Pressure on Rahul’s Kalawati not to take on Congress in polls

Rajya Sabha MP, who promised her aid, now writes asking her to desist from contesting elections against Rahul Gandhi’s party

Kalawati Bandurkar When Rahul Gandhi met Kalawati Bandurkar - a widow of a Vidarbha farmer in the summer of 2008 - and later spoke of her as a symbol of how the nation’s poor lived, little did he know he was raising a bogey that could hurt Congress’ prospects in Maharashtra. A year-and-a-half later, Kalawati is contesting Assembly polls as a candidate for the Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti (VJAS), which has decided to use the election as a tool to highlight farmers’ suicides. Kalawati filed her nomination papers on Friday after being brought to the office of the Assistant Returning Officer at Wani in an ambulance accompanied by a doctor. According to VJAS Secretary Kishore Tiwari, who has been fighting for over 13 years on the issue of farmers’ suicides, Kalawati had to be hospitalised late on Thursday night with a cardiac condition. “There is tremendous pressure on Kalawati to withdraw, and as a result, she has developed this condition. Dr Bindeshwar Pathak of Sulabh International, who had promised to deposit Rs 30 lakh to help her, sent her three letters yesterday asking her not to contest. Kalawati now fears she may lose the monetary aid, if she contested against Congress and is therefore under tremendous duress,” he said. Rahul’s passionate speech during the parliamentary debate over India’s nuclear deal with the US put Kalawati on the national map, and also moved Sulabh International Chairman Dr Bindeshwar Pathak so much that he offered to deposit Rs 30 lakh in her name. In June 2009, he offered to deposit the money in a nationalised bank and said that Kalawati would continue to receive monthly interest on it for the next 20 years - and that the deposit could be claimed by her or by her nominee after the term was completed. Rahul Gandhi Tiwari now says Pathak never fulfilled his promise. “He only gave her a token cheque. In reality, he deposited just Rs 2.8 lakh into her account. Kalawati now fears that he may not deposit the Rs 30 lakh at all if she contested. She has filed her nomination because she doesn’t want a wrong message to go out. But I am now doubtful if she will contest at all. We have asked another widow Babytai Bais to file her nomination as well, just in case Kalawati withdraws,” Tiwari said. Dr Pathak, whose NGO Sulabh works in the field of sanitation, insisted he never said he would not continue his aid to Kalawati if she contested Assembly polls. “I only suggested that it is better if she engaged herself in social service, rather than engage in politics. I gave her Rs three lakh twice. It’s true that I have been unable to deposit the Rs 30 lakh as promised, but that’s because we were through with our yearly budget and the promise was made afterwards. But we will definitely keep our word, regardless of whether Kalawati contests the polls or not,” Dr Pathak said. Dr Pathak, in his letter to Kalawati, has said but for Rahul’s reference about her in his speech, he would not have come forward to help her. “Nor would it have been possible for you to perform the marriage of your daughter, or for you to discharge the debt incurred by your husband. “I fail to visualise you being able to face the embarrassing situation where you may be forced to oppose the very person who has helped you attain economic wellbeing and its consequent comforts. To take help from someone and then work against them is dishonourable. I am writing this to you, lest you take a step, which will lead people to lose faith in goodness and altruism,” Dr Pathak added in his letter. Kalawati Bandurkar Deepak Lokhande (Mumbai Mirror) When asked if he had written the letter at the behest of the Congress, Dr Pathak insisted that there was no such pressure on him. “I genuinely felt she should not do it to the person who has helped her so much. I still insist I am not against her contesting elections. But it’s not as simple as she thinks it is,” said Dr Pathak who is a Rajya Sabha MP himself. Kalawati was not accessible for comment. Kishore Tiwari claimed she was still being treated at the Yavatmal district hospital and her sons-in-law, who were Congress supporters, didn’t want her to comment.