, fisher people, small traders severely faced the brunt. In the downstream areas of Gujarat, fishers, villagers and city-dwellers also suffered extensive damage.

In Madhya Pradesh, the revision of backwater levels in 2008 unjustly denied rehabilitation to 15,946 families, even after their homes were demolished and some received inadequate compensation! Many of these families now reside in vulnerable conditions in government buildings along the Narmada, facing damage from submergence.

Mismanagement by various authorities led to floods that violated laws and displaced thousands without proper rehabilitation or compensation, causing further hardships, after the dam got completed in 2017 and subsequent filling to full capacity in 2019.

The failure to adhere to regulations for maintaining the reservoir’s water level led to widespread submergence of villages, houses, and fields. Delayed actions during critical times exacerbated the impact, affecting several districts and communities. Despite efforts in Madhya Pradesh to provide relief and dialogue of NBA with various authorities, full R&R, compensation remains pending for many, including livestock losses and some human fatalities.

It is in this context that we support the demands of the struggle. They include:

➢ Complete and immediate rehabilitation must be ensured for all those affected by the Sardar Sarovar Project, as per law and judicial orders.

➢ Compensation for all damages inflicted until 2023 must be disbursed forthwith.

➢ Cancel revised backwater levels; resettle 15,946 families according to old levels.

➢ Ensure due appointments to the Grievance Redressal Authorities (GRAs) and fair resolution of the pending applications.

➢ Maintain the water level of Sardar Sarovar at 122 meters, until all affected are rehabilitated, as per law and directives of the Apex Court.

We urge you to urgently look into the matter, dialogue with the oustees and NBA, and resolve the issue in a fair way. We hope the Govt will not resort to any form of high-handedness or repression on the movement and will uphold the legal, human and constitutional rights of people.

Yours sincerely, 

On behalf of the signatories to the petition from across India: 

Dr. EAS Sarma, Anand Patwardhan, Prof. Rama Melkote Prafulla Samantara, Ashish Kothari, Prof. Anil Sadgopal, Dr. Rosemary Dzuvichu, Sharad Behar, Kavitha Kuruganti, Fr. Cedric Prakash, Dr. Roop Rekha Verma, Teesta Setalvad, Adv Clifton D’ Rozario, Zahid Parwaz Choudhary, Dr. Sudhir Vombatkere, Madhuri, Neelam Ahluwalia, Adv Shalini Gera, C.R Neelakandan, Hasina Khan, Tushar Gandhi, Nityanand Jayaraman, Adv Indira Unninayar, Richa Singh, Rohit Prajapati, Sukla Sen, Himanshu Thakkar, Mahendra Yadav, Dr. Gabriele Dietrich, Adv Vinay Sreenivasa, Purnima Upadhyay, Mohammad Ishak Van Gujjar, Kailash Meena, Nabinder Singh, Simin Akhter, Usmangani, Dr. Sunilam, Malika Virdi, Madhu Badhuri, Pavan Muntha and many others.

 

Disastrous Dalliance with Hindutva and Mistrust in Leadership Behind Congress’s Rout in MP

Admittedly, it was an unequal battle between the BJP and the Congress from the start. The BJP’s vast resources and superior campaigning were no match to Congress’s, which is still licking its wounds from its defeat in the assembly polls.

Former chief minister Kamal Nath’s discredited political legacy loomed large in the Lok Sabha election resulting in the crushing defeat of the Congress in all 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh including his Chhindwara bastion.

Trail of destruction

In this election, the former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president remained bound in his pocket borough to desperately save it for his son Nakul Nath, but the trail of Congress devastation he left in the assembly election last year across Madhya Pradesh has persisted.

Kamal Nath’s successor Jitu Patwari in his three months as PCC chief proved miserably unequal to the task of reviving the moribund party. He sorely lacks the stature to command the respect of the party men and the humility to win the trust of the senior leaders. His incompetence on both counts was glaringly evident in the way he utterly failed to pre-empt the BJP’s shenanigans in getting the INDIA (Samajwadi Party) candidate’s nomination form rejected in Khajuraho and the last-minute withdrawal of the Congress candidate in Indore.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

The Indore candidate Akshay Kanti Bam was strongly recommended by Jitu Patwari to the Congress high command despite strong protest from the local party leaders. Shocked by Bam’s treachery, Patwari requested the Indore voters to press the NOTA button. Record 2.8 lakh voters responded to the Congress appeal but that did not prevent BJP candidate Shankar Lalwani from scoring victory by the highest margin in the country at 11.75 lakh votes.

Now that the Congress has drawn a blank in Madhya Pradesh, the PCC chief has owned responsibility for the disappointing outcome.

Unequal battle for start

Admittedly, it was an unequal battle between the BJP and the Congress from the start. Virtually, insurmountable odds were stacked against the opposition. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJP had won 28 seats with a total vote share of nearly 60% against the Congress’s 35%. In terms of resources and aggressive campaign, the BJP was miles ahead of the opponent.

Bitter memories of the stunning loss in the assembly election were still fresh in the minds of the demoralised Congress. And to add to its woes, the BJP engineered mass-scale defection from the Congress rank at all levels across the state. Instead of stemming the mass exodus, a demoralised Congress leadership helplessly watched its organisation getting attenuated. Three sitting Congress MLAs left the party in the midst of the polling that began on April 19.

Mistrust in leadership

As a result, deepening mistrust in the leadership percolated down the grassroots workers. The workers were already dejected by the assembly election debacle and the rumours of Kamal Nath defecting to the BJP further lowered his morale.

Kamal Nath. Credit: Facebook/Kamal Nath

Although Kamal Nath went all out to scotch the rumours and swore by the Congress ideology, neither the ordinary Congress worker in the state nor the voters of his son’s Chhindwara constituency were convinced. Nakul Nath’s defeat by a margin of 1,33,000 votes is an ample reflection of the all-pervasive suspicion about the former chief minister’s loyalty to the Congress. His emotional appeal and repeated reminders to the people about the development work he claimed to have carried out in the last four decades in Chhindawara apparently cut no ice with the voters.

Hopes dashed

If the lone Congress citadel crumbled due to Kamal Nath’s rumoured hobnobbing with the BJP, the other 28 seats steadfastly remained loyal to the party. The Congress was hoping to give a good fight in at least a dozen constituencies but the heavy burden of its dismal record dashed the hopes.

All these seats had been traditionally won by the BJP by huge margins in the 2019 election and this time round the party’s well-oiled machinery ensured that the margins got bigger. And it surely did – by 1.2%. Out of 29 BJP candidates, 25 won by the margins of over one lakh votes. Former chief minister Shivraj Singh reclaimed his old Vidisha seat by a margin of over 8 lakh votes. Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had lost as Congress candidate in Guna by nearly 1.5 lakh votes, wrested the seat with 5.40 lakh votes.

Individual efforts failed

However, to be fair to the Congress, its candidates fought valiantly in at least half a dozen seats. The organisation may not have been adequately helpful to them but their individual efforts coupled with an optimistic caste combination raised hopes of bucking the trend, but they capitulated before the BJP’s vast resources and superior campaigning.

Digvijay Singh’s defeat

For instance, Digvijay Singh spared no efforts to win the Rajgarh seat, which he had won in 1991 last time, but his otherwise seemingly weak opponent Rodmal Nagar got the better of the Congress veteran, largely on the strength of RSS volunteers in this saffronised constituencies.

Even in the tribal seats such as Mandla, Jhabua-Ratlam and Dhar, where the Congress had put up strong enough candidates to turn the tide, the BJP scored a handsome victory. Gwalior, Satna, Bhind and Morena were the other four seats where the contests looked neck and neck but Congress bit the dust. In other constituencies, the buzz was confined to the victory margins of the BJP candidates. These are no-hopers for the Congress since 1989.

Disastrous dalliance with Hindutva

So, why is the Congress stuck in the abyss of gloom and doom for such a long time in Madhya Pradesh?

The answer is that it has been egregiously seeking to play on the BJP’s pitch of Hindutva with utter disregard for its stated ideology of secularism. Of course, this time round the Congress campaign followed the secular narrative propagated by the central leadership but that proved too little, too late to wash off its strategic blunders of the past. Here again, Kamal Nath must be blamed for abandoning secularism for the lure of Hindutva to outdo the BJP.

Self-styled Hanuman Bhakt went all out to make the Congress appear as a carbon copy of the BJP in the assembly election. The people comprehensively rejected his devious ploys as they had the option to elect the original proponent of Hindutva. His discredited attempts harmed the Congress’s efforts to carve out a distinct identity vis-s-vis the BJP.

Herculean task ahead

The Congress has a herculean task before it to overcome the BJP’s formidable challenge. The saffron party has managed to subsume caste identity politics under its vast Hindutva canopy. Sensing the political dynamics about castes, the BJP fielded 16 candidates from the Other Backward Castes OBCs. What is more, the party has OBC leadership in the shape of former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his successor and incumbent Mohan Yadav. The Congress, on the other hand, has no such credible OBC leader at the top level.

Basking in the unprecedented glory of the clean sweep, chief minister Mohan Yadav is likely to stay on till the next assembly election in 2028. Also, Shivraj Singh Chouhan is a very strong contender for cabinet minister rank in the Modi government.

The combined political clout of these two OBC leaders will remain a big challenge for the Congress. Unless the party stays on the course of secularism and pushes up new leadership from among the OBCs, SCs and STs, the coming elections, too, have only disasters in store.

The era of Kamal Nath–Digvijay Singh duo is gone. But their replacements such as PCC chief Jitu Patwari and leader of opposition Umang Singhar don’t look promising enough. Therefore, it is a long haul for Rahul Gandhi and his team to pick and nurture a young generation of leaders in Madhya Pradesh. The crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha election could be a useful lesson why not to repeat the self-destructing blunders of the past.

NOTA the Runner-Up in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore After Election Reduced to Non-Contest

A total of 2,18,674 NOTA votes have been recorded in Indore in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after the Congress candidate withdrew his nomination on the last day and joined the BJP, paving the way for a no-contest election.

New Delhi: Deprived of a choice, with the Congress candidate withdrawing his nomination on the last day and joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) within hours, paving the way for a no-contest election, voters in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore have replied by recording the highest number of None of the Above (NOTA) votes polled in any Lok Sabha election.

A total of 2,18,674 NOTA votes have been recorded in Indore, making it the runner up in the election following the sitting BJP MP Shankar Lalwani who won the election with a total of 12,26,751 votes. According to a report by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), over 1.29 crore NOTA votes have been recorded in the assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections combined in the last five years.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

The election in Indore was reduced to a non-contest after Akshay Kanti Bam, the Congress’s candidate for Madhya Pradesh’s Indore Lok Sabha constituency, withdrew his nomination and joined the BJP. The Wire has reported that three candidates, including two independents and one from the Janata Congress Party, alleged that “fake signatures” were obtained on withdrawal forms, while coercive and intimidating calls were made to make them not contest.

Bam’s withdrawal and move to the BJP came only days after the dramatic rejection of papers of the Congress candidate(s) in Gujarat’s Surat, leading to Mukesh Dalal being declared elected Lok Sabha MP unopposed, minus an election, as the first MP of the 18th Lok Sabha.

The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)’s candidate in Indore, Ajit Singh Panwar, who did contest also said to The Wire that he was pressured and pushed by the BJP to not contest.

The call to voters in Indore to choose the NOTA button was made by the Madhya Pradesh’s Congress president Jitu Patwari ahead of polling in the constituency on May 13.

In an interview to The Wire, Patwari alleged that the BJP had “murdered democracy” in Indore and deprived voters of the right to vote.

“Yes we were wrong in recognising a person (Akshay Bam). What circumstances arose is separate but a crime has been committed by the political mafia. We are pained by this and we should be. People are saying that democracy is in danger in the country. This is the reason this is said. 17 state governments have been made to collapse. From ED to Collector all are being used to change parties. People of the country are concerned about how democracy can be protected. And if anyone is responsible for this it is the BJP.”

Patwari said that with the NOTA button, the people of Indore can deliver a message to the country.

“This is a murder of democracy. I want the people of Indore to show their astitva (existence). Let them give a message to the people of the country that they are different. This will give a message and no ideology will be hurt. Even if people in the BJP want to deliver a message against this crime they should do so too. When Rajiv Gandhi was in power the Congress had 400 seats. What if he behaved like this? Now under Narendra Modi such crimes are happening day and night. So what remains of your right to vote? Those who are getting elected without getting your vote, why will they listen to you? Why will they go among the people? They never asked for your vote and you never voted for them,” he said.

In its first press conference since the Lok Sabha elections were announced, the Election Commission said on Monday, a day ahead of the results, that its hands were tied when asked about the elections in Surat and Indore.

“The legislative scheme is absolutely clear. If you want a fundamental conceptual answer, our effort is that there should be a contest everywhere. There is no doubt about that. But after nomination, if candidates withdraw what can we do? If they also are under pressure, if they have been kept shut somewhere that is a different matter. But if they withdraw on their own will, what can we do?” said chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar in response to a question.

The NOTA option was first made available to voters as a button on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in 2013 following a Supreme Court judgement in the same year that said that voters should have the right to come to the polling booth to decide to not vote for any of the candidates while still being able to exercise their right to vote.

The button was used for the first time in the 2013 assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mizoram and Delhi, and then in the 2014 general elections.

Read all of The Wire’s reporting and analysis of the 2024 election results here.

A Sexual Harassment Case, Two Murders and One Mysterious Death: A Dalit Woman’s Horror Story From MP

More than nine months after her 18-year-old brother was lynched and her mother disrobed and thrashed allegedly by those threatening her to withdraw the sexual harassment case, the woman has died under suspicious circumstances and her uncle has been murdered.

New Delhi: A young Dalit woman’s refusal to withdraw a sexual harassment complaint against four influential men in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district in 2019 has brought devastating consequences to her and her family.

More than nine months after her 18-year-old brother Nitin was lynched in daylight and her mother disrobed and thrashed allegedly by those threatening her to withdraw the sexual harassment case, the woman’s uncle was murdered on Saturday (May 25).

The uncle, Rajendra Ahirwar (28), was a witness in her brother’s murder case.

A day later, on May 26, the woman also died under suspicious circumstances after she allegedly fell out of an ambulance (hearse) that was carrying her uncle’s body back to their village following a post-mortem at a hospital.

How she died – whether she was murdered, fell off accidently or took her own life – is unclear and is being probed by police.

However, the murky chain of events culminated in a tragic end to the 21-year-old BA student’s struggle against those who sexually harassed her in 2019 and since then had been allegedly putting pressure on her and her family to withdraw the case.

“Hum bachenge nahi [We won’t survive],” Sapna (name changed), the woman, had told The Wire in November 2023, expressing fear that if the BJP came back to power in the state, she and her family would face backlash from the accused persons.

“How can Dalits get justice in the BJP government? Look at the injustice we have faced. An elderly woman was disrobed and beaten, but no FIR was registered. On the contrary, false cases were lodged against us,” she said on November 7, 2023 when this reporter visited her village.

The family alleged that among those who sexually harassed her and murdered Nitin were those directly linked to the ruling BJP.

On May 25, Sapna’s uncle Rajendra was attacked with lathis and axes by five persons at one Pappu Rajak’s house at around 8:45 pm, said the FIR seen by The Wire.

He was rushed to a local hospital in Khurai but succumbed to his injuries on the way to a better hospital outside the town.

The FIR lodged at the Khurai Rural police station on the morning of May 26 on a written complaint by Rajendra’s father named five persons as accused of murder, rioting and relevant clauses of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention) Act.

The accused were identified as Ashiq Qureshi, Bablu Bena, Israil Bena, Faheem Khan and Tantu Qureshi.

One person has been arrested, sources said, but the police are yet to issue a detailed statement.

According to the victim’s family and Dalit activists in Sagar, they are relatives of the 13 persons accused of murdering Sapna’s brother last year.

Constables on duty at Sapna (right)’s house. Photo: Omar Rashid.

Jitu Patwari, the Congress’s Madhya Pradesh president and who visited the family on May 28, said the accused were putting pressure on Rajendra to settle the murder case.

Lokesh Sinha, SP City (Sagar), told reporters that one person (Rajendra) died after an incident of “maar peet” – or assault – over a dispute. A murder case was lodged and the matter is being investigated, he said.

When Rajendra’s body was being taken from Sagar to his native village in a hearse after a post-mortem was conducted, Sapna allegedly fell off from the vehicle near the Khurai bypass and died of her injuries.

Her family refuses to believe that she may have deliberately jumped off from the vehicle.

Her elder brother Karan (named changed) alleged that his sister and uncle were murdered by those accused in the sexual harassment and murder cases of 2019 and 2023.

“Do you think that a girl who was fighting hard for over two years, was so sharp and was a support system for others, would try to kill herself like this? First, they murdered my younger brother in daylight. Then my uncle, and now my sister. Now it’s just us three that remain here – me, my sister and mother. We feel unsafe,” Karan told The Wire.

When this reporter last met Sapna, she was determined to take the legal battle to the logical conclusion.

Police officer Sinha said that apart from Sapna, only the driver and Rajendra’s relatives were in the hearse when the incident happened.

“She died after falling off from the four-wheeler vehicle. It is being investigated under which circumstances the incident took place,” said the officer.

The police were also collecting evidence to ascertain if Rajendra’s murder was linked to the accused persons putting pressure on the victim’s side for a compromise, he added.

Dharmendra Ahirwar, a Dalit activist who contested the 2023 assembly election, said that Rajendra’s relatives who were in the hearse at the time of the incident reported that Sapna jumped off from the running vehicle on her own. Whether it was out of fright or misjudgement – as the vehicle was running at a slow speed – is not clear, said Ahirwar.

We cannot independently verify this.

Stitch marks on Sapna’s mother’s arm after her injury. Photo: Omar Rashid.

Karan demanded that a CBI probe be conducted into the three deaths/murders.

“The politicians and police in Sagar are hatching a conspiracy, committing atrocities against Dalits and if anyone raises their voice, they crush them. Dalits are being harassed but their FIRs are not being lodged. They are being raped and murdered, but there is no justice and the accused are going scot-free,” said Karan.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh visited the victim’s family and raised questions on the way the BJP government had handled the case.

Singh asked why the state government withdrew the police protection they had provided the family ten days prior to the murder of Rajendra, who along with Sapna and her mother, was among the three witnesses to Nitin’s murder.

He said Sapna had recently reported to police that she was being pressured to change her statement. A main accused person, Ankit Singh, who is allegedly a relative of influential BJP MLA Bhupendra Singh, a former minister and MP, was not arrested by police despite Sapna naming him in her complaint due to “political patronage,” Singh also said.

Congress leader Arun Yadav had in August 2023 shared a letter on social media which said that one of the accused men, Komal Singh Thakur, was a nominated representative of the then-BJP minister Bhupendra Singh, who held the urban development and housing portfolio in the outgoing government of Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Komal Singh was also the husband of the head of the gram panchayat where this incident took place.

The four persons Sapna named in the FIR were identified as Azad Thakur, Vishal, Pushpendra and Chotu alias Vikash.

Karan said the police protection outside their house was removed without “any notice”.

“My mother is in complete shock and in a bad state. She lost her young daughter and her son was murdered in front of her eyes,” said Karan, demanding that Ankit Singh’s name be included in the FIR lodged by his sister.

He also alleged that the accused persons kidnapped Rajendra before assaulting him.

“They picked him up. Why would he go there to them? He was a witness in Nitin’s murder case. He was to record his statement next month. But they have been putting pressure on him to record a favourable statement,” said Karan.

Moments before Karan spoke to The Wire, he spoke to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the phone. Gandhi assured him of all support and promised to visit Sagar in a couple of days.

While Sapna had lodged a sexual harassment complaint in 2019, a new streak of tragedy unfolded for her on August 24, 2023 when three people, Komal Singh Thakur, Azad Thakur and Bikram Thakur, barged into her house and threatened her and her mother with dire consequences if she did not withdraw the case.

Sapna had then alleged that the accused persons, linked to the ruling party minister, had been putting pressure on her to compromise.

Also read: Manoj Mitta on Why Caste-Based Violence Continues With Impunity in India

After threatening the mother and daughter, the accused men intercepted Sapna’s brother Nitin, who was returning from the market, and allegedly thrashed him brutally.

“We kept screaming and pleading but they beat my brother to death in front of us,” Sapna told The Wire last year. She alleged that the accused men not only thrashed her mother and disrobed her, but they also threatened to rape her if she complained against them.

The accused men also vandalised their house.

Police had later arrested 13 persons for Nitin’s murder. These were, Vikram Thakur, Vijay Thakur, Azad Thakur, Komal Thakur, Lalu Khan, Islam Khan, Golu Soni, Nafees Khan, Wahid Khan, Arbaaj Khan, Golu Bena alias Fareem, Aneesh Bena and Abhishek Raikwar. They are in jail.

In a post about the incident on X (formerly Twitter), Rahul Gandhi said: “Narendra Modi has ended the rule of law. Just thinking about what the BJP leaders have done to this Dalit family in Madhya Pradesh fills my heart with pain and anger. It is a matter of shame that under the BJP rule, the government is always found standing with the culprits instead of the victimised women.

“Such incidents break the courage of every person who has no other way to seek justice except the law.”

Accusing Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav of inaction, Patwari, the Congress’s state president, said the Sagar incident had tarnished the state’s image.

Patwari said the Dalit family was “destroyed as part of a well-thought conspiracy” and promised to fight a legal battle to ensure that the case was probed by the CBI.

Chandra Shekhar Aazad, president of the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshiram), said it appears that the accused persons have the “protection of the government.” He demanded a probe by the CBI under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

Aazad said he will visit the family soon to offer them his support.

‘Modi, Give Me Back My House’: No Hope for Justice for Khargone Demolition Victims

Two years after Khargone saw communal violence during Ram Navami processions on April 10, 2022, victims of ‘bulldozer justice’ say no politician has met them since.

Khargone/Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Two years after bulldozers rolled into Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone following communal riots on Ram Navami in April 2022 and demolished houses and businesses owned by Muslims who were deemed to be suspects of the violence, Hasina Fakhroo, a widow whose house built under the PM Awas Yojana and was demolished as a part of the “bulldozer justice” action, says that she was keen to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he addressed an election campaign rally in the area on May 7.

Hasina Fakhroo shows court documents that include a photo of her standing outside her PMAY house. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

“When Modi came here I wanted to go and ask him to give back my house. I wanted to tell him, ‘You had my house demolished, now build my house again and give it to me.’ But my children stopped me from going. All I want is that they should give me my house again,” she told The Wire, sitting outside her tin house in Khargone’s Anand Nagar.

Since the demolition on April 12, 2022, Fakhroo and her family have changed houses four times before moving to the one-room tin house where she now lives with her three sons and a daughter. Tin walls of the house stand on concrete and brick on a small plot that members of the community have collected money and divided among those who were displaced following the demolition drive.

“We don’t even have an electricity connection. One of the neighbours has kindly given us electricity on rent so we have pulled a line from their line to be able to power one bulb and a fan,” said Fakhroo.

Khargone saw communal violence during Ram Navami processions on April 10, 2022. Following the violence, at least 80 people were arrested while the administration brought bulldozers down on shops, businesses and homes owned by Muslims, demolishing at least 50 properties in the area. The action was described by the authorities as one on the accused in the riots who owned these properties and were encroaching on public land.

The demolition drive, first seen in Uttar Pradesh under chief minister Adityanath who has been called “bulldozer baba”, has since spread to Madhya Pradesh, where former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan came to be referred to as “bulldozer mama”. The bulldozer justice model has since also been seen in Delhi, Assam and Uttarakhand.

An Amnesty International report in February said that Muslims were targeted in 128 demolitions that affected 617 people, with at least 33 instances of JCB’s equipment being repeatedly used. Madhya Pradesh reported the highest number of “punitive demolitions” at 56.

Hasina Fakhroo with her PMAY house bearing the stamp. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

In 2021, then Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra described The Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property and Recovery of Damages Act 2021, a law that is similar to one passed by the Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, as one that was “brought in so that anti-social elements and those causing riots will now fear the law”. After the violence in Khargone, Mishra defended the bulldozer action in the city and said that “houses from where stones were pelted will be reduced to rubble of stones”.

As Khargone votes on May 13, two years after the demolitions, victims of the demolition drive say that their hopes for justice are dim.

‘No politician has met us’

Fakhroo’s house in Khargone’s Khaskhaswadi was built under the PM Awas Yojana just about six months before it was brought down, and was one of at least 18 houses demolished in the lane following the riots. After her husband’s death, the house was transferred to her name. The four-bedroom house was built after decades of the family living in a kuccha house on the same plot.

“There was no violence or unrest in our area. Our house was quite far away from where the riots took place. But just because of the riots, they came and demolished my house without giving any warning,” she said.

“Two years have passed since and no one (politician or government authority) has even come to meet us once.”

Across Fakhroo’s house stands a small one-storey house which also bears the stamp of being a house built under the PM Awas Yojana. Mohammad Abdul Hakim said that he had purchased the plot years ago while still living in Khaskhaswadi, where his pucca house was demolished following the riots.

“The house had a proper electricity line, meter, water connection, four bedrooms. After the riots they came and demolished our house and did not allow us to take anything. Not even the electricity meter. For 18 months we lived in a small 8 feet by 8 feet house. It was only five months back that we moved to this house once it got built under the Yojana,” he said.

Hakim said that after the demolition, he applied under the PM Awas Yojana scheme and managed to build this house, where he now lives with his wife, two sons and their wives and two children, with financial assistance from family members.

Hasina Fakhroo with her two sons. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

At the rally in Khargone on May 7, which was held just behind the plot of land where both Fakhroo and Hakim live, Modi continued his communal rhetoric that has become a mainstay of his campaign in recent weeks.

“In Pakistan, terrorists are threatening to do jihad against India. Congress is also asking certain people to do vote jihad against Modi. They are asking the people of a certain religion to vote against Modi,” said Modi at the rally.

“This means they are asking a certain group of people to unite to vote against Modi. Think, to what level has the Congress stooped? They are surrounded by hopelessness and where has that taken them. I am asking you, will you answer?…You tell me. Will you accept vote jihad? Can this be allowed in a democracy? Does the Indian Constitution allow such a jihad?”

His words could be heard clearly by the residents of the Anand Nagar plot.

“We don’t have any hopes from this election. No one has visited us from any party and no matter what we say, Modi will win. Dharm ki rajneeti ko dhanda bana diya hai (They have made a business out of politics over religion). The only hope now is from God, that we will get justice and get back that land where our house was demolished,” said Hakim.

Hasina Fakhroo’s tin house. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

‘Issue in election is whether the country will survive’

Not just homes, Muslim-owned businesses were also felled by bulldozers following the riots. Amjad Khan, owner of Best Bakery in Khargone’s Karim Nagar, said that his bakery was demolished after authorities confused him with another Amjad Khan, also a bakery owner in the area, who was named as an accused in the violence.

“On the day of the riots, I was at Talab Chowk where the violence started but I was standing along with policemen. When the authorities came to my bakery on April 12 (2022) with bulldozers, I told them that I am not the Amjad Khan who they are looking for, but they did not listen to me and demolished my bakery even though I had all permits and papers in order and I was not involved in any way in the violence,” he said.

Talab Chowk, where violence first broke out in April 2022. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

Khan has moved the Madhya Pradesh high court against the demolition of his bakery. But five months later, two of his other bakeries were also demolished in September. While his case is underway in court, in October 2022 he wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office against the demolitions of his businesses and asked for a fair probe. The Wire has seen a copy of the letter. He said he is yet to receive a reply.

In the two years since, he has rebuilt two of his bakeries at the same spot where they were demolished, while the third has been rebuilt a little distance away. The rubble of the destroyed bakery still remains.

Amjad Khan outside his new bakery, built at the same spot where the old one was demolished in April 2022. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

Khan said that while in India the idea of “bulldozer justice” has become synonymous with the Adityanath government who started such demolitions, the pattern is that of Israel’s actions in Palestine.

“Yogiji has copied Israel’s model. This is done to instil fear by demolishing houses and businesses so that no one raises their voice,” said Khan.

“A person works hard all his life to build a house, and that is demolished in less than 30 minutes. If the person has done wrong, courts are there. Only when riots happen or there is violence or a crime do they remember that the building was constructed illegally. What were they doing before? You were collecting taxes on the property and making money… Their only goal is that hum jo bhi zulm karein, tum bardasht karo (bear all our atrocities). If the media was not there to highlight my story earlier, I would have been named in the riots too.”

Amjad Khan amidst the rubble of his demolished third bakery. He has rebuilt it a little distance away. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

Khan said that he has worked with the community in the past and even campaigned for the Congress in the 2018 assembly elections. But after the demolition, no politician from any political party gave him any support.

“The issue in this election is not unemployment or inflation. It is about whether this country will even survive in the next 10-20 years. The way in which things are going, I don’t think that in the coming decades Hindus and Muslims will even be able to sit and have a cup of tea together,” he said.

Case moving slowly

Ashhar Warsi, who is representing the victims in the Madhya Pradesh high court, said that at present the cases challenging the demolitions are moving at a very slow pace.

“The state has been filing replies very slowly. Replies from the municipal corporation, the collector have come in at a very slow pace. And most importantly, the state of Madhya Pradesh is yet to file a reply in two years,” he told The Wire in Indore.

Fifteen petitions against the demolitions have now been clubbed together, of which nine are from those in Khargone. Final arguments in the case are scheduled for July.

Warsi said that while compensation is a challenge, despite successive Supreme Court orders that have said that in violations of fundamental rights, compensation has to be given, the primary goal of the petitioners is to show the circumstances in which these demolitions took place.

“Primarily we have to see in what circumstances these demolitions took place. Secondly, what was the haste for demolitions? There are two questions – if a person has committed a crime does the government have a right to demolish his house? No. Because criminal law already has punishment, so you cannot give another punishment.”

While The Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property and Recovery of Damages Act 2021, that came into effect in 2022, empowers a two-member committee through a claims tribunal to recover from the accused the cost of damage to a public or private property during any kind of violence, it does not say that properties can be demolished. The Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 also requires 14-day notice to be given prior to any action by authorities.

“In these cases, the government is taking the wheel of the Municipal Corporation Act. But technically there is no law that says that houses can be demolished,” said Warsi.

Mohammad Salim Sheikh (bottom left). Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

Back in Khargone’s Gulshan Nagar main road, a group of men are sitting and drinking tea in the evening. Mohammad Salim Sheikh who works as a tailor in the area said that the government’s role should be to take everyone along and not divide.

“This talk around dharm (religion) and spinning a narrative around it is wrong. One can sit on the prime minister’s chair not just for ten years but for their entire life. No one has a problem. But take everyone along. The world is going forward and we are going backwards. Talk about unemployment and giving all citizens their equal rights. Take everyone along,” he said.

Fake Signatures, Intimidating Calls: How Indore Lok Sabha Candidates Were Pushed to Leave the Fray

Three candidates, including two independents and one from the Janata Congress Party, told The Wire that “fake signatures” were obtained on withdrawal forms, while calls were made to pressure them to not contest.

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): On April 29, hours after Akshay Kanti Bam, the Congress’s candidate for Madhya Pradesh’s Indore Lok Sabha constituency, withdrew his nomination and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Dharmendra Singh Jhala, a former air force officer, made his way to the collector’s office to collect his election symbol as an independent candidate – only to find that his name had been added to the list of withdrawn candidates, using a fake signature.

“On that day I only knew that the Congress candidate Akshay Bam had withdrawn his nomination and I knew that there could be a possibility of pressure on me, so I thought I’ll go after 3 pm (the deadline to withdraw nominations) to the collector’s office and take my election symbol,” he said to The Wire.

He continued: “At around 3:30 pm, I called the office and said I was coming to take my symbol. They said yes and asked me if I had withdrawn. I said no and they [asked me to come].

“At around 4:30 pm, we reached and we saw that the gates were shut. I said I had come to take my symbol and they asked me to sit outside. At around 5:30 pm, the document that named those candidates who had withdrawn was shown, which included my name as well. But I had not withdrawn my name.

“I told everyone that I had not signed or withdrawn. I asked to … meet the collector. I found that my fake signature was on the form and one of my ten proposers had signed on that document.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

“Since I had not signed, I asked them to probe the fake signature and have asked for the CCTV footage from the collector’s office, and they have said they will provide it. But I have not got it yet.

“If my signature is fake, it is equally possible that my proposer’s signature can also be fake.”

Bam’s withdrawal and move to the BJP came only days after the dramatic rejection of papers of the Congress candidate(s) in Gujarat’s Surat, leading to Mukesh Dalal being declared elected Lok Sabha MP unopposed, minus an election, as the first MP of the 18th Lok Sabha.

Three candidates in Indore, including two independents and one from the Janata Congress Party, that The Wire spoke to now reveal that “fake signatures” were obtained on withdrawal forms, while coercive and intimidating calls were made to make them not contest.

The Congress’s substitute candidate Moti Singh’s papers were also rejected by authorities on the ground that Bam’s nomination had been accepted.

The Wire has earlier reported that the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)’s candidate in Indore, Ajit Singh Panwar, who is still in the fray, said that he was pressurised and pushed by the BJP to not contest.

Indore, which has been with the BJP since 1989, will vote in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13. Fourteen candidates are in the fray including nine independents, while at least nine others have withdrawn from the race.

‘They have not even spared a fauji’

Jhala said that without seeing the CCTV footage, he will not be able to say who forged his signature. But three days prior, he had received calls from alleged top leaders of the BJP and even had groups of men land up at his house in Indore.

“From April 25-26, on two separate days, two groups of men came to my house. One day it was a group of three people and the other day it was a group of five. They made me speak to top BJP leaders on the phone who asked me to withdraw my nomination and even said that you will be the only candidate left in the race, you will lose your deposit. I politely refused and said, “Main tikau hu, bikau nahi (I am here to stay and can’t be bought off).”

“I told them that if you ask me not to campaign I won’t do so, but you cannot deprive me of my constitutional right to contest elections. You are saying I will lose my deposit. What is the issue? It is my money, my proposers, I will lose it is my problem. They have done 420-i and bemaani (dishonesty),” he said.

Jhala said that he filed a Right to Information (RTI) query the following week along with a writ petition in the Madhya Pradesh high court. The court has said that since elections are underway he can move forward with an election petition after the poll results have been declared.

“Even the public knows that I have been wronged. I was only fighting for my constitutional rights. But they have not even spared a fauji. The public has to decide who will win and who will not. How can you forge my signature and deprive me of my constitutional right to fight elections?”

Also read: Is the BJP Losing Momentum in Bengal?

Dilip Thakkar, Independent

Dilip Thakkar, who filed his nomination as an independent candidate, said that shortly after he filed his nomination papers on April 26m he started receiving calls from BJP leaders. Thakkar has been a Congress worker in the past but decided to contest as an independent this time.

“I was getting about four to five calls from April 26 itself, asking me to withdraw my nomination. The calls were not coming from the top leaders’ numbers but others were calling and making me talk to them on their phone,” he said,

Thakkar said that anticipating pressure tactics, he decided to leave Indore on April 26 night for three days and went about 100 km away to a location near Omkareshwar along with a few of his proposers.

“From April 27, groups of people started arriving at my house. About four men went inside and three or four cars were parked outside. They came in the morning, afternoon and even at night to the mandir where I do seva. They kept wanting to speak to me. I had switched off my phone when I left Indore and only switched it on on April 29 after Bam withdrew his nomination,” he said.

On April 29, Thakkar said that he got in touch with Congress leaders hoping to get their support now that their candidate, Bam, had withdrawn. He went to the Collector’s office at around 4 pm to collect his election symbol and found that his nomination had been withdrawn.

“Since Congress did not have a candidate, they got in touch with me and said stay cautious till 4 pm. But when I went to the Collector’s office at 4 pm, I found that someone else had forged my signature and withdrawn my candidature,” he said.

Thakkar and Jhala both sat in protest outside the Collector’s office and demanded to know how their signatures had been forged, and were both assured that the authorities would look into the matter. Like Jhala, Thakkar too has moved the high court in the matter.

“The biggest question in Indore now is to the people of Indore. Some people have snatched the right to vote. If there is no one in the fight, the ruling party will win, right? But the voting rights of the people of Indore have been snatched,” he said.

A BJP banner in Indore. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta

Janata Congress Party

About 25 km away from Indore city, in Mhow, men associated with the BJP Yuva Morcha visited the Janata Congress Party office on April 28. The party’s Bhavana Sangeliya had filed her nomination papers for the Indore seat a week before.

“They came to my office and asked me to withdraw our candidate’s nomination from the Indore seat. We are also in politics and we understand all this, so I asked them why have you come, who has sent you. He said I have been directed by leaders from Bhopal to make you speak to them. I said you take my phone number and give it to them. At about 9-9:30 pm that night, I received a call from a top leader from another number who asked me to withdraw the candidate,” a member of the party’s top leadership who did not want to be named told The Wire.

On April 29, when Bam withdrew his nomination, the top Janata Congress Party leader said that he called leaders from the Congress to ask them if they would support Sangeliya as they had lost their candidate. However, within two hours, the same local BJP Yuva Morcha leader visited his party office again and asked him to get his candidate to withdraw as quickly as possible.

“This was a good opportunity for us as the Congress did not have an option. Our candidate would be highlighted, and the Congress would also get a candidate. But I did not get a decision in time from them and within that time, the same local BJP leader came to my office made me speak to a top leader who asked us to withdraw again and then our candidate went and withdrew her nomination. When a big leader calls you, what can you even say,” he said.

Sangeliya told The Wire that she herself did not receive any communication from the BJP. When asked about her decision to withdraw, she said: “I only followed what my party high command told me to do.”

However, the top Janata Congress Party leader said that the circumstances are such that the opposition is missing in Indore.

“We cannot do anything because their people made us speak to these top leaders on their phones,” he said.

Also read: Another Battle Awaits Kejriwal

Moti Singh, Congress’s substitute candidate

Meanwhile Congress’s substitute candidate Moti Singh who had his nomination paper rejected on April 26 on the grounds that Bam’s nomination has already been accepted has also sought legal recourse.

“On April 26, my nomination was rejected by election authorities by saying that the Congress has given two names – Akshay Bam whose papers were found to be in order and mine was the second name – and that is why we are rejecting your form,” he told The Wire.

“When he withdrew his name on April 29, we went to the election authorities that I am the substitute candidate and since Bam has withdrawn, I should be made the Congress’s candidate. But they did not pay any attention. After consulting the party leadership, a writ petition was filed in the Madhya Pradesh high court.”

His petition was rejected by both a single judge bench and a two judge bench of the high court, following which he moved the Supreme Court. On Friday, the Supreme Court also refused to allow his plea.

“EVMs and symbols have already been allocated. Why did you wait for seven days (to move apex court)? Unheard-of things are happening, but you should have come earlier. You could have asked for provisional nomination from high court and then come to us. Question of law may be raised in election petition, even as an elector. We will keep it open,” the court was quoted as saying in oral observations, reported Bar and Bench.

Singh said that his plea was that if the candidate (Bam) had withdrawn, the substitute should have been declared as the Congress’s candidate.

“Our point is that the law says that if the first candidate withdraws his candidature, the substitute is declared as a candidate. Modi and the BJP are creating an atmosphere of 400 seats. They are saying they will win by eight lakh votes in Indore. If that was the case, they would not be doing such things in Indore,” he said.

The Wire has reached out to the state BJP for a comment, and written to the Chief Electoral Officer Madhya Pradesh and Indore Collector Asheesh Singh, who is also the district election officer. This article will be updated when they respond.

In Chambal, Would-Be-Agniveers Now Work as Blacksmiths, Carpenters and Shopkeepers

There has been a long tradition of young men in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior-Chambal region joining the army, but after the introduction of the Agnipath scheme, these youth are now searching for other jobs.

Gwalior: Not many people are aware that Chambal, known for its ravines, rebels and guns, has another identity.

Arms are not taken up only by rebels or dacoits for rebellion in this region, but a large number of youth from the area have long been serving in the Indian army and guarding the country. Countless houses across villages in the region have produced soldiers, and there is a long list of martyrs, too.

Data collected by the government of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan showed that about 45% of Madhya Pradesh’s martyred soldiers were from the Bhind and Morena districts. If the neighbouring Gwalior district is included, the figure is even higher.

Suraj, who offers physical training to youth for joining the army, police and paramilitary forces at the SF Ground in Gwalior, said: “There was a time when the number of forms for army recruitment filled in these three districts (Bhind, Morena and Gwalior) alone equalled those filled in all the districts of Madhya Pradesh combined.”

But ever since the Agnipath scheme was launched, the situation has changed.

Chambal’s youth are becoming disillusioned with the army. According to Manu Sikarwar, a resident of Kailaras tehsil of Morena district, “it is a matter of pride to be martyred for the country, but if we are martyred, our family will neither get pension benefits nor other benefits that a regular army soldier gets.

“I have my family to sustain. In case I die, they should at least have enough so that they do not have to worry for the rest of their lives.”

Till two years ago, 20-year-old Manu wanted to join the army and was preparing for it with all his heart. But the Agnipath scheme nipped his dreams in the bud.

“Due to the Agnipath scheme, I had to give up my dream of joining the army because there is no future there. Coming back after four years, I would have to look for some other work, struggle in a new direction and search for a job.”

Manu is not the only one. Many of his friends also aspired to join the army, but all of them are now looking for other jobs.

Also read: Passions Run Dry in India’s ‘Army Villages’ Since the Launch of Agnipath Scheme

Though Manu is preparing for competitive exams in Delhi, he says that his first choice is still the army because his father is also a soldier.

Many officers argue that one cannot look at the army as an employment guarantee scheme. The army recruits according to its needs, and the country should understand that the Agniveer scheme will help in modernising the army and strengthening its organisation.

But another aspect is that in many parts of the country, the army is a tradition, a passion and an essential means to have an honourable life. With one blow, the Agnipath scheme has ended this culture.

There has been a long tradition of joining the army in the Chambal region. Bhanu Jadoun’s grandfather, who lives in Morena city, and his maternal uncle have both served in the army.

Bhanu has now crossed the age limit to become an Agniveer, but he was eligible when the scheme was implemented.

He had passed the physical efficiency test for the army before the COVID-19 pandemic, but due to the lockdown, the rest of the process got delayed and then the Agnipath scheme arrived.

During the first year of the scheme, he was offered a relaxation of two years in age, but he chose not to become an Agniveer.

“I had seen army culture in my family since my childhood, so I had a passion to join it,” said Bhanu.

“But due to the limitation of four years in the job, I lost interest and did not appear for the exam. There are many boys like me who have lost interest in the army because of the Agnipath scheme.”

Bhanu has now become a collection agent in a private company.

The Wire reached the Qazi Basai village, located about 30 kilometres away from the Morena district headquarters. This village, with a population of about 5,000, is 80% to 90% Muslim.

People in the village have been joining the army since the time of the First World War.

Former village sarpanch Haji Mohammad Rafiq, who retired after serving in the Border Security Force (BSF) for 36 years, said that till now, about 3,000 to 3,500 people from his village have been part of various security forces and that seven people have been martyred. 

Many families have been serving in the security forces for five generations, he said, adding that currently, more than 350 people from the village are serving in the Indian army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), BSF and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

L: Panchayat building of the Qazi Basai village. R: Former sarpanch Haji Mohammad Rafiq. Photo: Deepak Goswami/The Wire.

Regarding the Agnipath scheme, the villagers said: “It is absolutely nonsensical to become an Agniveer. One will not even get the status of a martyr in it.”

There is a provision of ex-gratia and insurance for Agniveers in case of death on duty, but they have been deprived of pensions like regular soldiers as well as other facilities given to the families of martyrs.

Apart from this, under the scheme, after the completion of four years of service, the Agniveer will not even be considered an ‘ex-serviceman’.

According to the villagers, four to five boys from the village were recruited to the army in every round of enlistment.

During the last recruitment that took place after the scheme was launched, it was for the first time that no one from the village was selected.

Wasif Mohammad had participated in an army recruitment rally before the Agnipath scheme arrived. But as soon as the scheme was launched, he gave up the idea of ​​joining the army.

“Hardly any boy from the village is interested in becoming an Agniveer,” he said.

“Firstly, one becomes an Agniveer. Then one works hard to become permanent and if one does not get a permanent appointment, one tries for other recruitments. It is better to work hard for some other permanent job instead.”

Former sarpanch Haji Mohammad highlights the grim side of the picture. “Boys who were preparing for the army have now opened grocery shops or are working as blacksmiths or carpenters.”

Wasif has opened a grocery shop and one of his peers, Mosaid Abbasi, has started working as a carpenter.

A village named Tarsma in Morena’s Porena tehsil has offered 17 martyrs to the country till now. There are about 400 houses and five martyr sites in the village. According to sarpanch Satyabhan Tomar, “There are two to three soldiers in every house. In some houses, there are five men and all of them are soldiers.”

Tomar said that there is no enthusiasm for ‘Agniveer’ in his village as well.

Ramnarayan Sikarwar, who runs a physical training centre for recruitment in the security forces in the Kailaras tehsil of Morena district, said: “Army jobs are given more priority in our area because most children here are less educated but are physically strong.

“When the army tenure has been limited to only four years, they are forced to look for work elsewhere.”

Elderly residents of the village – Navi Mohammad, Ata Mohammad and Hasir Mohammad – busy in discussion at Wasif’s grocery shop, told The Wire: “There is no other work to do here.”

“Apart from the army, the boys had nothing else on their mind. Now the government has reduced the service period to four years. So they will have to comply, otherwise they will be forced to do hard labour.”

After ‘Agnipath’, the number of candidates preparing for physical exams dipped

After retiring from the army, Uday Bhadoria has been running a physical training centre in Gwalior’s Bhind Road for the last seven years, where preparation for physical exams for the army, police, National Defence Academy (NDA) and paramilitary forces is carried out.

“Before the Agnipath scheme, students from all over the country used to come to my centre to prepare for enrolment in the army. But now, the scope has been limited to only candidates from Bhind, Morena, Gwalior, Guna, Shivpuri, Datia and Dholpur,” said Bhadoria.

According to him, the number of children arriving to prepare for the army has reduced by almost half.

The number of men in the Agniveer batch in his training centre has also dipped to a very low level.

Uday Bhadoria (right) and the Agniveer aspirants from his training centre. Photo: Deepak Goswami/The Wire.

Suraj, a trainer at another training centre running in the city’s SF Ground, said: “85% of the boys have turned away from the army. Earlier, there used to be 100 to 200 aspirants in my army batch; today, there are only ten to 15 of them.”

A similar situation is seen in the training centres located in Morena’s Jaura and Kailaras, as well as Ambah in Bhind.

Giriraj Singh Bains, who runs the Karah Sarkar Physical Academy in Jaura, said that about 1,000 boys from Jaura used to prepare for the army earlier. Today, the number has come down to between 100 and 200.

Meanwhile, the number of candidates currently enrolled in his academy is between 300 and 400, of which about 100 are training to be Agniveers.

According to Bains, before the scheme was announced, batches of students training for the army used to be the most numerous.

At another centre run by Arif Pathan in Kailaras, there used to be 40 to 50 children in the army batch. But now there are only five boys in the current Agniveer batch.

Note that the maximum age limit for recruitment in the NDA, ITBP, CRPF and BSF is between 19 and 23 years, while the age of recruitment for Agniveers is fixed at 17.5 to 21 years.

As such, when an ‘Agniveer’ retires from the army aged anywhere between 21.5 and 25 years old, he will lose eligibility for the examinations for the other institutions and forces.

Before the introduction of the Agniveer scheme, the total number of youth joining the army from Madhya Pradesh in the three years between 2017-18 and 2019-20 was 7,025. 

According to data presented in parliament, 2,352 youth from the state joined the army in 2017-18; 1,570 in 2018-19 and 3,103 in 2019-20.

The Wire contacted the army recruitment office in Gwalior to find out the number of youth recruited in the army under the Agnipath scheme from Bhind, Morena and Gwalior districts in the last two years, but the office did not provide any information in this regard.

The army recruitment office in Gwalior, where despite contacting them, numbers related to the recruitment of Agniveers could not be obtained. Photo: Deepak Goswami/The Wire.

No employment and no family after four years

The Agnipath scheme requires Agniveers to be unmarried. There is a clause in the scheme:

“Only unmarried candidates are eligible for enrolment as Agniveers. They will not be permitted to marry during their entire tenure of four years. Agniveers may be dismissed from service if they marry during their tenure.

In addition, only unmarried Agniveers are eligible for re-recruitment/enrolment for the post of sepoy or equivalent in the regular cadre.”

But in Chambal, especially in the rural areas of Gwalior and Bhind-Morena, marriages take place at a young age. Wedding preparations begin as soon as a uniform is issued.

“Here, a 25-year-old boy is considered old,” said Giriraj. “Parents think that the boy should pass the 10th or 12th grade and get married as soon as he joins the army.”

Agniveers may not be allowed to get married, but they can get engaged. However, due to the temporary nature of the job, it is not easy to find a match.

“In two years, no Agniveer has found a match in Morena,” said Giriraj. “I get calls from the girl’s family asking for anyone in the army but who is not an Agniveer.”

“People get married at the age of 20 to 21 here,” said Arif Pathan.

“Many married people enrol in my centre to prepare for other recruitments, some even have children. Now, there is also a fear that no one will marry a 25-year-old retired ‘unemployed’ Agniveer. He will have to face the double whammy of losing his job and remaining unmarried.”

Translated from the Hindi original by Naushin Rehman.

MP: Low Voter Turnout Worries BJP, Revives Hopes of Congress

The two phases of the election on April 19 and April 26 for a total of 16 seats dramatically changed the perception. When the campaigning began it was dubbed a one-sided contest, with Congress virtually written off. 

Bhopal: Admittedly, even the Congress had not anticipated such a happy tiding in its favour when the campaigning got underway in March amid a cacophonous BJP triumphalism about a clean sweep in all 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh.

The beginning of campaigning provided a picture of virtually no contest between a cocky BJP and a demoralised Congress. Mass exodus from the opposition rank to the ruling party coupled with a glaringly uneven level of resources between the main rivals further deepened the perception of a one-sided electoral race.

Perception changed

The two phases of the election on April 19 and April 26 for a total of 16 seats dramatically changed the perception. Unexpectedly low voting (a drop of 6% in the first and 8% in the second) rattled the BJP as much as it rejuvenated the Congress.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

More worryingly for the BJP, woman turnout plunged an average 11% across the two phases. A big majority of women, particularly the beneficiaries of the Madhya Pradesh government’s flagship Ladli Behana Yojana, are believed to be an ardent support base for the ruling party. Their solid backing is thought to be the main reason behind the BJP’s stunning victory in the November 2023 assembly election.

Low voting haunts the BJP

As the state is set to vote for the remaining 16 seats in the next two phases (May 7 and May 13), the spectre of low voting is haunting the BJP while the Congress is foreseeing a happy augury for itself in such a prospect.

The BJP has reasoned away the low voting as the severely attenuated Congress’s inability to bring its supporters to the polling booths. The rival, on the other hand, claims it is the result of the voters’ disillusionment with the Modi government’s “hollow promises”.

Scorching summer is also being cited as a probable reason for the plunge in the voting but that doesn’t sound credible enough. Voters in the state had braved more severe heatwaves in the previous elections to make it to the polling booths.

Also read: What Voters’ Lack of Interest in Phase 1 Means for Narendra Modi

Caste factor dominates poll

However, low voting is not a lone factor that has kindled the Congress’s optimism and concomitantly caused furrows on the BJP’s brows.

A combination of factors that had gotten overwhelmed in the BJP’s initial battle cries of ‘Modi ki guarantees’ and ‘Lord Rama’s blessings’ have surfaced as the electioneering has intensified. Caste-equation is the foremost factor. Unlike Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, caste has not been an overriding factor or a main determinant in Madhya Pradesh elections in the last two decades. By projecting as chief ministers such leaders as Uma  Bharti, Babulal Gaur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP ensured that the OBCs in the state are subsumed in the broader canopy of Hindutva.

But in the ongoing election, neither the Sadhvi nor Chouhan is on the forefront. Uma is completely marginalised, though she shared the dais with Jyotiraditya Scindia in Guna on the personal invitation of the Union civil aviation minister. Former chief minister Chouhan has barely come out of the Vidisha seat which sent him to Lok Sabha five times between 1991 and 2004.

Chief minister Mohan Yadav, though an OBC, has very limited personal appeal. Before being anointed chief minister in December last year, Yadav was known as a district-level leader in his home town Ujjain. Anyway, Yadavs with an 8% population scattered across the state are not a determining factor in any seat.

The absence of mass leaders like Uma Bharti and Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the campaign has caused the revival of caste fault lines across the OBCs in the state. The resurfacing of division along caste lines appears to be harming the BJP, especially in the seats where the Congress managed to forge better caste combinations in the selection of its candidates.

Although the impact of the Congress’s promise to hold a caste-based census is not visible on the surface, its undercurrent is being felt across the state.

Also read: Dwindling Voter Turnout Shows Discontent and Political Apathy in 2nd Phase of Lok Sabha Polls

Absence of Modi wave

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election the Modi wave was unmistakably strong and visible. No other narrative except patriotic fervour swept the poll held in the aftermath of the Indian Air Force’s Balakot air strike to kill Pakistan-based terrorists. This time round, BJP candidates’ performance and behaviour appear to be in closer public scrutiny than the Modi government’s achievements and promises.

The BJP, of course, has been persistently invoking Narendra Modi as the sole guarantor for a strong and developed India. It is not offering to the voters anything else beyond Modi ki guarantees. All posters/banners and hoardings have only the Prime Minister.

But the alacrity with which the voters lapped up the Prime Minister’s promises in the previous elections is remarkably subdued. His election meetings and roadshows in Jabalpur, Bhopal and elsewhere in the state failed to whip up the kind of mass hysteria that had greeted his election speeches in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

By all accounts, the ongoing election is the most lacklustre one ever witnessed in Madhya Pradesh with the usual festive atmosphere sorely missing.

Resentment in hardcore workers

The BJP has always prided itself on its gigantic organisation powered by dedicated workers, mostly drawn from the RSS. These hardcore workers feel cheated after the party launched an open-arm policy for an indiscriminate entry of Congress leaders and workers. BJP leaders have claimed to have given entry to nearly five lakh defectors from the Congress including a former Union minister, four former MPs, 15 former MLAs and two sitting lawmakers.

Although the BJP leadership has realised the simmering resentment in the cadres over admitting defectors, it still does not seem averse to closing the floodgate for outsiders.

The hunger for weakening the Congress through shenanigans is still too much to resist in the party as was evident in the manner in which the Congress candidate for the Indore seat Akshay Kanti Bam was forced to withdraw on April 29. Two days later, sitting Congress MLA and poll in-charge for Morena seat Ram Niwas Rawat was admitted to the BJP in the presence of chief minister Mohan Yadav.

State BJP leaders are trying to reassure the cadres that defectors will not be allowed to harm the political interest of the old guards but the assurance has failed to put a lid on resentful murmurs in the party about likely problems in accommodation of neophytes in the existing party set up.

Political observers say that the large-scale defection has annoyed the dedicated BJP workers on one hand and afforded the Congress to play a victim card, on the other.

Congress is hopeful

The Congress is hopeful that the BJP’s strong arms tactics have generated public sympathy for the party and it will reflect in the poll outcome.

Indeed, the Congress has no option but to bank on people’s disgust over excesses being exhibited by the BJP, whether it is in the mass defection or poll expenditures or rampant misuse of official machinery.

Congress eyeing a dozen seats  

At the start of the campaigning, the Congress had anticipated that it would consider itself lucky to win three or four seats including its Chhindwara bastion.

The low turnout and perceptibly rising support for its candidates have emboldened the party to stake a claim on eight seats. These include Chhindwara, Mandla, Rajgarh, Bhind, Morena, Dhar, Jhabua and Satna.

In four more seats, the Congress reckons itself in a tough fight against the BJP. They are Gwalior, Rewa, Sidhi and Balaghat.

Even in Bhopal, a BJP bastion, the Congress sees a glimmer of hope on account of the growing consolidation of Muslim and Kayasth votes in favour of its candidate Arun Shrivastava.

In each of these seats, the Congress optimism stems from the personal standing of its candidates rather than the party’s organisational strength.

In Chhindwara, Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath shored up his position after the initial damage to his prospects owing to the exodus that was brazenly engineered by the BJP state leadership at the behest of Amit Shah.

In Mandla, visible anger against Union minister Fagan Singh Kulaste and the popularity of his Congress opponent Omkar Singh Markam may have turned the tide against the BJP.

In Rajgarh, the septuagenarian Congress veteran Digvijay Singh has covered a lot of ground to impress the voters through gruelling foot-marches in the scorching summer across the constituency. His connectedness with voters in his traditional seat, to which he returned after 30 years, appears to be giving Digvijay Singh a distinct advantage against RSS-backed BJP candidate Rodmal Nagar. Voting in Rajgarh is slated on May 7.

In Bhind seat, Congress candidate Fool Singh Barraiya is a grassroots activist who is credited with having single-handedly built BSP cadres in the region when he was state president of the Mayawati’s outfit.

In Morena, the caste combination seems to have given the Congress an edge over the BJP. In Dhar, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Umang Singhar has put his prestige at stake for the party candidate and his popularity seems to be working in the tribal seat. Likewise, the adjacent  Jhabua ( ST) seat is witnessing a keen contest between former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria and his BJP opponent Anita Nagar.

In Satna, BJP’s Ganesh Singh is pitted against Congress candidate Siddharth Kushwaha. It is their second direct fight. In the assembly election, Kushwaha had defeated Ganesh Singh in the Satna seat by a considerable margin.

When the campaigning for the ongoing election began, state’s newspapers and TV channels had virtually written off the Congress as a distant runner in the one-sided race against the BJP. Now the media is forced to change its view. Phrases like keen contest, interesting duel, caste factor and voters apathy are eloquently figured in the election reporting of the state’s dozen-odd seats.

Amid Gloom, Some Glimmers of Hope for the Congress in Madhya Pradesh

There are a dozen-odd seats where the candidates, rather than the party, are being viewed as potential uplifters of the Congress’s sagging morale.   

Bhopal: Predictably enough, morale of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh is at its lowest ebb as the party stares at the prospect of losing the lone seat (Chhindwara) it won, out of 29 seats, in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

An aggressive Bharatiya Janata Party has ensured that the main opponent in the election does not recover from the sense of gloom and doom; it has starved the Congress of funding for its campaign; has crippled the opposition by engineering a mass exodus of leaders across the state; and has completely dominated the electioneering by extravagantly splurging vast resources. A dispirited Congress is virtually left with no option but to pray that the voters might come to its rescue this time around and reject the BJP’s strong-arm tactics to throttle the opposition. The optimism is higher for a dozen-odd seats where the candidates rather than the party are being viewed as potential uplifters of the Congress’s sagged morale.

Congress’s dismal track record

However, given the track record of the previous Lok Sabha elections, any dramatic turnaround in the voters’ preference appears too much to hope for. The BJP had won 28 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election by securing 61.2% votes, while the Congress trailed far behind at 35.8%. Significantly, the previous election had followed barely five months after the Congress’s stunning victory in the 2018 assembly election. In comparison, the coming election is taking place months after the Congress’s crushing defeat in the 2023 assembly election. The BJP surprised everyone by retaining power, winning 163 seats against the Congress’s paltry 62.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

In view of the rising trend of support for the party, the BJP has justifiable reason to hope for surpassing the 2019 election record.

In 1980, the BJP garnered a voter turnout of 45.3%, slightly lower than the Congress’s 50.2%, with other parties securing 4.5% of the votes. In subsequent elections, the voter turnout for both BJP and Congress showed incremental increases, with the BJP surpassing the main opponent in 1996 with 54.5% compared to 42.9%. This trend continued in subsequent elections, with the BJP consistently maintaining higher voter turnouts compared to the Congress.

Polling in four phases

Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to vote during the first four phases on April 19 and 26 and May 7 and 13. The state’s 29 Lok Sabha constituencies will participate in the electoral process as per the following breakdown:

Phase Date Lok Sabha constituencies to vote
1 April 19 Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat, Chhindwara
2 April 26 Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad, Betul
3 May 7 Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh
4 May 13 Dewas, Ujjain, Indore, Mandsaur, Ratlam, Dhar, Khargone, Khandwa

Urban MP is BJP’s bastion

The constituencies represent a diverse range of regions and demographics. From urban centres like Indore in Malwa to rural constituencies like Tikamgarh in Bundelkhand, the state’s electoral map reflects its political significance in national elections.

In the urban constituencies such as Indore, Jabalpur, Sagar and Bhopal, the BJP is so well entrenched that speculation about poll prospects is reduced to the victory margins of the ruling party’s candidates. Candidates’ own standing has ceased to matter.

In Bhopal, for instance, Malegaon bomb blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur routed Congress stalwart Digvijaya Singh by over three lakh votes.

Shivraj Singh returns to Vidisha citadel  

The neighbouring Vidisha seat is another virtually impregnable BJP bastion since 1984. This time, former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has returned as the BJP candidate after a gap of 19 years. Chouhan represented the seat since 1991 after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee vacated it, shifting to Lucknow.

Chouhan’s powerful propaganda machinery has already created a narrative that he is tipped to be an important Union minister in the next cabinet, triggering a mass exodus in the Congressmen and women of the region. His candidature also indicates that the former chief minister still wields enough political clout to be in the reckoning for a powerful position in the party, and possibly, in the next government. He is not down and out after being divested of the chief minister’s post.

His Congress opponent Pratap Bhanu Sharma had won from the Vidisha seat in 1984. Since then, the Congress has continued to face defeats on the seat with huge margins.

Scindia in Guna

Likewise, Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia is also in an advantageous position as his supporters are telling voters in Guna that ‘Maharaj’ will get a more important portfolio in the next Modi cabinet. He had lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election as te Congress candidate. The stunning loss was said to be the primary reason behind his defecting to the BJP in March 2020 that resulted in the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government.

The Congress has fielded former MLA Rao Yadavdndra Singh to take on Scindia, in view of the fact that the Yadav community has a sizeable presence in the constituency. The BJP candidate who had defeated Scindia was also a Yadav.

BJP attack on Kamal Nath’s bastion

While the odds are heavily staked against the Congress, there are a few seats where the party hopes to turn the tide on the strength of the candidates’ personal stature.

Of these few seats, Chhindwara, of course, stands on the top. The BJP is hell-bent on snatching this lone Congress bastion where former chief minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath is seeking re-election. His candidature preceded rumours about the father-son duo joining the BJP. This did not happen. The BJP maintained that it had closed its doors for the duo. A BJP leader who came out openly against Kamal Nath’s joining the party was its general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya. Now Vijaygargiya is tasked with ensuring Nakul Nath’s defeat.

However, suspicion about the senior Nath’s loyalty to the Congress still looms large on his son’s campaign, even as a large number of the Congress veteran’s supporters including an MLA and Chhindwara mayor have deserted him to join the BJP. The most significant name in the massive exodus from the Congress to the BJP in Chhindwara is Deepak Saxena, a staunch Kamal Nath confidante who had vacated his assembly seat to enable his boss to win as chief minister in 2019.

Although the Congress dominates the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat, having won all the seven assembly segments under it, Nakul Nath is facing a tough fight against the BJP’s Vivek Bunty Sahu.

Kamal Nath is staying put in Chhindwara and mobilising support for his son, using an emotional touch on the electorate. Besides, he is citing all the development works he initiated as nine-time Lok Sabha member from the parliamentary constituency.

Even Kamal Nath’s bitter critics grudgingly admit that people in Chhindwara still look up to him as someone who transformed the backward tribal district into a model of modern development by bringing in industries.

The Nath family still enjoys a huge reservoir of support, as was evident during the filing of nomination papers by the Congress candidate. But this time, Nakul Nath is pitted against the combined might of the state government and vast resources of the BJP – both human and material.

Digvijaya Singh in Rajgarh

Even as Kamal Nath is struggling hard to save his Chhindwara citadel, his old-time friend Digvijaya Singh has been conducting vigorous foot-marches to win back his Rajgarh seat which he had vacated in 1994 after being elected chief minister. An avid foot-marcher, the septuagenarian Congress leader has earned praise from the voters in his traditional constituency for his sheer endurance and stamina. His BJP opponent, Rodmal Nagar, is banking largely on the cadre support from the RSS to which he belongs. Digvijaya Singh’s peripatetic style of  campaigning – he travels almost 15 km daily on foot – has helped him revive old memories of his long association with the people across the constituency. His sharp memory has come in handy to connect with the people.

However, the real test of his popularity will come to pass when RSS volunteers from across the country will flock to Rajgarh to canvass for the BJP candidate in coming days. Rajgarh is slated to go on poll on May 7 in the third phase.

Congress optimism in tribal seats

Yet another stalwart and former Union minister Kantilal Bhuria has raised hopes in the otherwise dejected Congress camp of a possible victory. The tribal leader is contesting from his traditional Ratlam-Jhabua (ST) seat against the BJP’s Anita Nagar Singh Chouhan.

In fact, not only in Jhabua but also in other tribal-dominated seats in the state, the Congress is optimistic about a good showing. In the Mandla seat in the Mahakoshal region, Congress candidate Omkar Singh Markam is giving a tough fight to the BJP candidate, Faggan Singh Kulaste. The Congress’s hope for the Mandla seat stems from the facts that Kulaste had lost his assembly seat in 2023 under the Mandla parliamentary constituency, while Markam won another assembly seat by a big margin. Markam is a Rahul Gandhi acolyte and a member of the Congress Working Committee.

In Shahdol (ST) seat too, the Congress is optimistically banking on the popularity of its candidate Fundelal Marko against  BJP’s Himadri Singh. Rahul Gandhi addressed an election meeting for the Congress candidate. However, the losing streak of the grand old party in previous elections doesn’t support the Congress’s optimism.

Chambal and Vindhya regions

There are many non-tribal seats such as Satna, Rewa, Gwalior, Bhind and Morena where personal appeal of the Congress candidates might overcome that of Narendra Modi’s.

In Satna, the BJP has fielded sitting MP Ganesh Singh despite him losing the assembly election a few months ago.  His Congress opponent Siddharth Kushwaha is an MLA. The caste combination in the Satna seat appears to favour the Congress. In the adjacent Rewa seat, Neelam Mishra is taking on sitting BJP MP Janardan Mishra. In Gwalior, Phool Singh Baraiya’s personal appeal transcends the Congress’s ideological base. In the Bhind and Morena seats in the Gwalior region, caste equations coupled with the candidates’ popularity seem to be favouring the Congress.

That said, it is still early days to say whether the 2019 voting pattern will repeat itself or the Congress will spring a surprise.