Rajasthan Assembly elections: A look at key issues in the polls

With the citizens of Rajasthan all set to practice their fundamental right to vote on November 25, the political parties will have to wait till December 3 with bated breath to find out how they fared in the Assembly elections.

While the parties have left no stone unturned to garner maximum support, let us take a look at the issues that emerged as the main talking points ahead of the elections. 

Anti-incumbency

Rajasthan is known for its anti-incumbency with the state oscillating between Congress and BJP every election year. This time too, the BJP is certain that the citizens of the state will vote the grand old party out and once again welcome BJP.

The Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly Satish Poonia said the BJP's strong organisational setup, the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and anti-incumbency against the Congress government will result in a thumping victory for his party in November 25 elections.

However, incumbent CM Ashok Gehlot is convinced that the government will repeat.

"There is no anti-incumbency wave. The government has done a good job. Seeing the atmosphere, I can say that the government will repeat ... .PM (Modi) said that the Congress government sympathizes with terrorists and will ruin the state. If our government supports terrorists, then why is the Center not dismissing our government? They have the authority to do so. There is no truth to these allegations and you are merely inciting people during elections..."

Communalism

Several politicians, mostly from BJP are harping on god and goddess, and the grandiose Ram temple in the making in Ayodhya to woo the voters.

The Kanhaiya Lal murder case has also been a talking point in the campaign rallies.

“Wherever the Congress comes to power even prosperous states get ruined. After getting power, the Congress indulges in loot. The people of MP have to be vigilant,” he maintained.

Mentioning the 2022 killing of Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor in Udaipur, Modi said, “Could we even imagine that in India we would ever hear a slogan like 'sar tan se juda' (a reference to beheading)? But this has happened in the land of braves - Rajasthan - under misrule of the Congress.”

Kanhaiya Lal, 48, was killed with a cleaver inside his shop on June 28, 2022. The assailants claimed they hacked Lal to death to avenge an alleged insult to Islam. Nadda also alleged that in the name of "pseudo-secularism", bulldozers were run on religious places of some people. He claimed that those who raised slogans like 'sar tan se juda' - threatening beheading - were encouraged. The apparent reference was to the murder of an Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal for allegedly insulting Islam.

However, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has claimed that those behind Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal's murder last year were 'BJP people', who had been freed from police detention days before the incident under the party's pressure.

Hitting out at the BJP, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has said that those who invoke religion or caste during elections are never in a position to ask for votes on the basis of their work.

Paper leaks and scams

Eight examinations held by the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC) between 2019 and 2022 have been cancelled due to paper leaks leading to at least 15 FIRs being filed, and the arrest of at least 273 people. For cases of cheating, a further 160 FIRs were filed during the same period, as per a report in The Indian Express. 

Fanning the fire of the Rajasthan paper-leak, PM Modi and the rest of the BJP has made sure that the voters do not for one second forget about it. PM Modi in one of his rallies in the state said if the BJP is voted to power in Rajasthan, it will throw out all corrupt people and the state will witness rapid development.

"The more you stay away from the Congress the more you save Rajasthan, the more your future is assured," Modi said.

"The relationship between good intentions and the Congress is the same as that between light and darkness. What will be the intention of a government that gobbles up money allotted for drinking water," he asked, alluding to the alleged Jal Jeevan Mission scam in Rajasthan.

"The Congress and development are each other's enemies and will remain so," he said and alleged that the "Congress' paper leak mafia sold the future of youths for lakhs of rupees." Modi accused the Congress government of being involved in a fertiliser scam and of looting the farmers.

"In the last five years, the Congress played with the future of youths. There have been raids on coaching centres and the relatives of a minister close to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot have become officers and your children did not get the chance," he said. "When the BJP forms government in Rajasthan, paper leaks will be investigated at a fast pace. No matter how big or influential a person is involved, he will not be spared," Modi said.

The Rajasthan Assembly even passed a Bill in July to increase the punishment for those involved in government recruitment exam paper leaks from the current 10-year jail term to life imprisonment. 

The Red Diary 

The red diary has caused quite a stir in the state after the sacked Rajasthan minister Rajendra Gudha had claimed that the "red diary", which he secured from the residence of Congress leader Dharmendra Rathore during an Income Tax raid in July 2020, allegedly on the directions of the chief minister, had details of Gehlot's financial transactions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Rajasthan government over Gudha's "red diary", saying it is a fresh product of the Congress' "loot ki dukaan" which will defeat the party in elections in the state. However, the Congress maintained that the 'red diary conspiracy' was hatched at the saffron party's headquarters.

Women's safety

Union minister Smriti Irani attacked the Congress government in Rajasthan over the issue of crime against women and called the upcoming Assembly elections in the state as a battle for women's honour. Irani was addressing election rallies at Deoli in Tonk and Charbhuja in Rajsamand in support of BJP candidates Vijay Bainsla and Surendra Singh Rathore, respectively. Even Amit Shah targeted the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led government in Rajasthan.

"Ashok Gehlot's government is a government steeped in corruption, a failed government in women's safety," Shah said.

ED, CBI and the others

The ED, CBI and other similar bodies have been named several times by the Congress in its speeches. Targeting the Centre over recent ED raids in the state, CM Gehlot said the Modi government was misusing the central agencies against some Congress leaders for political gains.

“They have ED and we have seven guarantees,” he said.

On October 26, the ED raided the premises of Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra in Jaipur and Sikar as part of a money laundering probe into an alleged exam paper leak case and summoned Gehlot's son and Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) president Vaibhav Gehlot in a foreign exchange violation case.

The Congress even sought Election Commission’s intervention to stop the raids in the states. "Merely these raids without any corroborative evidence have again been used as a political premise by the BJP to target and malign the INC leaders in Rajasthan...the ED on the same day i.e. 26.10.2023, also summoned Rajasthan Chief Minister's son Vaibhav Gehlot in a separate case. Driven with sheer political vendetta, the said agency is leaving no opportunity to cause damage to the political image of Congress leaders in frivolous and baseless cases," the Congress stated.

It is now for us to wait and watch which one of these jibes will fetch the parties votes and whether the state will continue its tradition of voting the incumbent party out or not.

(With PTI, DHNS inputs)