Rishi V K, Manoj Nair & Rakesh Bedi
BHILWARA | AJMER | PALI

IN RAJASTHAN, WHERE ALONG WITH the temperature election fever is also rising, a strange wave seems to be building up in vast swathes of the desert state. The wave doesn’t concern a local man or local issue; it’s about a man who rules a neighbouring state with firmness or, what many not living in the state feel, high-handedness. The man, of course, is Narendra Modi—outstanding for some and bizarre for some others.
The love for the Gujarati leader is evident mostly in traditional BJP pockets like Ajmer but, like a blooming romance, is gaining strength from deep emotion in other areas too. In fact, so besotted is the average voter by the Gujarat strongman, he would not even blink his eyes before voting BJP were Modi the PM candidate. BJP party workers in the state are giving their party just 10 seats. The result, they say, would be 15-10 in favour of Congress. But had BJP chosen Modi as its prime ministerial candidate, the party, feel most of its campaign-weary members, would have won hands down in the state. The score: 21-4 in favour of the saffron party. What is it in the bearded leader that makes him such a rock star in Rajasthan? The people say it’s Narendra Modi’s single-minded pursuit of development. He’s driven and is in overdrive on development, the party workers feel.
There are people who have shifted factories to Gujarat
because Modi gives them everything on a platter and in a jiffy, “All the clearances are done in no time,” says Lalit Khatri, a tilemaker in Byawar, a small town off Ajmer.” He has done so much in Gujarat, imagine what he will do to India if he becomes PM,” he says. But what about Modi’s poor record on communal relations. “Ah! we know all that. That’s not why we will vote for him. We will vote because the man delivers what he promises.” But he delivered riots too. “We should look to the future, not dwell on the past. I like what he has done to Gujarat. He’s a meticulous planner and a strong decision-maker,” says Khatri.
Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, campaigning for her son Dushyant Singh who is contesting from Jhalawar, isn’t much enthused. “As of now, there’s Mr Advani and he’s our leader. We believe in the present. When it comes to the future, we will see.” But Advani’s popularity seems to be on the wane in Rajasthan. Even the Sindhis, who exist in large numbers in places like Ajmer, don’t feel excited by the grand old man of the party. In the holy city, most of them say they will still vote for BJP but Advani’s candidature has nothing to do with that. They will go for BJP because they have always gone for BJP. They are traditional voters, they won’t ditch the party so easily. Although Modi’s accent on development acts as a magnet for pulling in people, his image as a Hindutva strongman and an able decision-maker also draws in voters to his and his party’s fold. In an issueless election, it’s clear people have only one dominating theme: development. Of course, they will not ignore caste (a huge factor in Rajasthan) and religion (a less important factor in the state) when they go to the EVMs, but they will surely keep development in mind