BackElections 2019: In Vidisha, loan waivers matter
The message says the state government has deposited ₹2 lakh into his “non-performing account” to waive his debt and he is now eligible for a fresh crop loanThis is the central theme of Chouhan’s campaign to avenge the BJP’s narrow defeat in the 2018 assembly polls
PremiumBHOPAL/VIDISHA/SAGAR : Bahadur Singh Rajput, a 47-year-old farmer from Ganjbasoda in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha district, shows a text message he received on his mobile phone from chief minister Kamal Nath. The message says the state government has deposited ₹2 lakh into his “non-performing account" to waive his debt and he is now eligible for a fresh crop loan.
“I went to the bank and they said they haven’t received any money," says Rajput. He says he voted for Congress in the 2018 assembly polls believing the party’s loan waiver promise. “But now, I am voting for Modiji," Rajput told Mint before he joined others from his village heading to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Sagar on 5 May.
The Lok Sabha elections to 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh are being held in four phases. Thirteen seats voted on 29 April and 6 May. On 12 May, eight more seats will go to the polls followed by the last eight seats on 19 May. In the 2014 general elections, the BJP won 27 seats and the Congress just two. But in the 2018 assembly polls, Congress registered a narrow win over the BJP and scored a few upset victories in the BJP bastions of Bhopal, Vidisha and Sagar.
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told Mint that thousands of farmers had received similar messages from the chief minister. “The loan waiver is a big hoax. All that the farmers are receiving is this text message and a certificate which says that their loan would not be waived since the election code of conduct is in force," Chouhan said. This is the central theme of Chouhan’s campaign to avenge the BJP’s narrow defeat in the 2018 assembly polls.
The Jai Kisan Yojana promised in its 2018 manifesto may have helped the Congress unseat the BJP in Madhya Pradesh after 15 years, as many farmers even in this BJP stronghold of Vidisha-Sagar-Bhopal say they voted for the Congress. In fact, so strong has been the saffron stranglehold over the Vidisha assembly seat that even the radical Hindu Mahasabha won in 1962. “For the first time since 1972, Congress won the Vidisha assembly seat in 2018, thanks to internal squabbles in the BJP and the loan waiver. We have recovered since and there is a deep sense of regret among voters for having caused the defeat of Shivrajji," says BJP Vidisha district president Vijay Jain.
The Vidisha seat has been a star constituency for the BJP. In 1991, it elected former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Chouhan had a triumphant run from Vidisha from 1991 to 2004. In 2014, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj won from here by a margin of 410,000 votes. The adjoining Sagar constituency has been a BJP bastion since 1996.
Three factors seem to have helped the BJP regain momentum six months after the assembly poll defeat. One, tardy implementation of the loan waiver scheme. Two, the narrative has changed from local issues to national. Three, the Modi effect.
Bholeshankar Dubey from Sagar, who carries a farm debt of ₹1 lakh on his Kisan Credit Card, has got a similar message from Kamal Nath. “Congress benefitted from the loan waiver promise in 2018, at least in some seats. But that promise has not been kept and the Lok Sabha election is about electing the prime minister. There is no challenger to Modiji," Dubey says.
Sohrab Khan, farmer from Sironj in Sagar constituency, was also in Sagar to attend the Modi rally. Khan does not have a loan but says not a single farmer in his village received the benefit.
Manak Agrawal, Congress spokesperson in Madhya Pradesh, admitted that the election code of conduct had affected the implementation of the loan waiver scheme. “But the scheme itself has been a success. As many as 2.2 million farmers have got their loans waived and they are now eligible for fresh credit. We are telling the farmers that they will get the actual benefit after the election code of conduct is lifted," Agrawal said. The minimum income scheme or Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) promised by the Congress had also caught the voters’ imagination, he said. “Farmers know that the benefits of loan waiver will come after election. Also, NYAY has impressed people and it will help us carry the momentum from the assembly polls."
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