Sounding more than a little unhinged, the BJP’s newly anointed ‘‘star campaigner’’, Dilip Singh Judeo, is swearing eternal vengeance against Ajit Jogi and making crude attempts to rouse communal feelings among the gentle people of this picturesque village in the heart of ‘Judeo country’ in his speeches. Arriving in a helicopter at a rally here on Saturday, that had something to do with the enthusiastic turnout of women and children, the moustache-twirling ex-minister was greeted with cries of ‘Jai Judeo’ and ‘Jashpur ka lal hai, Jogi ka kaal hai’ (Jashpur’s son, Jogi’s nemesis). Perhaps buoyed by the enthusiasm and the palpable devotion of the villagers to their erstwhile ‘Raja’, Judeo made a rambling speech strewn with expletives and vulgarities. While talking of the need to be proud Hindus, Judeo claimed that ‘‘in Italy, they are making shoes and hawai chappals with Lord Ganesh imprinted on them and even commode seats have Goddess Kali and Ganesh figures’’. After graphically explaining to the bewildered villagers what a commode meant, he said: ‘‘Doesn’t this make your blood boil?’’ He jumped from this allegation to call upon ‘‘our Christian brothers’’—in a distinctly unbrotherly tone—not to forget the Hindu culture of their ancestors and return to the fold. Chief Minister Ajit Jogi also came in for abuse, though Judeo did not mention the VCD showing him taking cash. It was left to the local BJP leaders to attack Jogi for the ‘‘fraud’’. Judeo attacked Jogi for the ‘‘humiliation’’ he had heaped on him in the past and recounted two instances at length. ‘‘When he became Chief Minister and addressed a meeting at this very spot, he did not have the decency to reserve a chair for me. I sat under that mohua tree and vowed to take revenge. And I did. When the PM had a meeting and Jogi was present, I refused to take that badmash’s name.’’ The second instance was when Jogi apparently removed the marble plaque ‘Jashpur Hall’ at Raj Kumar College in Raipur. The Judeo family, which has studied in that school for princelings for generations, had donated Rs 30 lakh and therefore the plaque. But Jogi had it removed, he said, adding: ‘‘Don’t you want to avenge that humiliation?’’ Judeo also asserted that he was certain of taking revenge on Jogi. ‘‘If I don’t, my son will get even with his son, and if he fails my grandson will. Don’t worry—he will not get away.’’ Asserting that he did not believe in turning the other cheek, Judeo said that within 15 days the BJP would be in power in Raipur and he would personally make sure that every pro-Jogi officer ‘‘was transferred to places where they won’t be able to make even a chavanni (25 paise)’’. He reiterated his vow to shave his moustache if the Congress won, and called upon his loyal subjects to stave off the royal barber, come December 4. In Jashpur, at least, the people are likely to oblige him.
