Gujarat elections 2022: GenNext rekindling Porbandar’s gory past?

Deliben Odedara and Kandhal Jadeja. Pics/Dharmendra Jore

This part of Gujarat's vast coastline has etched its name in history for its gory underworld past that has become folklore. Bollywood has made a film on a local bahubali woman, and Quentin Tarantino should be happy to script and direct one more on the lines of Kill Bill if he lays his hands on a storyline from the yesteryears of Porbandar.

For the record, Porbandar's other historic identity is that of Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace. Thankfully, the religious tourism circuit ensures that the Kirti Mandir, a memorial built around a heritage home where the Mahatma's mother went through labour to deliver to the world a child who has been immortalised because of his ideology of non-violence.

Cong OBC cell president Vijay Bapodaria (in blue shirt) seeks votes for their Porbandar candidate Arjunbhai Modhavadiya

Cut to the present. Like the rest of Gujarat, Porbandar city and neighbouring Kutiyana are dealing with a more pressing matter - the Assembly polls. Kutiyana's contest is being keenly watched ahead of the December 1 polling. Kandhal Jadeja, the son of ‘Godmother', the late Santokben Jadeja, is testing the salty waters against Deliben Odedara. Jadeja won the previous two elections from the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party and currently represents the Samajwadi Party. Kutiyana's municipal president of 27 years, Deliben has made her Assembly poll debut on a BJP ticket. The ruling party's decision to set her up against a relative at loggerheads has fuelled the fire. People say the contestants are longtime rivals in pursuing their respective interests and keeping their hold strong on the region.

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Congress's Nathbhai Bhurabhai, and the AAP's Bhimabhai Makwana have extended the line-up but lack the numbers needed to sail through. However, unlike the impression we were given, the shadows of the underworld past were barely evident. Parties ran their campaigns smoothly and no untoward incident has been reported so far. Civility prevailed as the people spoke, though some preferred anonymity.

Supporters of Porbandar BJP candidate Babubhai Bokhariya flash a victory sign

"It's a battle of two bahubalis," said a Jadeja supporter. He rekindled the past, telling that the family continues to pursue welfarism and never turned anyone away from their doors. Streams of supporters gather into a crowd quickly for a corner meeting. Jadeja's lawyer aunt has already started addressing the women. The nephew joins the men sitting on the other side of the road as the women turn their ears to the speech. "If I haven't worked for you then I shouldn't seek your vote. Have I passed your test?" he asks the crowd, which responds cheerfully. "My father and my mother [ex-MLA] worked for you and I'm also working for you. Trust me. I have no blemish. My reputation is intact. I do what I say," he states, asking the people to vote and encourage others to use their polling right.

Kirti Mandir, Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace-turned-memorial in Porbander

"Do I do dadagiri? Times have changed," he adds while referring to the opposition's allegations that he has been threatening voters. "My opposition hasn't performed. They don't have the aukat [status]. Nobody is born who can beat me," he says, declaring that he will also put up candidates in Kutiyana's next municipal elections.

‘People are my party'

mid-day asked him whether he was invited to join the BJP. "Yes. They offered me a ticket, but I said no. Today is BJP's government, tomorrow it will be Congress... The circle will go on. I'm good as an independent. I get my work done. I'm that capable and have that much power," he adds.

When prodded, Jadeja says even if he is contesting from the SP, he doesn't need a party tag. "I brought NCP here and won on my own twice. My people are my party. There are a definite number of people who share the BJP and the Congress ideologies, but my supporters surpass them in strength," he states further. "You talk to people and tell me what they sense. You won't believe it if I project my winning lead. Go out and see for yourself," he says.

A senior citizen hugs SP's Kandhal Jadeja in Kutiyana

A stroll around the town gives a sense that the fight is equally poised at least in Kutiyana where maximum voters are registered. Some 52 villages comprise the remaining vote base. A local resident, Nathanbhai Keswala, says Deliben's candidature has turned it into a good contest. A paan parlour owner desists from predicting the outcome. Perhaps his reluctance stems from Deliben's stronghold over the municipality. It's her 28th year as the nagarpalika president.

Workers of both candidates probe us to know the public pulse after we pass by their campaign offices. In rural areas, voters don't talk. Efforts to get in touch with Deliben go futile after a two-hour wait. We're told that she will return from campaigning by 6pm. In the end, we're told that an interview is not possible because she doesn't take questions in Hindi or English. "It has to be in Gujarati. Other mediums are not useful to us. You may excuse us," says a senior manager of the campaign office in our face. Disappointed, we leave Kutiyana.

On November 23, Deliben told ANI that she had the courage to contest against Kandhal (Jadeja). "I'll win with a big margin...Voters of Kutiyana constituency know and respect me. I look after the poor and everyone else. So, I'm confident they'll vote for me. Kandhal Jadeja threatens people to vote. I don't threaten anyone. I tell my voters lovingly to vote for me if they like me," she told the news agency.

BJP aims for a hat-trick

Forty kilometres from Kutiyana, Porbandar has the BJP's sitting MLA Babubhai Bokhiriya, Congress' Arjunbhai Modhvadiya, and AAP's Jeewan Jungi in the contest. The Congress is very much hopeful because Arjunbhai had lost to Babubhai by the lowest margin of 1,800 votes in Saurashtra. Both have been the winners twice against each other, and if he wins this time, it will be Babubhai's third straight triumph.

The Congress is toiling away to plug the gap. The party's OBC cell president, Vijay Bapodaria, says they have taken up issues that dog the people. "Fair price for agricultural produce, inflation control, subsidy on fuel and cooking gas, ample water supply and creation of jobs is our promise. The BJP's promise of providing Narmada water to us is still on paper. The people are supportive of our agenda," he says while going door-to-door in Ward No 1. A group of enthusiastic men and women accompany him.

BJP workers don't buy the Congress's plank. "Babubhai has worked hard. The issues of 2017 don't exist in 2022. He won in 2017 despite facing the odds. His margin was less then because the city was dug up all over for infrastructure work and there was some resentment in 12 villages in the vicinity," says Haribhai Pase adding that AAP will not impact the result in any manner. "AAP will cut into the Congress share," quips another BJP worker and former sarpanch of a village that has been merged with the civic corporation. Kutiyana and Porbandar will vote on December 1.

Dec 1
When Porbandar and Kutiyana will go to polls