Rajasthan, where the election is scheduled to take place for the state assembly on November 25 is witnessing the Bharatiya Janata Party employ Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hindutva as its core plans to garner votes. There is no primacy given to regional leaders in such a plan.The same pattern was followed by the party in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.Local issues hardly form part of BJP’s campaign. While media reports suggest that there is momentum for possible change of regime in Madhya Pradesh by unseating the BJP government, there is discernible trend in Chhattisgarh for the continuance of the Congress government there.Illustration: Pariplab ChakrabortyGehlot’s welfare schemes versus BJP’s promisesHowever, in Rajasthan, it appears that there is a neck-to-neck contest between Congress and BJP. The existing welfare schemes of Congress’s Ashok Gehlot government and the party’s seven guarantees in its election manifesto – which, among others things, include Rs 10,000 every year to the female head of the family under the Griha Lakshmi Yojana guarantee, cow dung at Rs 2 kg under the Gowdhan project, free laptops and tablets to first-year government college students – have gained traction.The Gehlot government’s scheme to give Rs 25 lakhs to people for medical treatment and its assurances for the restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS) and providing free education has become very popular. In its manifesto released two days ago, four days before the elections, Congress has promised to enhance the Rs 25 lakh promise to Rs 50 lakhs and, among other promises, assured that it will implement MSP for crops based on the M.S. Swaminathan formula. It promises to give four lakh government jobs, and 10 lakh other jobs, conduct a caste census, and give cooking gas cylinders to some families at Rs 450 per cylinder.It also promises to enact a legislation guaranteeing the right to shelter. In contrast, BJP in manifesto has assured gas cylinders for Rs 500. Vey strikingly, it does not mention restoration of OPS.Criticism of GehlotThe Congress regime was widely criticised by youth and people of the state on the paper leak issue which led to the cancellation of competitive exams for filling vacancies at government jobs. There is also anti-incumbency against Congress MLAs even though Ashok Gehlot personally enjoys popularity.BJP is defensiveHowever, several media commentators wonder how it is that in none of the BJP-ruled states gas cylinders are available for as cheap as Rs 500. How can the party make such a promise, it asks.The party’s ‘Modi Guarantees’ has been fashioned along the lines of the Congress party’s guarantees in Karnataka where it won a decisive mandate and BJP lost power. It is quite striking that while Congress calls those guarantees as those of the party, to the people, in contrast, the BJP names the promises it has stated as ‘Modi’s Guarantees’.While BJP follows the Congress example of giving guarantees it centres these around Modi. The unmistakable centrality of Modi in the template of the BJP campaign in Rajasthan is projected before the electorate to appear as if Modi is the driving force for every thing associated with party’s quest for power in the state.BJP’s Hindutva strategyBJP’s Hindutva strategy is best manifested in an election rally of Modi’s in Rajasthan which began from a Hanuman temple where there were bomb blasts some years ago and traversed through the area. Many wondered if the route would give birth to tensions.Meanwhile, the beheading of a Hindu tailor Kanhiya Lal in Rajasthan last year by Muslims because of the alleged insult of Prophet Mohammad by a BJP spokesperson has been frequently invoked by BJP leaders to appeal to voters. One BJP leader went to the extent of saying that the victory of Congress will cause celebrations in Pakistan. Such statements might cause polarisation of voters in the name of religion.DharmaBJP’s struggles in the state do not mean that the Congress is assured of victory.Congress, apart from solely relying on local leaders and taking up local socio-economic issues is reaching out to voters through its guarantees and manifesto, which it claimed is based on the rights of people, regardless of faith.Media personality Vijaya Vidrohi succinctly put the electoral contest of ‘Congress vs BJP’ as a contest between ‘Raj Dharma vs Dharma’. While Raj Dharma represents the rule or governance for promoting welfare of people without any discrimination based on their identities, the Dharma here represents Hindutva strategy which does not include Muslims. He is of the opinion that eventually people might get persuaded more by Raj Dharma rather than mere Dharma.He also quoted a famous line from the folklore of Rajasthan, “Rub Ruthe, Raj Na Ruthe”.“God might be angry, but the King should not be angry.”What about regional leaders?The BJP under Modi and Shah has relegated regional leaders in almost all the states to secondary status and in Rajasthan it has been done to three-time chief minister and highly influential leader Vasundhara Raje Scindia. She was reportedly not given a copy of the party manifesto at the time of its release when she was there on the dais with BJP president J.P. Nadda. Eventually someone gave a copy to her and she stood with it in hand, without displaying it for media coverage. The visual message is clear. She is also not visiting constituencies other than her own for campaigns and on one occasion publicly declared that she would retire as her son is now able to take care of himself in politics.Such marginalisation of a key regional leader like her in the electoral battle of the state and the overwhelming reliance of the party on Hindutva and Modi and not on its own manifesto leads one to wonder which brand of campaigns will win.S.N. Sahu Served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan.