Bhopal: In Sironj town of Vidisha district, Vinod and Vijay Sen’s salon is abuzz with chatter on politics and the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.
As the brothers snip through their customers’ hair and give them a shave, they pepper the conversation with political advice.
Vijay and Vinod talk about the potential benefits of voting for the Congress, and pour disdain over the “failures” of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s 18-year tenure.
While Vijay runs the salon, which was set up by their father, Vinod juggles barbering with his role as state in-charge of the Congress’ Kesh Kala Shilpi Prakosht, or barber committee.
“Any person visiting a barber spends at least 20 to 30 minutes there,” said Vinod. “They read newspapers, answer calls, scroll through social media and often debate politics and social issues. We are working as pracharaks to spread the word of the party,” he added.
The Kesh Kala Shilpi Prakosht is one of 42 committees set up by the Congress Madhya Pradesh unit, under chief Kamal Nath, to tailor their outreach to the needs of different groups — from communities to professions as well as those with a certain grievance against the government.
These include individual groups for jhuggi-jhopdi residents (slum-dwellers), khadi evam gram udyog (khadi and village enterprises), doctor evam chikitsa (doctors and medicine), bunkar (weavers), dharma evam utsav (religion and festivals), bijli samasya nivaran (resolution of electricity troubles), mandir pujari (temple priests), pan utpadan evam vyavasay (pan production and business), and mechanic evam kamgaar (mechanics and labourers).
The community-specific committees include those for Gummakar Ardh Gummakar, Baghel-Pal, Banjara, Bengali and Rajak.
Senior Congress leader J.P. Dhanopia serves as the convenor for these committees, and the party holds regular meetings with these panels.
Speaking to ThePrint, a Congress leader said 13 of the prakosht — such as the ones for jhuggi-jhopdi residents and doctors — were created in 2018.
But the outreach process gained momentum after the collapse of the government in 2020, the leader added, referring to the rebellion led by former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia that caused the Kamal Nath government to collapse.
According to the leader, some of the prakosht — including mechanic-labourer and Baghel-Pal — were created as recently as five months ago.
Congress state chief Kamal Nath told ThePrint that “the idea is to reach out to all communities or sections of society that do not directly come to your rallies”.
“Whether it be doctors, grazers community, pujaris and others,” he added.
“Through these committees, the Congress is reaching out to different sections of society to understand their challenges, grievances, and connecting them to the party and its various initiatives.”
The party’s push towards this outreach approach comes at a time when the Congress and the BJP are fighting for narrow margins in what is expected to be a close contest.
In the 2018 assembly polls, the voteshare difference between the parties was just about 0.1 percent, with the Congress securing 40.89 percent against the BJP’s 41.02 percent.
The Congress’ share of seats was just five more in the 230-member assembly.
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What these committees do
Each of these Congress committees has its brief and purpose cut out.
Set up in 2021, the Kesh Kala Shilpi Prakosht, with around 5,000 members, serves as a platform for raising issues related to the welfare and rights of the Sain community, such as its demand to be recognised among the Scheduled Castes instead of Other Backward Classes (OBC).
The Swatantrata Sangram Senani Parivar Prakosht has been tasked with tracing the families of freedom fighters to facilitate their recognition as ‘rashtra parivar’ to honour their sacrifices.
The Baghel-Pal Prakosht is busy uniting members of the community — essentially comprising grazers — to demand greater representation in local governance.
The mechanic prakosht, headed by Arbaz Khan, is demanding a designated marketplace where members of the profession will have adequate space to park under-repair vehicles.
“When we began reaching out to the mechanics in the state, we realised that they especially faced challenges in cities like Bhopal for space,” said Khan. “They want some space designated near squares, where they can work without being harassed.”
The Jhuggi-Jhopdi Prakosht is fighting for the rights of the slum-dwellers being evacuated for ongoing Metro and road construction work in Bhopal.
“When the government does not accept our demands, we work with individual MLAs to get some grant from their MLA fund for the welfare of slum-dwellers,” said Nikesh Chauhan, state in-charge for the prakosht.
While working for slum-dwellers, he added, Congress workers also reach out to women from the community and explain to them the Congress’ promise of providing LPG cylinders for Rs 500.
The Dharm Evam Utsav Prakosht has been organising programmes such as ‘kathavachans (discourse sessions)’ and bhajan recitals with prominent seers and singers from across India.
While some of these committees also spread the party’s word to customers — like Vinod Sen of the barber prakosht, and members of the pan utpadan and slum-dweller committees — others take on the BJP government.
Amid the ongoing monsoon session of the assembly, the Mandir Pujari Prakosht held a protest and picketed the Vidhan Sabha to protest against the Chouhan government’s “anti-pujari and anti-temple policies”.
“It was not just the Congress [supporting us]. We received letters of support from pujari communities across MP,” said Shivnarayan Sharma, who heads the Mandir Pujari Prakosht.
“We were also supported by Brahmins and those from the Goswami community,” he added.
The committees have been tasked with forming district-level panels. Some have gone a step further — the ‘Doctor Evam Chikkitsa Prakosht’, for one, has wings at the block and ward level too.
‘Potential dividends unclear yet’
During an event organised by the Kesh Kala Shilpi Prakosht in April, Nath — referring to the Sains’ demand for SC status — asked the members to just “wait until the elections are over”. The announcement elicited loud jai-jai-kars.
J.P. Dhanopia, the prakosht convenor, said “people are unhappy with the state and through these prakosht they are feeling heard and are coming out in support for the Congress in large numbers”.
Jaishreeram Baghel, the state in-charge of the Baghel-Pal Prakosht, said the community has large numbers in the Gwalior-Chambal region and will give the party an edge.
“During the local body elections in July 2o22, Kamal Nath supported many people from the Pal community who contested the janpad elections and also won. The community has come out to support the Congress,” he added.
The demands raised by the various prakosht are being deliberated upon, and some will be included in the Congress manifesto, said a Congress leader.
Through this exercise, the Congress, which has been out of power for close to two decades (but for the 2018-2020 period), is rebuilding its organisation right to the ward level, said another Congress leader.
Professor Yatindra Sisodia, Director at the Ujjain-based Madhya Pradesh Institute of Social Science Research, said that, in creating the prakosht, the Congress is replicating the ideas of the BJP to capture the aspirations of these communities.
“It was the BJP that would hold sammelans of barbers and listen to their problems,” he added. “With the Congress adopting this strategy, the party does not want to leave any stone unturned.”
Sisodia said it never happens that an entire community votes in one direction for any particular party.
“It is basically an attempt of the Congress party to swing as many votes as they can,” he added. “But it would be premature to ascertain the dividends such a move will pay for the Congress. It didn’t always go in favour of the BJP either.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)