In life, and in politics, Kawasi Lakhma is a survivor. In his public meetings, the 70-year-old Congress candidate from the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, and a six-time MLA from the Konta Assembly segment, reminds his audience about his longevity in politics.
“I became an MLA the last time, I will win the next time too. I will remain an MLA till the time I am alive. But will you make me an MP or not,” he asks at one such public meeting in Jagdalpur city. In the Assembly election last November when nine ministers of the erstwhile Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government lost, Mr. Lakhma was an exception although he scraped home by just 1,981 votes.
Having dubbed the election in Bastar as a “Narendra Modi versus Kawasi Lakhma contest” minutes ago, he also touches upon several issues – from deforestation to railway services and reservations to electoral bonds – and makes the sound of an EVM that leaves those gathered in splits. He says he will go to Delhi to raise Bastar’s voice.
His speeches and rustic ways find more traction in the interior areas of his home constituency and areas like Bijapur. But the electoral challenge is formidable though he is up against a relatively inexperienced Mahesh Kashyap of the BJP. In a battle that commentators are calling a close contest, Mr. Lakhma is also fighting recent electoral history, the organisational might and Hindutva consolidation attempts of the BJP.
Mr. Kashyap – a 49-year-old former sarpanch who has cut his teeth in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal and has been picked as a candidate due to his contributions to the “anti-conversion” campaign according to party sources – plays down his lack of legislative experience.
“Kawasi Lakhma will get to know after the June 4 [counting day] who is well known and who isn’t? He thinks that his reckless statements will make him win. BJP has trusted the son of a poor farmer like me and I have been travelling to all the districts and reaching out to voters,” he says.
Geographically and demographically, Bastar is quite diverse. It has a city like Jagdalpur, smaller mining townships, sparsely populated remote villages and areas under Maoist control.
For Mr. Kashyap, the challenge comes from the interior regions despite the BJP having won eight of the 12 seats in the Assembly election even as the party is on a stronger footing in the urban areas and villages closer to cities. The party hopes that the welfare measures such as the Mahtari Vandan Yojana introduced by the government will help it regain the seat that it lost to Congress state president Deepak Baij in 2019 after consecutive wins from 1998 to 2014.
Both the parties are vying hard to convince the voters that they have more to offer in terms of welfare measures. Mocking the BJP’s Mahtari Vandan Yojana under which eligible married women receive Rs 1,000 per month, Mr. Lakhma says it is not even sufficient to buy gudakhu (a tobacco preparation) and his party will provide Rs 1 lakh annually with which women can buy “gold and two-wheelers for their husbands”.
But the one issue that both the candidates agree on is railway facilities, or the lack of it, in Bastar region.
“Railways are much needed in the region, better connectivity with Raipur and Hyderabad will create many opportunities for the youngsters of this region and with the Nagarnar Steel Plant, we can develop a city like Bhilai and Durg,” says Ritesh Pandey, a retired government official, and a resident of Bastar district.
On other key issues, such as Maoist insurgency and the war against it, there is a sharp contrast in their approaches, especially in the light of an intensified campaign against the Maoist that has left over 50 alleged Maoists dead since the beginning of this year, the highest tally since 2020.
Mr. Lakhma has questioned these encounters. “In the name of Naxalism, tribals are being killed. I will fight the war to save the tribals in Delhi,” he says in another election rally in Bastar.
The BJP accuses him of colluding with the Maoists and seeking their support to win elections. “Maoists have prospered under his protection and people are being denied the basic facilities, bringing a bad reputation for Bastar across the country,” says Mr. Kashyap.
Of the 11 constituencies in Chhattisgarh, Bastar is the only one which is going to the polls in the first phase on April 19. Yet, due to the strategic importance of the tribal region, the stakes are high enough for both PM Modi and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi to hold a rally each here, reckon supporters. While Mr. Modi emphasised on welfare schemes and corruption allegations against his opponents, Mr. Gandhi, on April 13, focussed more on ‘jal, jungle, zameen’ rights in his speech, besides the need for a nationwide caste census.
Both Mr. Kashyap and Mr. Lakhma are new candidates in the fray. Mr. Lakhma has replaced sitting MP Deepak Baij, the Congress State president. While Mr. Baij in his election speeches claims that he did not contest because he is saddled with “the responsibility of the entire State”, Congress workers says his lack of popularity, reflected in his Assembly election defeat, also resulted in a last-minute tussle with the party finally settling in favour of Mr. Lakhma.
“There was considerable anger against the Bhupesh Baghel government and Mr. Baij was also seen as someone who wasn’t approachable as long as the party was in power. Although Mr. Lakhma wasn’t a unanimous choice, repeating Mr. Baij would have seen more dissent,” says one of the district Congress presidents from the region.
On the other hand, the selection of Mr. Kashyap – who has replaced former MP Dinesh Kashyap – the son of the late Baliram Kashyap, a former Bastar MP, and a stalwart of the BJP in the region – also surprised many. And while the party workers aren’t as vocal, Mr. Lakhma has used the opportunity to target the BJP.
“Mr. Kashyap was a big leader from Bastar. Despite being from another party, I respected him. If the BJP cared about him so much and the Prime Minister recalls his association [in a poll rally on April 8] with the late leader, why was his son denied a ticket,” asks Mr. Lakhma.
