Ground Report From Maharashtra's Akola — Where Politics Turns Unusually Communal, And Soil Turns Saline

A total of five Lok Sabha Constituencies from the Western Vidarbha region of Maharashtra voted on 26 April. One among them was Akola — undoubtedly the most polarised Lok Sabha constituency in the region.

Swarajya visited the constituency a few days before polling.

Once famed as a major cotton trading and processing hub, voters from the constituency said that the present state of affairs here is a stark contrast to what it was in the past.

Farmers are reluctantly shifting from cotton to other crops due to issues ranging from increasing soil salinity to diminishing returns. This translates into a steady decline in cotton production which has led to some of the major textile mills in the constituency to pull their shutters down.

However, the issues mentioned above are rarely talked about in the political rallies here.

From tea stalls to bus terminus, from coaching classes to political rallies, what everyone is trying to figure out is this- which of the competing candidates has got the caste and communal calculations right?

The Akola Lok Sabha seat is one of the few constituencies in Maharashtra that has consistently witnessed a triangular fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Prakash Ambedkar-led Bharatiya Republican Party before and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) now.

In the 2019 general elections, BJP’s sitting four-time Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Dhotre had won with a record breaking vote-share of 49.53 percent, the highest in the entire Western Vidarbha.

“Dhotre’s victory margin was so huge that even if we combine the total votes polled in favour of the second runner-up VBA’s Prakash Ambedkar and INC’s Hidayatullah Patel, there was still a difference of 24,478 votes. However, it won’t be the case this time with two Maratha candidates from either sides in the fray,” said Nilesh Joshi, Resident Editor of the regional daily Tarun Bharat.

Caste Polarisation

In the past two general elections of 2014 and 2019, Congress had fielded Hidayatullah Patel as its Lok Sabha candidate for Akola. Considering that the party has been unable to win this seat for a long period since 1989, Congress this time has decided to capitalise on the Maratha agitation fervour by nominating Dr Abhay Patil, an orthopedic surgeon who hails from the numerically dominant Maratha caste.

The BJP on the other hand nominated sitting MP Sanjay Dhotre’s son Anup Dhotre, who is also a Maratha.

Then there is the prominent Dalit leader and VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar who is contesting from the Akola Lok Sabha seat for the eleventh time in a row.

As per the 2011 census data, the Scheduled Castes (SC) constitute 20 percent of the Akola district’s population. A large chunk of them adhere to the Neo-Buddhist philosophy and are considered to be staunch supporters of Prakash Ambedkar’s VBA.

According to experts, Prakash Ambedkar’s decision to fight Lok Sabha elections consistently from the constituency was a strategic move on the part of the Neo-Buddhist Dalit community here.

“Akola, unlike neighbouring Amravati, is an unreserved seat. Yet Prakash Ambedkar, who is a Mumbai-based leader, chose Akola owing to the insistence of one Lankeshwar Guruji of the influential Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha. It was Guruji who started the practice of inviting Ambedkar to deliver speeches to large crowds of Neo-Buddhist devotees who would halt here in Akola while on their way to Nagpur’s Deekshabhoomi," Joshi from Tarun Bharat said.

Considering the presence of a large SC population and Ambedkar's potential to wean away OBC votes from the BJP and Congress, Guruji is supposed to have requested him to fight Lok Sabha elections from Akola first in 1984 against INC’s Madhusudan Vairale.

"In his electoral debut, Ambedkar instantly emerged second with 1,65,064 votes. Since then, there has been no looking back for him,” Joshi added.

A local political analyst on condition of anonymity said that Ambedkar’s fan following in Akola was almost at a cult-level.

“Wherever he goes, there are large number of his followers who pick up soil from the ground where he had stood to address them and smear it over their forehead. To them Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar is god and Prakash Ambedkar being his grandson too enjoys a divine status,” he added.

Although Ambedkar has won from the seat only twice- in 1998 and 1999- on Congress support, Lankeshwar Guruji’s dream turned into a reality with the Ambedkar-led BRP then and the VBA now, having been in control of the Akola District Council for more than 20 years now.

Experts say this has been possible because of Ambedkar’s strategy of carefully identifying and cultivating local leadership from the poor sections of OBC castes as well as from the dominant Maratha-Kunbi and other forward caste groups.

“One of the VBA’s senior-most co-ordinator here is a Brahmin named Nilesh Deo. His now deceased wife Advocate Dhanashree Deo was elected as a corporator in the Akola Municipal Corporation from Ambedkar's party twice, that too from a forward caste dominated ward which was traditionally held by the BJP.

This should give you an idea of the kind of social engineering Ambedkar has been attempting here for years now,” Joshi from Tarun Bharat said.

At present, when it seems that Ambedkar has a strong chance to win, his followers have resolved to firmly stand by him.

“The sitting MP from BJP- Sanjay Dhotre- was Akola’s Lok Sabha representative for twenty years. Not once did he or any other senior BJP leader visit our locality to understand our issues,” said Santosh Gawai (54), a resident of the Ambedkar Nagar located in Akola city. Gawai is in the business of erecting makes-shift tents for events.

“My vote will go to the VBA. However, in future if there is any leader from the Congress or the BJP who is genuinely interested in helping us, I am sure there are several like me here who will consider other political options as seriously as the VBA,” Gawai added.

While the older generation seemed more open to the idea of engaging with parties on the other side of political spectrum, the loyalty of the young-blood towards VBA was more pronounced.

“The present BJP-led union government is trying to change the Constitution written by Babasaheb. They have a Manuwadi mindset and they want to abolish reservation enshrined in the constitution. It is Babasaheb's constitution that gave us the right to live with dignity. Thus, it is our duty to stick with his son, whether polls or no polls,” said Atul Rote (24), who works as a property agent.

While there was unanimity among the Scheduled Caste voters, particularly the Neo-Buddhists, that they will vote only in the favour of VBA’s Prakash Ambedkar, the caste Hindu votes are bound to be split.

Maratha-Kunbi caste agglomeration- the largest in the constituency as well as the state is said to comprise 30-35 percent of the constituency's population. For more than three decades now, a large chunk of Maratha-Kunbi voters have stood firmly with the BJP. However, there is a catch here.

The Kunbi grouping here in Vidarbha, unlike those in Western Maharashtra, has fiercely maintained its identity independent of their allied sub-caste Marathas.

This stance is also transmitted into politics, which was seen when BJP’s former Balapur Legislator Narayan Gavhankar, a Kunbi, filed his candidature as an independent after the saffron party decided to stick with the Maratha Dhotre family.

Gavhankar later withdrew his nomination after senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis intervened on behalf of the Dhotre family.

Subsequently, the party leadership went a few more steps ahead by bringing both- the Maratha Mahasangh and the Kunbi Sena on board and requested them to publicly declare their support to Dhotre junior. In order to convey the same to the voters, the Akola BJP unit also published advertisements indicating the support of both community organisations to Dhotre.

However, Dhotre loyalists in the BJP said that despite all such efforts, the supposedly disgruntled Gavhankar was using his contacts in the Kunbi Sena to campaign against the BJP candidate Anup Dhotre.

Notably, BJP leader Gavhankar’s son- Ram Gavhankar is a member of the Akola District Council from the Ambedkar-led VBA.

Among the lay masses, although the Marathas and Kunbis maintain their separate identities, there was consensus among both that the BJP had erred in nominating a sitting MP’s son.

Purshottam Deshmukh (58), a rickshaw driver who identified himself as a Maratha, said, “We elected the sitting BJP MP Dhotre four-times in a row and what has he done for the constituency? Absolutely nothing. These concrete roads which you see now have been built in haste. Even the flyover they boast about took eight years to build. The underpass below it is barely usable due to faulty design. I don’t care what happens in Delhi, I want our lives here to improve.”

When asked whom he will vote for if not Dhotre, he instantly said that it will be INC’s Dr Abhay Patil and not VBA’s Prakash Ambedkar.

"I am a Deshmukh and Dr Patil is aapla maanus," said Deshmukh supposedly indicating his criterion having been their common Maratha caste roots.

On the other hand, Narendra Waghe (51), also a rickshaw driver, who identified himself as a Kunbi said, “Anup Dhotre’s candidature is nothing but gharaneshahi (i.e. dynasty politics). First his father became an MP, then his cousin Randheer Savarkar became a Legislator from Akola East and now he is being pushed ahead after Dhotre senior is retiring from politics.

If they (i.e. the BJP) didn’t have anyone else, why didn’t they consider Gavhankar? Has he done any paap (i.e. sin) by being born as a Kunbi? Nonetheless, I will vote for the BJP.”

When asked if he wasn’t happy with the choice of candidate, why was he favouring the BJP? To this, Waghe replied, “Whether we like it or not, a BJP MP and Legislators from the same party are needed here in Akola to keep VBA cadre’s dadagiri and fundamentalist elements among Muslims in check. People have died here in the riots before. This is why it is difficult to imagine Akola without the BJP.”

The Muslim Vote

According to old-timers who have observed Akola’s politics over the years, one slogan had potentially thwarted Prakash Ambedkar’s prospects of winning in his very first Lok Sabha elections in 1984.

It is alleged that at a rally held in the old parts of the city, few over-enthusiastic supporters of his had said, “Bauddh-Muslim bhai-bhai, Hindu Kaum bich mai kaha se aayi?" (meaning, Neo-Buddhist SC’s and Muslims are like brothers, wonder from where did these Hindus come in the picture).

Although it is difficult to ascertain the veracity of this claim, polarisation of votes on communal lines is an existential reality.

According to the 2011 census figure, the Muslims population in Akola is almost equal to that of the Scheduled Castes at 20 per cent.

Assuming that Muslims tend to vote en-masse and that they have traditionally been loyal to the Congress, the party has fielded either a Maratha or a Muslim candidate for every Lok Sabha elections here since 1962.

However, the aggressive posturing of the VBA is said to have dented the Congress’s Muslim vote-bank. Cadres of the Prakash Ambedkar-led party as well as the BJP said that a good number of Pasmanda Muslims, meaning those originally from the socially backward castes, are now distancing themselves from the Congress.

Dr Zeeshan Hussain, a Congress Corporator in the Akola civic body and grandson of INC's former Akola MP Asghar Hussain, disagreed with this claim.

Giving the author a live demonstration, he asked the Congress cadre present in the meeting hall of his house whether they were aware of what Pasmanda Muslim means. Almost all barring one Congress volunteer answered in negative.

“The awareness regarding the Pasmanda Muslim identity is prominent only in parts of Western Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Here in Maharashtra and specifically in Akola, it is a complete non-issue. At the most 20-25 percent of Muslim votes here might go with the VBA, but the rest will firmly stay put with Congress candidate Dr Abhay Patil,” Hussain said.

When asked whether VBA’s charge of Patil’s alleged Hindutvawadi connections will affect the Muslim voter’s psyche, Dr Hussain said that it won’t be the case.

The Congress candidate Dr Abhay Patil's father- Dr Kashinath Patil, is the former Chief of the Sangh Pariwar affiliated Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) Vidarbha chapter. Dr Patil junior too is said to have been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and VHP in his youth.

Considering that Akola has witnessed communal clashes in the past, this Lok Sabha seat is being closely watched out by law enforcement agencies. While there have been many minor clashes among different sections from the Hindu and Muslim sides over the years, most prominent were the riots of 1992 that took place in the aftermath of the demolition of the disputed Babri Mosque structure in Ayodhya.

The recent instance of communal riot was in 2023 when an allegedly defamatory Instagram post on Prophet Mohammad had stoked up tensions in the old city area. The tensions soon culminated into vandalisation of several vehicles and a religious shrine in the Harihar Peth area of the old city. Stone pelting that ensued while the clashes were in full swing, claimed one life and left several injured.

No Takers For Real Issues

Sanglud Budruk, located 15 kilometres away from the Akola city, at first sight looks like any other Indian village. Concretised roads flanked by houses on either sides, a District Council school, few temples, a Buddha Vihara and posters of the three major contestants in fray for the Akola Lok Sabha seat displayed on the alleyway crossings.

However, all is not well here.

The village is part of the infamous ‘Khaar-Paan-Patta’ of Western Vidarbha, meaning region of saline soil and water. According to a report published in the year 2003, spread along the course of river Purna, the saline tract comprised 16 Talukas and 894 villages across Amravati, Akola and Buldhana District. Experts say it is likely that the number of villages affected by the problem has increased.

Prashant Kale (43), a farmer from Sanglud Budruk explains the travails of cultivators from the region.

"There are parts in Maharashtra which suffer on account of low water table. Our predicament is different. We have a relatively high water table because it has not been pumped out enough. If we do that and use water from borewells for irrigating our fields, the soil surface turns exceptionally hard and the land becomes uncultivable."

Kale further explained that this is because of high salinity in soil as well as the ground water. As a result the farmers here according to him mostly rely on rain-fed agriculture.

"In the Kharif season if it rains heavily, the salts in the soil dissolve in the water in large quantities and spread out over the surface. Thus, relatively better production is possible only in the Rabi season post monsoon when the chances of soil getting exposed to rains is limited.

We can then take crops by cultivating alternate patches of land each season. Water from the borewells is used only when it seems that the crop might dry-up," Kale added.

However, there are others who are compelled to take the risk and cultivate crops in both seasons.

Ganesh Raut (52), a farmer from the same village was compelled by the pressing situation in his home to cultivate his farm both in the Kharif as well as Rabi in this financial year.

"If your family doesn't have someone working in a formal sector job, you cannot rely only on crop produce from one season alone. As of now, I have cultivated ladyfinger and brinjal in a patch of land using drip irrigation.

I thought since drip ensures targetted supply of water only to the roots, salinity won't hamper the crop. However, if you look closely, you can see white layers developing in the soil around roots where water drips. Sometimes, when salinity increases way above the threshold, crops don't grow much in height. Overall, farming here is a risky gambit," Raut said.

Kale warns Raut that he should avoid cultivating the tract in the upcoming Kharif season, lest it becomes more saline due to increased exposure to moisture. He also suggests the latter to spread out two quintals of gypsum per acre to keep salinity levels in check.

What is river Kosi to Bihar, river Purna is to Western Vidarbha region. Not only do the salts carried by the river waters affect the fields, it has also caused several health issues among the residents of this region.

Parts of Buldhana District in particular have reported an unusually high number of kidney stone patients in the recent past. Experts say, it is the ground water replenished by the waters from Purna that increases salinity.

"Consider this: there are colonial records mentioning salt production activity at a village named Dahihanda along the banks of Purna river in Akola District. This should give you an idea of the salinity levels in the river as well as the ground water here," Joshi from Tarun Bharat, said.

"The state government with assistance from the Union Government and the World Bank had proposed a project worth Rs 4,000 crore to alleviate the issue back in 2019. However, till date the project continues to be on the paper," Joshi added.

According to agricultural experts, the issue of soil salinity creates a vicious circle where in the farmer who is unable to take at least two cycles of crops is pushed to seek more loans in order to sustain his family.

When the crop fails or is affected by natural causes, the farmer is compelled to borrow more. Increasing debt ultimately forces him to sell away his land or commit suicide under distress.

It is pertinent to note here that Akola is a part of the Vidarbha region which witnesses maximum farmer suicides in the state, with 1,439 suicidal deaths recorded last in 2023.

There is however one rich dividend paying crop- cotton- which can hold itself up in moderately saline land. The uppermost layer of the black soil in this region is said to be beneficial for the production of quality varieties of cotton. This is also a reason why Akola in the past had emerged as one of the largest cotton trading and processing centres in Central India.

However, it is not the case anymore.

Mahendra Kale (48), a farmer from the Sanglud Budruk village said,

"Cotton can withstand moderate salinity, which is why it was largely preferred by the farmers here. However, increasing labour costs, pest menace and lack of legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) is steadily discouraging farmers from cultivating the same.

Farmers have been now shifting towards less labour intensive and relatively pest resilient crops like soyabean, grams, pulses and jowar. But then the MSP for these crops is lower than that offered for cotton."

According to him, the MSP for soyabean is pegged at Rs 4,600 per quintal but when a farmer takes the same to a nearby APMC, he is offered at the most Rs 4,400 per quintal.

When asked as to why don't the farmers sell the same to the state government, he chuckles and says,

"That is another theme for research. The procurement authorities are so brilliant that at times when they send messages to farmers saying we are ready to buy the produce, they start the actual procurement only a few days before the closing date. Sometimes they don't procure at all."

When it comes to the issue of MSP, Dr Nilesh Patil- Vidarbha Yuva Aghadi Pramukh of the influential Shetkari Sanghatna is of the opinion that MSP is no panacea to the farmer's troubles here in Akola or anywhere else across the country.

"Let's assume if MSP is made mandatory and in a particular season the actual rate being offered globally for a produce is more than the MSP decided by the government, why should the farmer suffer? We expected the NDA government to shun this left-wing, protectionist policies when they came to power. But they have continued with the same anti-market and inter alia anti-farmer policies."

According to Patil, the union as well as state governments policies towards agriculture are guided by short-term political gains. He opines that the governments should limit their interventions in the agricultural market.

"This region and for that matter large parts of India lack good agricultural infrastructure like the shet raste (i.e. farm roads built on dykes), 24 hours quality power supply, godowns, cold storages, processing industries. The government as well as the intelligentsia's fascination with the MSP is blinding them from seeing this," Dr Patil from Shetkari Sanghatna said.

The issue of MSP apart, as a direct consequence of the decreasing cotton production and changing business scenario, at least three major textile mills and several ginning centres have ceased to operate in the constituency.

"Savtaram Textile Mills, Mohta Textile Mills, Simplex Mills and Nilkanth Co-Operative Spinning Mill are some of the major cotton related industries in Akola that have shut down in the recent past.

The district milk collection and processing centre operated by the state government too has been un-operational for years. It is only last year that the central government run Mother Dairy has started milk collection centres here," Dr Patil said.

According to him, the grouse of the rural-Akolaites is that the politicians there are least bothered about such issues that are hindering the progress of their constituency.

"In the elections, almost all of them are worried about caste and religion issues. INC candidate Dr Abhay Patil is an exception though, he recognises and understands the crisis we are facing. Thus, the political wing of our Shetkari Sanghatna has decided to support him this time," Dr Patil added.

If the problem of increasing soil salinity wasn't enough, farmers are left distraught when the pesticides they buy turn out to have either expired or prove to be ineffective.

"A few days back a farmer from this constituency had exposed that the Krushi Seva Kendra in Akot was selling pesticides which had long expired its due date. This is a common malpractice where in the Kendra owners either scribble something with pen over the due date or stick other labels over the same. Since the pesticide was ineffective, this farmer lost his moong crop to pests," Kale, farm owner from Sanglud Budruk, said.

According to a farmer from the Khanapur Budruk village who did not wish to be named- pest menace, lowered cotton production, shutting down of cotton mills- all of this had indirectly contributed towards altering the demography of the region.

"A large chunk of the forward caste and otherwise educated youth from all sections have left the villages. If not, you can see them slogging off in the coaching classes offering the lure of government jobs in Akola. Others have gone to distant cities like Pune or Mumbai. When one element of the rural community starts vanishing from the scene, it causes friction in the villages and alternately regional politics," he said.

"If politicians from this constituency had been serious about the khaar-paan-patta issue and had devised plans to alleviate the same, why would have my children left for the cities? They (i.e. politicians) have their children here with them in Akola while mine had to go far away. My kids don't even come here to vote in the elections, their bond with the village is now broken forever," he added.

This report is part of Swarajya's 50 Ground Stories Project - an attempt to throw light on themes and topics that are often overlooked or looked down. You can support this initiative by sponsoring as little as ₹2999. Click here for more details.