Kankroli (Rajsamand, Rajasthan): With the assembly polls approaching, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje kicked off her election campaign today from the famous Charbhuja temple in Rajsamand district. Raje began her last two yatras as leader of opposition, the Parivartan Yatra in 2003 and the Suraj Sankalp Yatra in 2013, from the same point.

A day ahead of her visit, the temple was still getting ‘touch-ups’ that were started barely five days ago. From constructing a road connecting the highway to the temple to tiling and painting the chipped paint walls around the deity and building canopies around an ancient tree, all possible quick and temporary refurbishing was in place.

While Raje may believe in Charbhuja’s blessings, her coming to the temple only once in five years, before elections, doesn’t win over many.

“It’s only today, after five years, that she thought of repairing the temple. How does she expect the thakurji to listen to her when she pays attention to him only during the elections? And that’s the manner in which she governs the state too, only takes temporary actions to create an illusion of governance,” Ram Chandra Gujjar, a priest at the Charbhuja temple, told The Wire.

The priests at the Charbhuja temple are vexed with Raje for not resolving the issue of a decree passed by the sub divisional officer (SDO) in 2012, refusing to enter the name of the shebait in the revenue records as the guardian of the idol of Charbhuja, a perpetual minor. In 2017, holding that “the shebait do not have any independent status to claim any right over the khudkast land of the deity”, the court dismissed a petition filed against the order.

“There is Devasthan land worth Rs 1,000 crore in Charbhuja meant for a temple, but it was leased out to a sugar factory. When the village boys went to graze their cattle there, the owner beaten them up badly. The case is still pending in the Jodhpur high court. Raje was expected to solve this issue, but she never paid it any attention. Now, she’s coming here just because she want to win the elections,” added Gujjar.

While Raje may seem confident about a victory in the polls, the sentiment across the state is constantly shifting. Rishiraj Sharma, owner of the Vande Mataram Restaurant in the Jawaja tehsil in Ajmer and a staunch supporter of BJP, said, “We have an RSS background, but still we will not vote for Vasundhara Raje. It’s always better to keep changing the government in every election, so as to make politicians understand their duty towards the public.”

According to Sharma, anger against Raje and other local representatives is simmering, but the Narendra Modi wave still has a profound impact in Rajasthan. “We neither want our MLA to win this time nor Raje, but we still believe in Modiji. All the schemes that the Raje dispensation has begun over the past few years were Modi’s idea.”

Nevertheless, people aren’t bowled over by the number of lynchings in Rajasthan. “Cows over development and governance could be a priority for the politicians, but it’s not for the citizens, who have to make ends meet.”

Villagers are also resentful of the lack of job opportunities. “I worked for three years in a government school in Charbhuja, but as soon as the BJP came to power in Rajasthan in 2013, many of us were removed from our jobs as the criteria of appointment of teachers changed. From the past three years, I’m unemployed and the government has refused to issue me even a BPL card,” said Ranglal Gujjar, a local who has a disability.

However, the Congress is still far from winning hearts. “We have no interest in the Congress. Even though Sachin Pilot belongs to our caste, we still won’t endorse him because he went out of our caste and married a Mohammedan girl from Kashmir,” said Chogalal, another priest at the temple.

When asked what the yatra means to the public, Vaktavar Singh, a local kiosk owner in Charbhuja said, “It’s just hawa-baazi, ultimately when we will vote, we’ll see whether the candidate who has done something for us. The villagers might not be literate, but they are not fools.”

While the BJP enjoys huge crowds at its rallies across the state, locals say the gatherings consist mainly of MGNREGA workers, who are largely unoccupied and come whenever they are called.

Magga Ram, a retired government official, says he came to attend the yatra to find out the truth behind these rallies. “I’m not from any political party. I just came here for my own survey, unlike most of the others here who are predominantly MGNREGA workers and remain free most of the time.”

For many, free transportation and food given while travelling for a rally is an opportunity to explore a new city with their families – a mini-vacation.

“There is no difficulty of any sort in coming to these rallies. We sit in a bus from our village and we are dropped at the venue. In between, they also give food and tea. What else do we need?” Bagga Ram, a MGNREGA worker from Jaitaran in Pali district who attended a rally for the first time, told The Wire.

Gopal Khatri, a private driver from Pali who has been ferrying people to BJP rallies for the past three years, described his experience. “The RTO officer gives our company owner orders to take people to the rally venue, and we have no option but to obey what he says. I’ve taken villagers to the Jaipur and Barmer rallies, and I can bet that the people who attend a rally once never come back again. The traffic gets so bad during the rallies that it takes double the time to go back after, and the public is given the same old food for two meals. Most of them go back feeling ill.”

Many people who came to attend the rally didn’t go to venue, and instead waited in the bus or outside for the programme to finish. “It’s so hot outside and we have no water. Who will take care of us if we feel sick inside?”

“It’s enough that we came here; no one can force us to go inside,” said Gattu Devi, am MGNREGA worker from Rajsamand.

Sugni Devi from Kishanpura came to attend a rally for the first time and fell ill during the journey. With no doctor around, she decided to rest inside the bus.

There were also people who clearly understood political acts before the polls, and weren’t about to be influenced easily.

Mohan Ram from Gundika Bhilwara said, “We don’t go to attend such yatras because going there means losing out on a days income, and we are not in a position to afford that. During the elections, the candidates offer free liquor to us and many people do accept it and then vote for them while being drunk, but not everyone falls prey to this easily. We know who does what work.”

Amit Shah praises Raje’s ‘success’; takes a dig at ‘Rahul baba’

Speaking at the rally, BJP president Amit Shah said, “Only Raje or any other BJP minister will have the courage to give an account of their governance to the public.”

Countering Pilot’s claim that he will ask a question every day during the 58-day-long yatra, Shah said, “What 40 questions would you ask? Rahul baba asks us questions too. He asks us what we have done in last four years – but the nation is asking what you have done in the last four generations.”

Naming the schemes launched by the Modi and Raje governments in one go, Shah claimed that 116 schemes have been initiated for the public in Rajasthan covering toilets, gas, electricity and homes for crores of people.

Speaking of the implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC), Shah asked the gathering, “Bangladeshiyon ghusbaitiyoon ko nikalna chahiye ya nahi? NRC laggu honi chahiye ya nahi? (Should Bangladeshi undocumented immigrants be thrown out or not? Should the NRC be implemented or not?)” and received an overwhelming ‘Yes.’

Talking about the alleged dilution of the SC/ST Act, Shah said, “There was a Supreme Court order that was meant to soften the Act, but the Modi government has once again made it stringent.”

He also announced a Bill presented by the Modi government for constitutional recognition to the OBC category and asked the gathering to question Rahul Gandhi when he comes to the state later this month.

During the 58-day yatra, Raje will take an 18-day break. The yatra will spend seven days each in three major regions – Udaipur, Jodhpur and Ajmer. In the other regions – Bharatpur, Bikaner, Kota and Jaipur – the yatra will spend four to six days each. In all, Raje will cover 165 of the 200 constituencies in the state, and hold about 134 public meetings.

Shruti Jain is a freelance journalist.