‘Congress is itself disinterested… Drop in Phase 1 polling was because its voters did not come out’: Rajasthan BJP chief C P Joshi

Rajasthan BJP chief C P Joshi is facing a tough contest from the Chittorgarh Lok Sabha seat, which he won the last two times, with both the Rajput community and opium farmers angry with the party.

Around 90% of opium farming in India is done in Chittorgarh and Pratapgarh districts in Rajasthan, and Neemuch and Mandsaur of Madhya Pradesh. Both the opium-producing districts of Rajasthan are under the Chittorgarh Lok Sabha seat, which votes on April 26.

Last year, angry over low government prices for opium, the farmers had held protests over three months. Around 30% of the opium farmers in Rajasthan are Rajputs, adding to the grumblings within the community over the BJP’s treatment of its members. They cite the sidelining of a candidate in the 2023 Assembly polls as well as the remarks by a BJP candidate in Gujarat about Rajputs which have triggered mass protests.

Mangilal Meghwal, coordinator of Bharatiya Afeem Vikas Kisan Samiti, says farmers’ patience with the Centre has run out. “Bhajpa ne afeem ki kheti ko note or vote ki fasal bana diya hai (The BJP has reduced opium to a harvest of notes and votes).

With Congress candidate Udai Lal Anajana taking up the issue aggressively, including posting videos of opium farmers’ “distress”, Joshi has been trying to assuage them as well as the Rajputs, roping in leaders from the community to campaign for him, such as Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and UP CM Yogi Adityanath.

Joshi is also counting on the Modi government schemes, and taking heart from the fact that in the 2023 Assembly polls, the BJP won six of the eight segments falling under the Chittorgarh seat.

Excerpts from an interview on how the party is placed in the state, and he in his