Communal shadow over Bhupesh Baghel’s bid for first LS win in third attempt

Raipur: Months after facing a shocking defeat in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel is set to contest from the Rajnandgaon parliamentary seat having eight assembly segments where would give a close fight to incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Santosh Pandey.

This would be Baghel’s third shot at getting elected to Lok Sabha, after having contested unsuccessfully from Durg in 2004 and Raipur in 2009.

Rajnandgaon, a small district town in Chhattisgarh, has been marred by communal incidents in the last four years, which took place in the Kawardha and Bemetera districts.

On November 7, 2021, communal tensions fuelled in the Kawardha district when Baghel was the chief minister. Two communities had allegedly entered into a brawl over the removal of religious flags from Lohara Chowk. 

A day after the incident, a protest was called by a right-wing organisation, which turned violent when the protesters entered into Muslim-dominated area. In this case, MP Pandey was booked by Chhattisgarh police.

 Also Read: ‘Bhupesh Baghel did nothing to curb Naxalism in 5 years’: Amit Shah in Chhattisgarh

Similarly, communal tension was witnessed in Bemetra’s Biranpur village on  March 9, 2023, when 24-year-old Bhuvenhwar Sahu was killed in a brawl. Two other people from other communities also died following the tension.

“The BJP got the advantage winning the Saja and Kawardha assembly seats with huge margins. The incidents also have an impact on many seats of north Chhattisgarh, particularly, which are dominated by Sahu voters, which accounts for around 16 per cent of the total population,” said a Congress leader.

Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat comprises eight state assembly constituencies namely Pandariya, Kawardha, Khairagarh, Dongargarh(SC), Rajnandgaon, Dongargaon, Khujji and Mohla- Manpur(ST). Of these, five were won by the Congress in the 2023 elections.

A Congress leader working for Baghel said his strong connection with voters and his pro-Other Backward Class (OBC) image would help them win Rajnandgaon as there is the majority of OBC voters. 

“Bhupesh Ji’s image is very positive in rural Chhattisgarh and Rajnandgaon is predominantly a rural seat and thirdly Rajnandgaon has a tendency to accept the outsiders in parliamentary elections,” said a Congress leader campaigning for Baghel.

BJP leaders believe that Congress has not recovered from the loss of assembly polls. “In comparison to Baghel, Pandey is not a strong candidate. But, as there is a wave in favour of Modi [Prime Minister Narendra Modi], Pandey will win with a huge margin. We will gain from infighting among the Congress leaders of the constituency,” said a BJP leader.

Harsh Dubey, a Raipur-based political commentator, said with Congress winning five of the eight assembly seats there, Baghel has a statistical advantage. “But the election is all about sentiment and here Baghel is on a weaker footing. BJP may be able to swing voters in the name of Modi. In such a scenario, it could be a close contest,” he said.

Locals, however, identified “unemployment and inflation as major poll issues in Rajnandgaon”.

“Following the permanent shutdown of the Bengal Nagpur Cotton Mill, no new industrial units have been established in Rajnandgaon, leading to youth having to migrate for work,” said Jinendra Jain, a resident of the Rajanandgaon.

He also claimed that the BJP’s fulfilling its poll promise of paying a minimum support price of Rs.3,100 per quintal for paddy will help the BJP in Rajnandgoan, where 35% of the voters are tribals.