BJP’s Hindutva outreach plays out well with all four ‘babas’ winning in Rajasthan

BJP's gamble of fielding four Hindu priests in Rajasthan pays off; Balak Nath, Pratap Puri, Otaram Dewasi and Balmukund Acharya win elections, defeating Congress candidates.

When BJP candidate from Tijara, Mahant Balak Nath, termed his electoral battle with the Congress’s Imran Khan as a match between India and Pakistan, the Congress alleged “politics of polarisation”. On December 3, Mr. Balak Nath won.

The BJP’s gamble of fielding four Hindu priests in Rajasthan to back its voluble attack on the Congress’s “politics of minority appeasement” seems to have succeeded, with all four saffron-robed candidates - Balmukund Acharya from Hawa Mahal constituency, Mahant Pratap Puri from Pokhran, Otaram Dewasi from Sirohi, along with Mr. Balak Nath - winning the election.

For the first time ever, the BJP did not field a single Muslim candidate, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly accusing the Congress of condoning “riots and terrorism” in his campaign speeches.

At least two of these four seers have fashioned themselves after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Among the four, Mr. Balak Nath is being projected as the “Yogi of Rajasthan” since he started his election campaign in Tijara, the seat the BJP won only once between the first election in 1951 and 2018. The constituency, where Hindus constitute around 62% of the electorate with a significant population of Yadavs and Dalits, witnessed a high voting percentage of 86.11 this time. Here, Mr. Adityanath himself campaigned extensively for Mr. Balak Nath who garnered over 49% votes while Congress candidate Imran Khan received 46.28% votes in a close contest. The Hindu religious leader’s entire campaign revolved around the “polarisation” theme.

In Pokhran, Mr. Pratap Puri, head of the Taratara Math in Barmer, defeated Congress’s sitting MLA Saleh Mohammad. In 2018, Mr. Mohammad had won by a slim margin of 870 votes but this time round, Mr. Pratap Puri’s winning margin has been over 35,000 with a vote share of 58%.

In Sirohi of South Rajasthan, Mr. Dewasi managed to win by over 35,000 votes and defeated Congress’s Sanyam Lodha. A former policeman, Mr. Dewasi grabbed headlines as Rajasthan’s first ‘Cow Minister’ in the Cabinet of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in 2015. He lost to Sanyam Lodha in 2018. During his campaign in the tribal-dominated region, Mr. Dewasi kept telling people that they must grow above party politics and vote for “samaaj” (society).

Of the four seers, the narrowest win was by Mr. Acharya, the mahant (head) of Hathoj Math. He edged out Congress’s R.R. Tiwari by 914 votes in the Hawa Mahal constituency which has a 34% Muslim electorate. Hawa Mahal, one of the most popular seats in capital Jaipur, was won by Congress’s Mahesh Joshi in 2018 but the party had denied ticket to him in 2023. Mr. Acharya is also the head of the All India Sant Samaj Rajasthan. During his campaign, Mr. Acharya claimed that hundreds of temples in Muslim-dominated areas were demolished, as part of a “conspiracy”. He assured the people that he would identify and rebuild each such temple if voted to power.