Rajasthan: Anti-incumbency wave is strong, women in a pathetic condition

On my way to Sanganeri Gate from Sindhi Camp in Jaipur quite early in the morning I asked the auto driver a question which is very common in a state which is abuzz with election campaigning—What is the election scene like in Rajasthan?

Shrimohan, the 40-years old auto driver, seemed in a hurry to change the government. He said it will be better if Maharani leaves as soon as possible. There is a wave against her.

It is a different matter that there are no posters saying this on the walls, and only the BJP flag and hoardings can be seen on the 135 km route from Ajmer to Jaipur. This is also perhaps a mere coincidence that no vehicle with the Congress flag on it passes from there.

Sachin Meghwal (27), who is sitting near me in the bus, said, "Even if you do not see the Congress campaigning so aggressively in the area, there is only one thing in the hearts of the people, and that is to divest Maharani of chief ministership.”

On the way to Ajmer, several cows can be seen wandering along the road. Fifty-one-year-old Bittoo tells us, “In Vasundhara Raje's government all the promises made about cows and bovine have proved to be false. Cows can be seen wandering and eating trash on the dirty streets. A lot of irregularities have taken place in the name of goshalas (cowhsheds). Maharani (Vasundhara Raje) has not been honest. Her policies only benefited her own people while the common public was badly neglected.

A local newspaper has carried the interview of the Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in which she has mentioned the negatives of her being a woman; that she can not meet anyone after 8 pm because she is a woman and she can’t allow people to meet her after 10 pm because she has her own family to look after.

Many women in the bus are covered in a long ghunghat. This is the culture of Rajasthan. You can’t see their face nor are they allowed to talk to you. When asked to photograph these women, their male companions clearly refuse. They say, “The limitations of Maharani Vasundhara being a woman is fine. She is a daughter-in-law of the state and it’s good if the Bahu remains in ghunghat.

Three girls from Delhi—Preeti Singh, Shefali Gupta and Prapti Mishra— who were on the bus to Chittor were chatting away happily. Preeti Singh (25) says, “If the chief minister of the state stays in a ghunghat (veil), then all the talk of bringing women of the state to the mainstream will remain only in our imagination.

Shefali says several women who visit Kota, Jaipur and Jaisalmer, can be seen without a ghunghat and on seeing them the women of Rajasthan must also be longing for the freedom that these women enjoy. But, of course, these questions cannot be asked to these women.

According to Rajesh Bhati (44) of Dudu assembly constituency, who runs a travel agency, Modi and Vasundhara Raje’s regime has worsened the situation in Rajasthan. “Prices have risen and there is a decline in the number of tourists. The corruption is at an all time high in the state,” he pointed out.

Mining in Rajasthan is a serious issue. Rajesh shows us a video in which Vasundhara Raje is asking her party workers to keep the people confused in religious matters so that they do not get a chance to ask questions about mining. The Vasundhara Raje government has been accused of collecting money illegally from mining which is being done by her own party people. The donkeys can still be been seen on the road often carrying gravel and sand.

In Bhatti Mohalla of Ajmer’s Western Vidhan Sabha, we get to meet 87-year-old Ramrati, who is allowed to not wear the veil. Ramrati also says that the Raje’s government should be changed, “My grandson who has completed his graduation has not been able to get a job,” she laments.