 "Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan (pictured) at a public meeting in Bhopal on Wednesday. The BJP, which has had three OBC chief ministers in MP — Uma Bharti, Babu Lal Gaur and Chouhan — has given tickets to 71 OBCs, which is 31 per")
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, principal rivals in the three poll-bound Hindi heartland states, have fielded more candidates from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and fewer from the minority Muslim community while also courting several Hindu religious leaders as the two parties gear up for the electoral battle in the key states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
In Madhya Pradesh, the ruling BJP has not fielded a single Muslim among its 230 candidates. The Congress has fielded two, both from Bhopal – its sitting legislator Arif Masood from Bhopal Central seat and Atif Aqueel, son of its ailing sitting legislator Arif Aqueel from Bhopal North. In 2018, Aqueel Senior defeated BJP’s Fatima Rasool Siddique, the party’s lone Muslim candidate in the state.
According to Congress sources, at seven per cent of the population, with a presence in urban areas, the Muslim electorate could influence about two dozen seats. The BJP, which has had three OBC chief ministers in MP - Uma Bharti, Babu Lal Gaur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan - has given party tickets to 71 OBCs, 31 per cent of its total candidates, while the Congress has fielded 62 OBC candidates or 27 per cent of its contestants. Both parties have also assiduously courted religious leaders of smaller sects.
The Congress, for example, has fielded Sadhvi Ram Siya Bharti, from Bundelkhand’s Malhara seat. Ram Siya Bharti, is from the Lodh OBC community, considered a good orator with influence among backward castes in the region. The party also has the services of Indore-based Namdev Tyagi, better known as ‘Computer Baba’ as its campaigner in the election. The seer was once close to the BJP, with the Chouhan government giving him a ministerial rank. He, however, shifted loyalties to the Congress when it formed the government in the state in December 2018.
Not just the Congress, the Samajwadi Party has fielded Rakesh Dubey, known as ‘Mirchi Baba’ against the chief minister from the Budhni seat.
The BJP and Congress leaders in MP have queued up in recent weeks to seek the blessings of Pandit Pradeep Mishra of Kubereshwar Dham in Sehore and Dhirendra Krishna Shastri of Bageshwar Dham Peeth in Chhatarpur. The two seers, on the invitation of leaders from the Congress and the BJP, have visited towns and cities across the state to deliver sermons. Shastri has supported the call for Hindu Rashtra and ‘bulldozer justice’.
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In the neighbouring Rajasthan, which goes to polls on November 25, the BJP replaced its candidate Abhishek Singh from the Masuda seat in Ajmer after party workers alleged that he was not a Hindu.
The BJP has not fielded a single Muslim candidate, a change from 2018 when the then chief minister Vasundhara Raje persuaded Yunus Khan to leave his Deedwana seat to contest against Congress’ Sachin Pilot from Tonk. Khan, who won from Deedwana in 2003 and 2013 on a BJP ticket, is this time contesting as an Independent.
In 2008, Habibur Rahman won on a BJP ticket from Nagaur, while the party would field Ramzan Khan from Pushkar until 2003. Ramzan won in 1990 from Pushkar, a pilgrimage site for Hindus and Sikhs, on the BJP ticket. In 2018, the Congress fielded 15 Muslim candidates, seven of whom won. It has again fielded 15 Muslims and 72 OBCs, while the BJP's list has 70 OBCs.
The BJP has fielded its Alwar Lok Sabha MP Baba Balaknath for the Tijara Assembly seat, its former MLA Bal Mukundacharya for Hawa Mahal seat and Mahant Pratap Puri, the mahant of Barmer’s Taratara Math for Pokhran.
Pratap Puri, an MLA in 2013, lost in 2018 to Congress' Saleh Mohammed, son of religious leader Gazi Fakir of Jaisalmer and the two will again face each other. The Congress has given the party ticket to Archana Sharma on Jaipur’s Malviya Nagar seat. Sharma is the daughter-in-law of late VHP leader Acharya Dharmendra. She lost the seat in 2013 and 2018. Sadhvi Anadi Saraswati, who has influence among Rajasthan’s Sindhi community, quit the BJP to join the Congress earlier this month in the presence of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
In Chhattisgarh, the Congress has fielded one Muslim candidate, its sitting legislator Mohammed Akbar from Kawardha. In 2018, it had given tickets to two Muslim candidates, but Badruddin Qureshi had lost from Vaishali Nagar in Durg district.
