Bhoj-bhandara, saris, cash, chhapri, temples, birthdays…. Has the political lexicon changed?

No, Indore is known for politicians who gained influence organising feasts on religious occasions and birthdays — real or fake — distributing saris and other little gifts, refurbishing temples and leading gangs of chhapariyas (goons). One may call it
the Kailash Vijayvargiya model that others have followed.

This political culture has thrown up the most engaging battle of this election in Madhya Pradesh, in the Indore-1 constituency. Here, the BJP central leadership has forced a reluctant Vijayvargiya to take on Sanjay Shukla, the popular sitting MLA of the Congress who would have won hands down against any other candidate.

Now nobody is risking a prediction about the outcome.

Vijayvargiya was fielded in place of his son, the sitting MLA from neighbouring Indore-3 constituency, because Narendra Modi and Amit Shah know that he alone can wrest the seat from the Congress.

Vijayvargiya’s candidature has created a dilemma for the majority of the voters, who are obliged to both candidates.

“We have participated in hundreds of feasts organised by both leaders and received gifts from them. We don’t want either of them defeated,” an auto driver said, expressing sadness about the clash.

Vijayvargiya has publicly expressed his dismay at being fielded in the Assembly election, arguing that he is a senior politician who should have made speeches before the people and left instead of begging them for votes.

People here agree that Vijayvargiya is big enough a leader to sit with Modi and Shah but was pushed into this petty political fracas.

“Minister-level se upar hain,” a woman said, confessing she had received all kinds of gifts from these politicians over the past decade.

Indore-1 was a BJP stronghold with Sudarshan Gupta winning in 2008 and 2013. But Shukla not only snatched the seat in 2018, he has consolidated his position through his continuous contact with the voters in the last five years.

A shopkeeper said: “Sanjay Bhaiya helps us throughout the year. During Covid, he distributed rations. When slums were water-logged for months, cooked food was delivered to the affected people twice a day till normalcy had been restored.”

The intense campaigning by the Vijayvargiya family betrays how formidable a contender Shukla is: even the women are travelling door to door for votes.

While the dominant opinion is that the contest can throw up any result, some people believe that Vijayvargiya’s patronage of “chhapariyas” has antagonised many and that Shukla can pull it off with his humility.

A local political observer, however, said: “Kailashji will not win because of the people’s support; he will win because of ‘management’. Muslim voters could have given an edge to the Congress but there are rumours of ‘management’. What if most of them don’t turn up at the booths? The rumour mills are churning out all kinds of stories — Rs 10,000 per vote, cars for the booth-in-charge and what not.”

Many people are talking about such allegations but there is no confirmation. Reports of the seizure of cash and liquor have, however, become routine.

A truck carrying 2.5 lakh saris was intercepted on Thursday. The driver fled, making it difficult to ascertain who had booked the consignment.

In Indore-2, Vijayvargiya’s disciple Ramesh Mendola sits comfortably because of this trait of “helping people” even though the Congress has fielded a strong candidate.

People see Mendola, famous as “Dada Dayalu”, as invincible because he never says “no” to any help-seeker.

“Koi unke ghar se khali haath nahin lauta (Nobody ever returned empty-handed from his home),” is the refrain among voters, some of whom have personally been helped by him.

Mendola doesn’t help with cash alone, he also delivers “justice” to people involved in disputes and gives “protection” to businessmen, who have no complaints against him. His is the safest seat for the BJP out of the nine in Indore district.

In Indore-3, a constituency dominated by businessmen, markets, grain mandis and transport companies — an ideal landscape for the BJP — its candidate Golu Shukla faces a tough challenge from Deepak Joshi Pintu.

Golu Shukla is known for organising Kanwar Yatras in which he takes thousands of pilgrims from Indore to Ujjain. But he also has the image of a strongman who patronages “chhapariyas”.

“It’s a fight between humility and clout. The Congress candidate is the son of the veteran Mahesh Joshi and he supported the business people during the Covid lockdown,” a businessman said.

In Indore-4, the Congress is caught in an odd situation as its Sindhi candidate Raja Mandhwani is being branded a Pakistani by the BJP.

Although Mandhwani was born and brought up in Indore, his family came from Sindh, now in Pakistan. The BJP says there will be Diwali in Pakistan if he wins.

In Indore-5, Congress candidate Satyanarayan Patel is putting up a strong fight against the sitting MLA, Mandra Hardiya of the BJP, who faces a three-term anti-incumbency.

In Sanwer, minister Tulsiram Silawat — who won on a Congress ticket in 2018 but defected to the BJP with Jyotiradiya Scindia — is locked in a fierce battle with the young Rina Baurasi, daughter of Congress leader Premchand Guddu who has turned rebel.

Of the remaining three seats in the district — Rau, Depalpur and Mhow — the Congress hopes to win at least two. In Indore, seen as an RSS-BJP fortress, the Congress should be happy if it wins four out of nine.