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Jyotiraditya strengthens bond with Guna voters
There is an apnapan, a palpable emotional, familial bond between Congress candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia and the electorate in Guna.
There is an apnapan, a palpable emotional, familial bond between Congress candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia and the electorate in Guna. And it is reflected in the manner, style and vocabulary of the campaigner and the response of the voter.
"Aap voting machine ka nahin, mere dil ka button daba rahe honge. Kisi aur ke dil ka button mat dabana (when you press the hand symbol, you'll touch my heart.)" Scindia said, striking an immediate rapport with the people in every village.
"Ek ek vote dalna chahiye (every one of you must vote.) When votes are counted on May 13, you should be saying 'Maharaj have you ever seen so many votes being cast?'" Scindia said.
Guna, which goes to polls on May 10, is considered a sure-shot seat for the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, because of the faith and trust the Scindias and the people of Guna have in each other. Nevertheless, the Congress leader isn't taking lightly the challenge posed by BJP candidate Hariballabh Shukla.
"People will come claiming to represent the Lodh, Kushwaha or some other community. One may come with a lotus in hand, another on a bicycle (SP's symbol), yet another may come on an elephant (BSP's symbol)… They will come and go… Let no one come between us… Let our relationship be strengthened," Scindia tells the people, his remarks stoking nostalgia about the Scindia family, particularly of his late father Madhavrao, whose posters dot the landscape here.
The Congress leader keeps reminding his voters to go to polling booths. "Give me five minutes and I will give you five years," is the running theme as he promises "development and progress."
"Our battle is for development… Yahi hamara dharma hai, yahi jati (this is our religion and our caste)… Isn't it?" he asked at one point, pushing the mike for endorsement in front of a patriarch who smiles.
He turned to the crowd in front and sought yet another endorsement till their voices rose in a crescendo. But Scindia's wasn't done yet. He addressed himself directly to the women as he asked the crowd to raise hands in his support.
"Lal ghunghat wali aur… voh hari ghunghat wali (you in the red sari, and you in the green), I will not go till you raise your hand also," he said, as their hands go up and their faces go deeper into their pallus.
As he drives through the villages, Scindia lists out the projects he has brought to the area since he became MP two years ago, following his father's tragic death — a Rs 600-crore package, a web of roads that cost Rs 150 crore, a Rs 3-crore hotel in Chanderi and a water project of the same amount, a Rs 5-lakh bridge connecting Tarai with an adjoining village, a panchayat bhawan, bringing the Lifeline Express to ensure treatment to villagers and so on.
Sensitive to the local demand, Jyotiraditya promises his audience an electric substation in Bharia Khedi (there is enthusiastic applause), a high school in Tarai and a solution to Mohri's electricity problem.
"But you must first fulfill your promise (to vote for me) and I will fulfill all the promises I have made," he said.
