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The flower market near the district jail in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara is buzzing since morning. Navratri means extra sale but there are more reasons for sellers to feel upbeat with the election season just around the corner.
Within minutes of News18 reaching the area, BJP workers reached the market to purchase bouquets and garlands. Chief minister Mohan Yadav has made at least five trips to the constituency, while senior state leader Kailash Vijayavargiya has parked himself here to oversee the BJP campaign. Party president JP Nadda also arrived in Chhindwar on Friday as BJP goes all out to snatch the Congress bastion in 2024. Hectic political activities also mean bouquets and garlands flying off the shelves.
You ask about the flower of the election season and shopkeeper Sanjay Karte predicts the lotus will bloom. “Ram Mandir ki wajah se ho sakta hai kamal khil jaye… Chhindwara mein waise unemployment ka mudda hai… Jo bhi chun kar aaye, usse iss baare mein sochna chahiye [The Lotus (BJP) may bloom here because of the Ram Temple. Chhindwara is hit hard by unemployment. Whoever wins, must address this issue],” he says. Neighbour Rajnish Kashyap chimes in: “Modi-ji aayenge toh desh bachega… Congress desh ko bech daalegi [The country will be safe if PM Modi comes to power. The Congress will sell off the nation.”
However, customer Mohammad Aabir Ali vehemently disagrees. “Chhindwara aaj jo bhi hai Congress aur Kamal Nath ki wajah se hi hai. 20 saal se pradesh mein BJP ki sarkar hai per jitna Kamal Nath-ji ne kiya hai, na kendra na rajya sarkar ne kiya Chhindwara ke liye [Whatever Chhindawar is today is because of Congress and Kamal Nath. The BJP has been in power for 20 years but neither the Centre nor the state government could do what Nath has done for us],” he says.
At the kirana shop in Chhindwara’s main market, the argument continues. Sanjay Kumar Sahu, a businessman and an ardent Kamal Nath supporter, predicts that the veteran leader’s connect with the seat will ensure victory for his son Nakul Nath in the 2024 General Elections.
“During Covid-19, Kamal Nath brought us Remdisivir from Amravati… he got doctors. How will people forget that he stood with us in bad times?” he asks.
Ashok Jain, a self-confessed BJP supporter, nods in agreement. “This even I agree with. Nath got us medicines and doctors but then Bunty Sahu (BJP candidate from Chhindwara) ensured food was delivered during lockdown,” he added.
Jain and Sahu soon get into a TV debate-style argument, attracting more Mandi dwellers, each with his own opinion on whether it will be Kamal or Kamal Nath for Chhindwara this time. A ring-side view underlines that this election is probably the toughest that the Nath family has faced in Chhindwara in decades.
Kamal Nath has retained the seat nine times since 1980, losing only once in 1997 to former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Sunder Lal Patwa in a bypoll. Nakul Nath won the seat in 2019 but his margin had come down to 37,500 — far less than the 1,16,000 margin that his father had posted five years ago.
Voters, Congress workers, and BJP challengers know that this election is all about Kamal Nath. CM Mohan Yadav has made it his mission to ensure that the sole Congress seat in MP is also ‘saffronised’ in 2024. In rally after rally, he calls the Naths outsiders.
“Kamal Nath has never allowed a local to flourish here. Why should a local boy (Bunty Sahu) not be given a chance to become the MP of Chhindwara? Kamal Nath has only cared for his family. The voters this time have made up their mind,” the chief minister told News18.
The charge of nepotism finds few takers in the Sausar Vidhan Sabha segment where a tall statue of Lord Hanuman was erected by Kamal Nath. Outside the Siddheshwar Hanuman Temple, Krishan Pawar says: “We will vote for Kamal Nath….Nakul Nath is his son but the vote is for Kamal Nath.”
Ask these ardent supporters about rumours that the Naths themselves may switch over to BJP and pat comes the reply: “It doesn’t matter if later he switches to BJP. We vote for him, not the party,” Gopal Pawar says.
Chandrashekhar Huddar, a farmer, has a different take. “If this election is about a personality, then the only personality in the country right now is Narendra Modi. For the sake of development, we should all vote for him.”
Omkar Deheria at Mayawadi Bheem Sen village of Parasiya, Chhindwara, says: “Can you recall the name of any government scheme that existed prior to BJP coming to power? We benefit from their schemes so will vote for BJP.”
BJP is hoping the Modi Magic and exodus from Congress will ensure ‘Abki Baar 29 Paar’ in MP. Senior state leaders like Shivraj Singh Chouhan underline that Kamal Nath’s former aides like Deepak Saxena have been forced to quit Congress because they can see the party has no future. Saxena, a former MLA from Chhindwara, is one of the thousands from Chhindwara Congress who have moved to BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls.
Chhindwara Lok Sabha has seven assembly segments — Junnardeo, Amarwara, Chourai, Sausar, Chhindwara, Parasiya and Pandhurna. In the recently concluded assembly elections, Congress retained all seven seats but Amarwara MLA Kamlesh Shah switched to BJP last month.
At a Congress rally in Chourai, leader after leader labelled those leaving as ‘Gaddar’ [traitor]. “Jo Kamal Nath ka nahi hua, woh Chhindwara ka kabhi nahi hoga [Those who betrayed Kamal Nath can never be with Chhindwara],” local Congress leader Tirath Singh Thakur thundered.
Mohan Sahu, a Congress worker, told News18: “In the last assembly election too, 25 heavyweight ministers came to campaign. Yet our victory margin increased by 11,000. It doesn’t matter who has quit the party and moved on.”
This time, it is a close election where Kamal Nath hopes his emotional connect will ensure victory for Nakul Nath but Sahu is preparing for the nomenclature of the ‘Giant Slayer’.
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