Alleged paper leaks cast shadow in final phase of Ashok Gehlot's fight for his son | Political pulse news

Narpat Singh, 61, a retired teacher sitting outside a tea shop in Jalore Zila township, says that while Vaibhav is still fighting an uphill battle, the BJP in Jalore is on a strong footing. “Also, due to the revelations of Gehlot’s OSD, the Congress will lose the little support it has among the youth.”

On Wednesday, Sharma alleged, among other things, that Gehlot, during his tenure, tried to protect the accused in the paper leaks, including then Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education chairman Dharmpal Jaroli.

The BJP has made the paper leaks a major issue and Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned this in his speech in Agra on Thursday where he raised Sharma's allegations. Late in the evening, in his first remarks on the “revelations”, Gehlot asked what evidence the Prime Minister had.

However, some in Jalore have doubts. If unemployment is a big problem, Narpat said, it is because of the paper leaks under the Gehlot government.

Ironically, education is one of the common points in political conversations in Jalore, especially since 59-year-old Lumbaram Choudhary of the BJP completed his tenth standard only in 2016, while Vaibhav has two degrees from ILS Law College in Pune.

Sitting next to Narpat, 38-year-old Shrawan Nath, who hails from the SC Kalbelia caste, said Vaibhav was well-educated and could put forward the concerns of the constituency more clearly unlike Lumbaram.

Velaram Sankhla, 49, a member of the same Mali community as the Gehlots, agrees and says, “The last time this Lok Sabha seat saw development was in 1999 when Buta Singh (former Union home minister) was an MP here was.”

For Hariram Rathore, also a retired teacher, there is another factor at play. Hariram hails from the Rajput community; Union minister and BJP candidate from Rajkot, Gujarat and Parshottam Rupala's comments about Rajputs, which sparked protests there, also had an impact on Jalor, which borders Gujarat.

The two candidates have roped in Rajput leaders in the election campaign – Vaibhav to capitalize on their anger and Lumbaram to contain the damage.

Chandan Singh, 45, a Rajput and former BJP councilor, admits that the community supports Vaibhav. He also questioned the BJP's decision to replace its 15-year incumbent MP Devji Patel with his advisor and community colleague (Kalbi OBC, the largest group in Jalore seat) as candidate. “Are there no other castes here? And what has Patel done in 15 years?” asks Singh.

The BJP has traditionally relied on large OBC groups in Jalore, including Kalbis and Debasis. However, Rajputs also stuck to it.

Apart from the Rajputs, Vaibhav is banking on consolidation of non-Kalbi OBC castes and SC/STs. A Congress leader says, “OBCs like Darzi, Nai, Kumhar, Lohar and Mali are now switching from BJP to Congress…The angry Rajputs are also switching because our MLA from Bheemal here, Samarjit Singh, is a Rajput.”

However, BJP district president Shravan Singh Rao is confident that the party will retain “all OBC votes” – which he puts at 10 lakh in Jalore – apart from support from Rajputs and Purohits.

According to Rao, this is because Vaibhav is an “outsider”. “And if Vaibhav couldn’t win in his home turf with the help of his father as the sitting CM, how can he win in Jalore, a BJP stronghold?”

In contrast, Lumbaram has risen in the rankings, says Rao. “He is a completely normal person, a farmer. And since he has been a party employee for 40 years, the entire organization works for him. People also want to see Modi ji again. Vaibhav’s candidature is a promotion of parivaarvaad (nepotism).”

To counter the “outsider” narrative, Vaibhav's wife Himanshi – apart from their daughter – has worked hard and promised voters that if he wins, he will build a house in Jalore whose doors will “always be open”.

But if Lumbaram's son-of-the-soil narrative works to his advantage, for the youth, the fact that Vaibhav, at 43, is 26 years younger than his BJP rival, is a striking nerve.

Then there is Gehlot's own influence, with the former CM, along with that of his experienced confidants, using his weight to secure a victory. It is a prestige fight after Vaibhav's 2019 defeat in Jodhpur against senior BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, an arch-rival of the Gehlot.

Among those checking out Vaibhav are locals Jahangir Khan (32) and Mohamad Arif (30), who belong to hardcore Congress families, as well as young government workers on Bagoda Road who are rooting for the Gehlot government's return to the old pension system . “Modi’s enthusiasm came in 2014,” says one of them.

Jagdish Bansal, who runs an internet cafe at the age of 72, has seen worlds change. But in his opinion there was one constant. “People in Jalore don’t reveal their preferences. And if most of them say that one of them will win, then he will definitely lose.”