An Opposition campaign gifting a huge political incentive to the government is a rare phenomenon in politics. But that’s the favour a faltering BJP has done to the ruling Congress in Rajasthan.

The photograph of a farmer that the BJP used in its hoardings to convey the message that the Ashok Gehlot government had auctioned the land of peasants who had defaulted on loans has put the Opposition party in an embarrassing position. The farmer and his family have asserted that they neither defaulted on a loan, nor had their land been auctioned.

Madhuram Jaypal of Ramdewra village in Jaisalmer found to his horror that his photograph had sprung up across the state with a message that his land had been auctioned. The family was in panic because they feared for their land even as there was no pending loan in their name. Those who had visited the towns and cities informed them that the photograph had appeared on hoardings put up by the BJP.

The massive hoardings screamed: “19 hazaar se zyada kisano ki zameenen neelam, nahin sahega Rajasthan (Rajasthan will not tolerate the auctioning of land belonging to 19,000 farmers).” As media reports highlighted the farmer’s anguish because his photograph had allegedly been taken fraudulently and used in a wrong context, chief minister Gehlot latched onto the opportunity to amplify the message.

Exploiting the BJP’s goof-up, which might have been caused because parties have outsourced publicity work to professional agencies which do not involve grassroots political workers even for cross-checking, Gehlot invited Madhuram and his son to his residence and promised to get the hoardings removed.

Emboldened by the meeting with the chief minister, Madhuram’s son said they would file an FIR and a defamation suit because the hoardings had destroyed their reputation in the village. They expressed happiness with the welfare programmes of the Gehlot government.

Gehlot released the video of his conversation with the farmer, which referred to his welfare schemes. As if the photo goof-up was not enough, the Rajasthan BJP reposted the chief minister’s video on X, saying: “Mr Gehlot, you can’t deny the fact that land of 19,000 farmers has been auctioned in your regime.” Later, the BJP also posted videos of some farmers whose land had allegedly been auctioned.

There is no denying the fact that some commercial banks issued notices to farmers who defaulted on loans and threatened to auction their land. Some cases of auctioning created a huge uproar, forcing the Gehlot government to write to the Centre to allow a one-time settlement for the farmers. The death of a farmer from Dausa whose land was auctioned, Kajod Meena, triggered a controversy.

The state government has been grappling with the issue for the past two years. While the Congress had promised a loan waiver, it took decisions that benefitted over 20 lakh farmers. But all farmers, particularly those with bigger loans, were not covered by the scheme.

The Gehlot government in January 2022 passed a bill in the Assembly to stop the auction of farmland, but the proposed law did not get the governor’s nod on technical grounds. The government brought another bill in 2023 to set up a loan relief commission.