You traverse the whole 20th century in reverse when youarrive at Achhala. First you leave Delhi, then Ahmedabad, then Vadodara. As youapproach Chhota Udepur, the virtual capital of Gujarat’s tribal belt, you seemore and more shades of green, and fewer and fewer roadside hoardings.
Achhala is nestled among scattered hills. Huts and an oddpucca dwelling too are scattered amid fields of cotton and maize. A small,potholed road linking two not-so-small villages leisurely passes throughAchhala “ the villagers’ main connection to civilisation, not counting thethree TV sets among a population of 2,000-odd and the ubiquitous mobile phones.
This should be an ideal setting to observe elections: awayfrom cities with their neon-lit poll ads and know-all talking heads in TVstudios and large numbers of non-voters, and amid folks whose life depends moreon vagaries of nature and our governance, and who vote religiously.
And yet, this vantage point should not disappoint anyonelooking for newsy political trends. One significant post-Godhra trend inGujarat is the inroads BJP has made in the tribal belt, once a formidableCongress stronghold. With Saurashtra looking risky, the ruling party isfocusing to consolidate its hold in the tribal pockets. And what better placeto study how that trend is proceeding on the ground than this village?
When November was about to end, and polling day was lessthan 20 days away, the village was as sleepy as ever. There were no signs ofelections. No SUVs sweeping past, no posters, no neighbourhood meetings and nodoor-to-door campaigns yet.
“Panchayat elections see more action here. Everybody knowscandidates then. But don’t worry. Meetings and campaigns will start once thenames are declared,” Zinabhai Rathwa had then advised.
Rathwa is the prominent community of the village, the otherbeing Nayak. Both are sub-groups of the Bhil community but Nayaks, sometimescalled Nayakas, have little or no landholding, and are placed lower in thesocial hierarchy. Everyone is a farmer here, working on their own fields or ofothers’.
Average landholding could be two to four acres, and maincrops are maize, cotton, rice and vegetables on the side. Most households havecows, buffaloes, hen and sheep, though under the influence of reformist Hindusects they profess to have given up non-vegetarian diet.
Harish Rathwa, who also runs a small grocery shop apart fromtending his field, is a veteran BJP campaigner. He said, “Whoever is thecandidate, we will vote only for Modi-saheb. Only lotus.”
Why? In response, he explained the whole emergence of BJPhere: “Earlier, during the Congress rule, we all remained backward. If we wentto a government office, we could not even talk to officers. After Modi (assumedoffice), we have got roads here. The ‘108’ service (ambulance) is so helpful.The government has given us money for house ” I got Rs 42,000 for mine. Itcould be under Indira Awaas Yojana or Sarsar Yojana.
“Now we have the confidence to enter a government office andpresent our case. In the last five years, we have benefitted even more ” theonly school in the village was up to class VIII, now it has been extended toclass X and soon (would be upgraded to) class XII.
“Earlier, we put our thumb print wherever we were askedto... We didn’t know. Now we know; we know where things are going wrong.Earlier, there was only one party, so leaders could afford to ignore us. Nowthere are two parties, so they have to listen to us.”
But people in other neighbourhoods were not all in agreementwith this story. Kalubhai Rathwa and others assembled said power supply was notregular. They get eight to 10 hours of electricity each day in three phases forirrigation and the supply is at night every alternating week. That is aproblem, especially when they have to also worry about snakes in the field andan occasional tiger.
The national employment guarantee scheme (NREGS) issomething they have only heard about, though NREGS works are carried out in aneighbouring village. As a result, seasonal migration of the landless, for workin cities or fields, shows no signs of abating. The nearest primary healthcentre is in Haridaspur, some 3 km away.
There are teenagers roaming around fields the whole day whoare illiterates, though by their own choice. There are no toilets except in acouple of homes.
Though there were no visible signs of electioneering yet,villagers were keenly following developments. Anyone returning from the nearbybigger village of Tejgadh would bring news ” and sometimes the newspaper too.Most middle-aged men readily gave the recent history of the constituency, withvoting margin, and the likely equations this time.
