Chhindwara: The villagers of Khutiya in Chhindwara district – adopted by human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar under Modi government’s Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana – are all set to side with Congress and give their vote to state chief minister Kamal Nath in the upcoming polls.They don’t seem too taken with Union minister Javadekar.Chhindwara, along with five other parliamentary constituencies of Madhya Pradesh, is going to polls on April 29.One of the biggest parliamentary constituencies in the state, Chhindwara has been ruled by Congress leader and former Union minister Kamal Nath since 1981. However, after becoming the chief minister in December 2018, Nath resigned as MP. He passed on his parliamentary seat to his son Nukul Nath.Khutiya – the tribal village located 22-km east of Chhindwara city – was adopted by Javadekar in November 2016, two years after he adopted Satna district’s Paldev gram panchayat bordering Uttar Pradesh (Chitrakoot).The village, with 300 homes, has more than 1,300 voters. After adopting the village, the Union minister had conducted a survey with a special focus on education and sanitation. Afterwards, he visited the area and promised to make it a model village.Khutiya village in Chhindwara district.On the minister’s initiative, a primary school with a capacity of 300 children was reconstructed by the state school education department. A community hall and guest house were built by the State Public and Works Department (PWD) worth Rs 32 lakh. The Nal-Jal Yojna totalling Rs 48 lakh was launched by the Public Health Engineering Department to provide drinking water to every household at their doorstep. Additionally, a proposal for a fitness centre – a gym – had been approved by the PWD and Rs 17 lakh sanctioned, but construction is yet to begin.Also read: How the Congress Is Normalising Soft-Hindutva in Madhya PradeshThe village, surrounded by mountains and natural greenery, has 100% electrified homes, smooth roads and is well-connected with the city.Also, 20 residents of the village received the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yogna. Some fifty residents received cylinders under the Ujjawala Yogna and more than 70 toilets were built under the Swachta Mission in the village. However, despite all this, voters seem unhappy with the BJP and want to vote for Congress.The sarpanch of the village, Phulmansa Sallam said: “It is true that the Union minister has kept most of his promises, but the voters of this village have struck a chord with Kamal Nath and they will vote for him.”In the recently held assembly elections, “Congress won all seven seats of Chhindwara for the first time in history. In our village, the party got 428 more votes than the BJP. And this time, the BJP sympathisers [in the village] too want to vote for Congress because of various reasons,” Sallam said.Bansilal Uikey, a resident of the village, explained: “Unlike the BJP, which is a pro-businessman party, Congress has always protected the rights of tribals. The party has given us the Forest Right Act which strengthens us. ”Khutiya village in Chhindwara district.Referring to the recent order of the Supreme Court on the Forest Right Act, Uikey further said: “See what the BJP has done to us. They weakened the case in the SC, and the apex court has now ordered us to vacate forests (our homes). They are shooing us away from our homes and giving to the businessmen just like they did in Chhattisgarh. They should go,” he asserted.Also read: The Supreme Court Sends Forest Rights Back to a Dark PastRecently, the environment ministry gave clearance for open cast coal mining in Parsa in Chhattisgarh’s dense Hasdeo Arand forests. The decision that could have far-reaching consequences for forest cover conservation in India. Hasdeo Arand is one of the largest stretches of dense forest in central India, spanning about 170,000 hectares.One of the resident, Basant Kumar Uikey, who works in a private firm in Chandigarh has a different reason to vote for Kamal Nath. He said, “Nath has been representing Chhindwara for around four decades. In between, he held various portfolios and has a strong hold not only in Congress and among politicians but also in the business world.”“Despite all, he listens to our problems and tries to resolve it. He is unmatchable. No one could represent Chhindwara better than Kamal Nath. Now, his son Nukul Nath is replacing him and we are sure that he will work just like his father.”Kashif Kakvi is a Delhi-based journalist who reports on Madhya Pradesh. He tweets @KashifKakvi.
