Former BSF Soldier Tej Bahadur Yadav, who was dismissed under the Modi regime, after he complained on social media (through a video released on Facebook) about unpalatable food in 2017, is all set to contest the Lok Sabha Elections as an independent candidate from Varanasi.
What makes the otherwise unequal battle keenly watched is that this also happens to be prime minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, too. This video here shows the clarity in his campaign.:
Aggrieved with the disrespect and ignorance of the army needs, Yadav says that only if representatives from the army reach the Legislature, will the administration pay heed to their demands. Other such candidates are even planning to contest from two other seats; one of them being against Rajnath Singh in Lucknow. But campaign expenses are the biggest hurdle. Yadav has decided to contest as an independent candidate; though he has approached many political parties for extending support to him including the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party, so far there are no takers.
Says Yadav, “The BJP government has failed the forces. PM Modi seeks votes in the name of jawans but has done nothing for them.” The Modi government had promised to restore pension for the BSF soldiers but there has been no progress on that as well. He has decided to contest from the same constituency as that of Modi since, in his view, the prime minister is responsible for politicising the sacrifices of the armed forces. Modi has been finally pulled up by even the Election Commission (otherwise criticised for it’s lame duck approach towards the ruling party) for misuing the Pulwama massacre and the Balakot attacks. Earlier the ‘surgical strikes’ and ‘Uri’ figured in a spate of election meetings of the prime minister. Accused of non delivery on several counts, this desperate attempt to play on concerns of national security laced with a hatred for Pakistan as a neighbour has also been criticised. Since his days as chief minister, Gujarat, this has been Modi’s preferred election plank.
Now he has a challenger in the face of a BSF jawan. Yadav says that he will even hold his campaign one day after Modi’s campaign to make the public aware about the lies told by Modi in the name of the army to get votes and expose the real condition in which the army men are living. He has also expressed his sharp disapproval about Yogi Adityanath’s statement ‘Modi ki Sena’ stating that the army belongs to India as a nation and not a particular political party. Further, he says, that the use of the term ‘Chowkidar’ by Modi and his party is an insult to the army; it is the army who are the real chowkidars who guard the borders.
In Varanasi therefore, this time round, it looks like a battle between the real and fake chowkidar!