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Lok Sabha elections 2019: Proposers represent cross-section of Varanasi society
The proposers are: Prof Annapurna Shukla, a veteran academician, senior BJP’s Subhash Gupta, Jagdish Chaudhary from the Dom Raja’s family, and retired scientist Ram Shankar Patel. The Dom Raja oversees all cremations and last rites in Varanasi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party picked as proposers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s candidature, people from a cross-section of the society in Varanasi.
They are: Prof Annapurna Shukla, a veteran academician, senior BJP’s Subhash Gupta, Jagdish Chaudhary from the Dom Raja’s family, and retired scientist Ram Shankar Patel. The Dom Raja oversees all cremations and last rites in Varanasi.
Shukla, served as principal of Mahila Mahavidyalaya on the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campus. A graduate of Patna Medical College, she was also medical officer at the college dispensary. “It is a matter of great luck that I got the opportunity to become a proposer for PM Modi...,” the 81-year-old said.
Subhash Gupta, a senior BJP worker, is in his early seventies. Before joining the party, he served as a volunteer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the party’s ideological parent. He is known to act as a bridge between BJP workers and RSS volunteers. “It is a matter of great joy and honour to be the proposer for the PM’s nomination. People of Kashi are going to elect the PM, while people in the rest of the constituencieswill elect MPs,” he said.
Ramashankar Patel, a retired scientist of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) said, “I am highly inspired by PM because he is a positive thinker.”
Jagdish Chaudhary, a descendant of the Dom Raja, whose family plays a key role in performing last rites at Manikarnika Ghat on the river Ganga, said, “What the PM Modi did for Kashi [Varanasi], no one else can do. Therefore, I became one of the proposers.” The PM would win by a huge margin, he added.
Professor KK Mishra from Banaras Hindu University’s political science department said, “In getting proposers from different social groups, PM made an effort to represent the composite culture of Banaras (Varanasi).”
