As Ashok Gehlot’s son makes another attempt to win an election, paper leaks cast a shadow

Narpat Singh, 61, a retired teacher sitting outside a tea shop in Jalore zila parishad, says that while Vaibhav may be putting up a tough fight still, the BJP is on a strong footing in Jalore. “Moreover, the Congress will lose whatever little support it has among youth because of revelations by Gehlot’s OSD.”

On Wednesday, Sharma claimed, among other things, that Gehlot had tried to protect the accused in the paper leaks during his tenure, including the then Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education Chairman Dharmpal Jaroli.

The BJP has made the paper leaks a big issue, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a mention of it in his speech in Agra on Thursday, raising Sharma’s claims. Late in the evening, in his first remarks on the “revelations”, Gehlot asked what proof did the PM have.

However, in Jalore, some have doubts. If unemployment is a big issue, Narpat says, it is because of paper leaks under the Gehlot government.

Ironically, education is one of the common points in political conversations in Jalore, especially since the BJP’s Lumbaram Choudhary, 59, finished his Class 10 only in 2016, while Vaibhav has two degrees from ILS Law College in Pune.

Sitting next to Narpat, Shrawan Nath, 38, who hails from the SC Kalbelia caste, says Vaibhav is well-educated and can put forward the constituency’s issues more articulately, unlike Lumbaram.

Velaram Sankhla, 49, a member of the same Mali community as the Gehlots, agrees, saying: “The last time this Lok Sabha seat witnessed development was in 1999, when Buta Singh (former Union Home Minister) was an MP from here.”

For Hariram Rathore, also a retired teacher, there is another factor at play. Hariram hails from the Rajput community; the remarks by Union minister and BJP candidate from Rajkot, Gujarat, Parshottam Rupala about Rajputs that have triggered protests there have also had a fallout in Jalore, which shares its border with Gujarat.

The two candidates have engaged Rajput leaders into the campaign – Vaibhav to cash in on their anger, and Lumbaram to contain the damage.

Chandan Singh, 45, a Rajput and former BJP councillor, admits the community is backing Vaibhav. He also questions the BJP decision to replace its sitting MP of 15 years, Devji Patel, with his aide and fellow community member (Kalbi OBC, the largest group in the Jalore seat) as candidate. “Are there no other castes here? And what did Patel do in 15 years?” Singh asks.

The BJP has traditionally relied on major OBC groups in Jalore, including Kalbis and Debasis. However, Rajputs too have stood by it.

Apart from Rajputs, Vaibhav is relying on consolidation of non-Kalbi OBC castes and SC/STs. A Congress leader says: “OBCs such as Darzi, Nai, Kumhar, Lohar, Mali are now shifting from the BJP towards the Congress… The angry Rajputs too are moving because our MLA from Bheemal here, Samarjit Singh, is a Rajput.”

BJP district president Shravan Singh Rao, though, is confident of the party retaining “all the OBC votes” – which he puts at 10 lakh in Jalore – apart from getting the support of Rajputs and Purohits.

According to Rao, this is because Vaibhav is an “outsider”. “And when Vaibhav could not win in his home turf with the help of his father as sitting CM, how can he win in Jalore which is a BJP stronghold?”

Lumbaram, in contrast, has risen up the ranks, says Rao. “He is a regular person, a farmer. And since he has been a party worker for 40 years, the entire organisation is working for him. People also want to see Modi ji again. Vaibhav’s candidature is a promotion of parivaarvaad (nepotism).”

Jalore Lok Sabha seat

To counter the “outsider” narrative, Vaibhav’s wife Himanshi – apart from their daughter – has been hard at work, promising voters to set up a home in Jalore if he wins, whose doors “will always be open”.

But if Lumbaram’s son-of-the-soil narrative is to his advantage, for the youth the fact that at 43, Vaibhav is 26 years younger than the BJP rival, is striking a chord.

Then there is Gehlot’s own clout, with the former CM lending his weight along with that of his senior confidants to swing a win. It’s a prestige fight after Vaibhav’s 2019 loss from Jodhpur to senior BJP leader Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, an arch Gehlot rival.

Among those looking at Vaibhav are locals Jahangir Khan, 32, and Mohamad Arif, 30, belonging to hardcore Congress families, as well as young government employees on Bagoda Road, who cite the Gehlot government returning to the Old Pension Scheme. “Modi’s craze was in 2014,” one of them says.

Jagdish Bansal, who runs a cyber café at the age of 72, has seen worlds change. But there has been one constant, according to him. “The people of Jalore don’t disclose their preferences. And if most of them are saying one of them is winning, then he is certainly going to lose.”