What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
Her victory was led by the Jatavs and Muslims community coming together for the first time.
KOTA : The New Indian team reaches Kota, the city known for its rich heritage, Kota stone and the premier students hub. Here Nouksham Chaudhary, the youngest BJP MLA, is heavily campaigning in favour of Om Birla, the sitting Lok Sabha speaker and MP from Kota constituency.
The 30-year-old, first Dalit MLA of the state is a daughter of the Sikh mother and Dalit father. She won defeating a Muslim candidate in Mewat region of Bharatpur in November 2023 Rajasthan elections. Her victory was led by the Jatavs and Muslims community coming together for the first time because both these sections were marginalised in the region. On the other hand congress was only promoting the local MLA and not the Dalits.
In an interview with The New Indian’s Executive Editor Rohan Dua she reveals that congress would never give such opportunity to any Dalit which the BJP has provided citing it a living example of BJP’s ‘sabka sath sabka vikas moto’
Here are the Excerpts of the Interview:
Rohan Dua: What brings you personally to Kota?
Nouksham: A very important factor here is the candidate himself, Om Birla, who is the Lok Sabha speaker, and I am very sure that he is going to win the election. I am here to go around in different constituencies for his campaigning, and I am also looking at caste factors. We have dalits, we have Muslims, and we have minorities, so we are here to mobilise them and give them a very beautiful chance to again vote for Om Birla.
Rohan Dua: When you contested for the first and second time, you defeated someone from the Mewat region and a Muslim candidate there as well. Your politics today are also based on the fact that Congress has been wooing minorities for several decades, while our former PM Manmohan Singh only made an attempt and said that welfare schemes should go to minorities and others should be ignored. Do you think that sort of politics also gives a perspective on who you are today?
Nouksham: First of all, you have to understand why people vote for you. People are not voting for you only because it is caste-based. Of course, in India, you cannot go out of the range of caste and gender. But people were thoroughly upset with Congress and its policies, so it’s not just about the minorities; Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas has been mentioned by the prime minister many times. So, it’s just not about minorities; we are taking everybody together, including ‘36 biradari and saat samaj’. Since it was a minority-dominated seat and the local public of the place were totally against Congress, how it worked because of the severe corruption charges, jungle raaj, it was a hooligan, it was a chaos.
Rohan: When you won at the age of 30, did you bring with you a rich legacy of a Sikh mother and a Dalit father? Do you also believe that ‘sabka sath sabka vikas’ today focus on as much Sikhism, Hinduism, and Jainism in the BJP, or are there any inadequacies that need to be fulfilled in Rajasthan?
Nouksham: All the communities across the state and across the Indian regionalities have to be taken into consideration. It’s just not that you only want the vote of one community to survive in the country.
Rohan: So, you do both Sikh and Hindu prayers?
Nouksham: Yes, I do! In fact, I have been brought up in a very religious environment; I have been passed out from Miranda to St. Stephen, later I also went to London. I have a legacy of different cultures, different countries, and different religions involved. But I am here to collaborate with my own community, the Dalit , in particular. I am here to give a strong message to Muslims that you should vote for the BJP and Om Birla
Rohan Dua: What are the things that you like about Kota and Om Birla?
Nouksham: Kota is firstly a Tier 1 city, and then I want to congratulate OM Birla about the development here at the colonies and streets. It’s an upcoming city in the state, and the way Om Birla has connected the public with the policies of the BJP, I want to congratulate him on that too.
Rohan Dua: Learned people like you who bring so much laurels and academic credentials with such brilliant alma maters behind, how do you think its significant factor to those downtrodden dalits who for several years have fought the caste war and send them a strong message that look here is a young candidate who has been given the ticket of BJP and the candidate who has strongly followed the credentials of the party?
Nouksham: I am the first example of a state where a Jatav is made to contest from a general seat; give me any example if Congress has ever done this! In this country, the BJP chose me to contest from two different states for two general seats. Do you think there is a bigger example than this? Congress has always taken the votes on the names of Dalits, Muslims, and Backwards and never given anything. Do you think Congress can provide a candidate for a Jatav community from a general seat? I am the standing example.
