The Hindu : National : Will this `foreigner' tag hurt Yashwant Sinha?

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Sunday, Apr 18, 2004

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National

Will this `foreigner' tag hurt Yashwant Sinha?

By Sandeep Dikshit

HAZARIBAGH, APRIL 17. With just three days to go for the polls, the prospects of an upset verdict for the Bharatiya Janata Party loom large over this tribal dominated constituency in Jharkhand. Two-time winner and Foreign Minister in the Vajpayee Government, Yashwant Sinha, is up against a rainbow coalition of Opposition parties, dissent within the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh and the hot weather that is curtailing audience participation at his public rallies.

People turned up in large numbers whenever Mr. Sinha's meetings featured Bollywood stars such as Poonam Dhillon, Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha. But the people perhaps treated themselves to free entertainment and nothing more. Journalist M.J. Akbar was also roped in, apparently to appeal to the minority community, but that did not have much of an impact.

Hazaribagh town, one of the Assembly seats forming the Lok Sabha constituency, gives little indication of the hard climb Mr. Sinha faces in repeating his impressive performance of the 1999 elections when nearly half the votes polled went his way. BJP flags flutter from virtually every building in the town. The BJP election office and the road outside are choked with supporters and their vehicles. "The margin of victory is our only worry," says Rani Dey, former MLA.

But just outside the town, BJP flags lose out to the flags of the Communist Party of India (CPI). "The Opposition unity here is total," observes Babu Shailendra Singh, who has come from Daltonganj to support the sitting CPI MLA and the 1991 Lok Sabha poll winner, Bhuvneshwar Mehta.

On the highway, a caravan raises dust in Mandu, a backward community-dominated constituency where the CPI and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have traditionally battled each other for supremacy. The 40-strong motorcycle rally, followed by a campaign vehicle, is dominated by JMM supporters with their fierce beards and moustaches, the JMM green and the CPI red fluttering from the handlebars.

The motive behind the joint campaign is self-interest. The JMM MLA, Tek Lal Mahto, is the joint Opposition candidate from the neighbouring Giridih Lok Sabha constituency. And if he is seen as being lukewarm to the CPI here, the compliment could be returned in Giridih. Similarly, the Congress MLA from Barhi is lending his weight to the "oust Sinha" campaign. A lead for Mr. Mehta from his area could dissuade the grateful Communists from staking claim to his seat for the Assembly elections, over a year away. Mr. Sinha problems are compounded with BJP rebels chipping away at his support base. Mahavir Vishwakarma, who won the 1996 Lok Sabha poll, attacks the Foreign Minister for having "hijacked" the seat from the sons of the soil. The former district president, K.P. Sharma, and the former Ramgarh MLA, Shankar Choudhury, subscribe to this view. All three have been expelled from the BJP.

Contractor C.P. Choudhary is another spoiler. His party, the All-Jharkhand Students Union, is part of the BJP-led coalition ruling Jharkhand, and it is still unclear whether he will erode Mr. Sinha's voter base or take away some of the Opposition's backward votes.

However, Mr. Sinha is not worried. "Booth management" is a crucial part of the elections here. Each booth will have to be guarded by a group of at least a dozen youth. The CPI has a negligible presence in two rural constituencies besides Hazaribagh town, where it does not count at all. Will the cadre of other parties risk injury or worse to man the booths without any inducement from the CPI? Then there is the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), whose home-written two-line posters for poll boycott have started appearing in villages. Both sides are currently denying a deal with the MCC but the lure of winning the elections might prove overpowering.

While "booth management" cannot be wished away, currently it is advantage CPI.

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