Madhya Pradesh elections: A ground report from Budhni, CM Chouhan's bastion

In his Budhni seat, there are no formidable opponents in sight, but Shivraj Chouhan is fighting the toughest elections of his life. The Congress, in a play of religious symbolism, has fielded actor Vikram Mastal Sharma, who essayed the role of the Hanuman.

Jait/Shahganj: The quietude in Jait, the ancestral village of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, belies the undercurrent that is coursing through. The rabi season is on, and most of the 1000-odd people in the village are busy harvesting dhan (paddy).

Those who remain in the village are unanimous in their support of Chouhan, whether they are farmers, shopkeepers, neighbors, college students, or women. Every voter in the village appears to be in favour.

“Our work is to vote, that’s what we’ve been doing for years now,” says Anil Kumar Jat, a farmer who is supervising his paddy at his fields at the entrance of Jait.

But what if the BJP doesn't choose him as the chief minister again? "In that case, the party will decide. In any family, all the brothers must have equal opportunities, but that doesn't diminish our support for him in any way."

In his Budhni seat, there are no formidable opponents in sight, but Shivraj Chouhan is fighting the toughest elections of his life. The Congress, in a play of religious symbolism, has fielded actor Vikram Mastal Sharma, who essayed the role of Hanuman.

Chouhan, a former student activist during the Emergency era, got his big break when he received an MLA ticket in 1990 from Budhni. The next year, he ran for the Lok Sabha from Vidisha and was elected for five consecutive terms. When then CM Uma Bharti left due to the Idgah case in 2005, Babulal Gaur briefly took the helm, followed by Chouhan.

Since then, Chouhan has been the Chief Minister of the state, except for the period from 2018 to 2020 when Kamal Nath was voted to power. Today, Chouhan is the longest-serving CM of any BJP-ruled state, and so, the party’s reluctance to name him as the CM and give tickets to other party veterans has led to speculation.

Harisingh Chauhan, a neighbor, believes that a move to the Centre will not diminish Shivraj's prospects. "He is a dynamic man, and his political future will not end if he's not the chief minister again," says Chauhan, who has known him since childhood.

Despite the challenges, Shivraj has been focusing his efforts on the Ladli Behna Scheme, a program he launched in June, where women in the family receive ₹1000, which was later increased to ₹1200.

Women in the village, benefiting from the extra ₹1200 per month under the scheme, are particularly supportive. "The additional money gives us some spending cash," says Sheela Chouhan, who, with her mother-in-law Kulwati, used their monthly funds to purchase a mixer-grinder.

Nagma Ashraf mentions that there are no unmet demands from the women because they receive what they ask for. Her daughter, Sana Khan, who has four more years until she's eligible to vote, requested the CM's office to clean the village, and it was done.

It's interesting to note that Chouhan's carefully crafted image, as the state's "mama," has now been repositioned as the "bhaiya" (brother) of the voters.

Yatindra Singh Sisodia, director of the Madhya Pradesh Institute of Social Science Research in Ujjain, states that what works to Chouhan's advantage is that he is a man of the masses. "He's the proverbial son of the soil and enjoys significant support among OBC voters. He's young, energetic, and it appears he has a long political career ahead of him," says Sisodia. He adds that Chouhan will likely run for the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat again if he is not made the CM.