Bhopal: Salman Khan starrer 'Dabangg 3' has trampled upon political fault lines in in Madhya Pradesh ahead of Lok Sabha polls, albeit by default.
Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh's Malwa-Nimar region, a riverside town known for its exquisite eponymous saris, woke up to an uneasy confrontation. The filming of the title song for 'Dabangg 3' was in progress at Maheshwar Ghat.
A group of residents barged into the shooting location and picked up an argument with the film crew who had arrived here a week ago.
The locals were showing some photographs on mobile handsets. The pictures were of a wooden plank over a ‘Shivling’ and some of the crew members were seen standing on it.
The pictures soon went viral on social media, giving the BJP leaders an entry to tap into the resentment of locals.
Protests began on the sets accusing Salman Khan of hurting religious sentiments and demanding cancellation of shooting.
The enraged crowd also wanted the police to lodge an FIR against the Bolywood actor.
In the state capital, Bhopal, the opposition BJP demanded immediately cancellation of the shoot.
The wooden scaffolding was built over an ancient Shivaling at Maheshwar Ghat to shoot a song featuring Salman, Hazur BJP MLA Rameswar Sharma alleged.
“Would the government make Salman Khan dance over the Shivaling?” Sharma asked.
The film crew were seen climbing over the scaffolding. This is unacceptable and hurts the sentiments of Hindus, Sharma said.
The BJP also approached Election Commission seeking action against Congress for violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
While Sharma interacted with media persons in Bhopal, Hitesh Bajpai, former party spokesperson, took to Twitter.
“People who were opposed to saying Vande Mataram were dancing on a plank erected over the Shivaling," Bajpai Tweeted.
He tagged Chief Minister Kamal Nath, former chief minister and Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Digvijaya Singh and other senior Congress leaders. Bajpai was reminding the Congress about its U-turn on Vande Mataram - the National Song --at the state secretariat.
First the Kamal Nath government scrapped the practice of singing Vande Mataram on the first working day of every month, which was started by the BJP government
In February, the Congress government restarted it after a furore.
The politics of Malwa
Malwa is the nerve centre of the Sangh Parivar and a laboratory where the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak (RSS) and the BJP conduct political experiments.
The key centres of Malwa–Nimar region are Dhar, Indore, Dewas, Ujjain, Shajapur, Rajgarh, Ratlam, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Agar, Khargone, Khandwa and Alirajpur and Jhabua.
The region has seen attacks on minorities, rape of nuns and even blasts in the Sewa Bharti office. Missionaries were often the soft targets.
So it is only natural that the Sangh would pick any opportunity to whip up religious sentiments.
The Congress has refuted charges by the BJP on the 'Dabangg' row.
“This shows narrow-mindedness of the saffron outfit. During their 15-year rule, the state neither witnessed investments, nor development. Even tourist inflow waned,” party spokesperson Shobha Oza said.
Amid the political storm, the Khargone district administration has ordered a probe on the row.
“The wooden plank was later removed. There was no intention to hurt anyone’s sentiments,” crew members said.
If the political row continues to boil, the crew may also consider shifting the location to neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
Political bellwether
Maheshwar is one of the eight Assembly segments of Khargone parliamentary constituency, reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.
The region, spread across the Indore and Ujjain divisions of western Madhya Pradesh, had emerged as a BJP stronghold in the last decade.
Malwa-Nimar region is a political barometer – parties which performed well here have made gains in the entire state.
In 2018 assembly polls, Congress managed to form the Government after a gap of 15 years with the backing of 35 out of total 66 assembly seats it won from the Malwa-Nimar region.
In 2013 Assembly elections, the BJP was able to retain power after it won 56 seats in the region.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP made a clean sweep in the Malwa-Nimar region, winning all eight seats.
This time, however, the BJP may find the battle much tougher in its bastion.
The BJP had a grip over the Khargone Lok Sabha for a decade. However, in last year's assembly elections, the BJP could win only one Assembly seat.
The Congress won six assembly segments and a Congress rebel -- Kedar Chidabhai Devar – won in a seat.
The BJP's victory margin of over 2.50 lakh votes in 2014 has come down to just 7,232 votes in the 2018 assembly polls.
But there are some factors that could spring a surprise. If the election pattern witnessed in the eight Lok Sabha seats of the region during the Assembly polls is taken into account, Congress will win three seats -- Dewas, Ratlam and Dhar -- in the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP has an edge in five seats -- Khargone, Khandwa, Indore, Mandsaur and Ujjain.
The Congress made inroads in the region exploiting the farmers’ unrest in June 2017 in which six farmers were killed in police firing in Mandsaur.
Since then, the Congress has worked hard to turn the farmers’ unrest against the BJP, with its party manifesto promising to write off farm loans of up to Rs 2 lakh besides other concessions including social security pension and monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 4,000 per month for the jobless. It remains to be seen how the Congress promise to disburse 72,000 annually to 20 per cent of poor families nationwide will influence the voters in the Lok Sabha election.
With no wave this time, the region is expected to foresee a keener fight this time between the BJP and the Congress.
