In Vidisha, Sushma hopes for a smooth ride

The long road connecting Vidisha and Ganj Basauda passes through farm fields. Remains of a harvest season are still fresh in these fields, where bales of wheat lie reaped and stacked. As farmers, in some places, are preparing the ground for next crop soybean, Sushma Swaraj, the leader of opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s candidate from Vidisha, is seeking votes to bring about change.

Riding a white Mahindra Scorpio on the front seat, as she always prefers, Swaraj is swamped with marigold garlands as she moves from Manaura village to Gyaraspur with her convoy. “Is gende ke phool ko kamal mein badalna hai apko (You have to change this marigold flower into lotus),” she tells her audience. This is the second time the firebrand leader is contesting from the Vidisha seat, which had, in 1991, elected former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the Lok Sabha. The fine weave of her black and red Kota Doria saree is well in line with her cut-and-dry approach in telling voters that she has earned their vote.  “You are the examiners and I am the candidate. If you think I have kept my word of being an effective opposition leader and made the Congress answerable for all the wrong decisions, then I have a right to your vote this election.”

The petite politician is introduced as an example of the latest “nanotechnology” by a local leader, who warns that one should not judge her by her diminutive size, since she is capable of much bigger things.

Swaraj certainly understands the importance of small things. She gestures to the children standing in a corner to come and give her the garlands they have been holding for her. She remembers the names of all local leaders wherever she goes and makes sure she mentions and thanks them in the beginning of her speeches, never mind how some of them did not show up in a recent rally.

Several of them come running to touch her feet from the farthest row in the gathering and unlike Shivpuri, the leaders are in full attendance on all stops in the Basauda constituency.

People in these impoverished villages have basic demands: A nehar (a canal), a high school, and cheaper foodgrain and kerosene from the leader they call “their voice in Delhi”. Swaraj tells them she can do all this, only if they make her victorious once again and bring the BJP to power by electing it in on all the 29 seats in the state.

Locals are of the view that Vidisha is a BJP stronghold anyway and no matter which candidate is fielded, victory is certain. The BJP has held the Vidisha seat since the 1989 parliamentary elections. For 61-year-old Swaraj, this is a courtesy call she needs to make only a few days ahead of the polling on Thursday.

Although unlike the last time when she won unopposed, this time she will face Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s brother Laxman Singh and Rajkumar Patel who was suspended from the Congress last time for failing to file his election papers in time.

As she moves from Sirnota village to Dabur with a higher Muslim population, Swaraj laces her speech with Urdu. It is after all the same leader who gave public addresses in Kannada when she was contesting against Congress President Sonia Gandhi from Bellary in Karnataka in the 1999 elections.

Amid chants of “Sansad mein sashakt awaz, Sushma Swaraj”, she lauds the public for her victory by a huge margin of nearly 400,000 votes in the 2009 elections. Swaraj recounts all that she has done for her people in the past five years. But since she says this is not the time to give long speeches, a booklet listing out the development initiatives in road, rail, and agriculture taken by her in Vidisha is distributed as a “must-read” for all.  

Narendra Modi does not find a single mention in any of her addresses. But towards the fag end of her day’s campaign in a bustling market of Basauda, a rickshaw emerges decorated with BJP flags and banners, screaming a vote pitch in the voice of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, followed by pre-recorded message by her mentor L K Advani. It tails her for a while but Swaraj’s car zooms past leaving the voices behind.

Hand-in-hand with her sister Vandana Sharma, she moves back to her ride amid drum beats, sloganeering and cheers towards her final stop of the day at Pachama. Having braved the harsh MP sun all day, Swaraj, who clearly wants to keep a low profile, gives strict instructions to her staff: No media interactions. However, when asked if she felt tired after such a long day, Swaraj beams and says, “Not at all, three more days to go.” Swaraj has so far covered four of the eight districts that make her constituency and has to knock on the remaining doors till Tuesday after which campaigning in the area has to end.

Five years ago when Swaraj came campaigning in Vidisha the roads, she says, were in such bad shape that it broke the wheels of her car and also her back. However, things have changed ever since and that is one achievement that tops her list. The road is smooth and there are hardly any bumps on this long stretch. Swaraj hopes her electoral ride will also be smooth.