Battle for Bastar: With Mustard Oil, Onions, Congress Candidate ‘Takes On Modi’
Kawasi Lakhma, Congress candidate for Bastar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh, hogs limelight with his innovative campaign style.
With even no formal school education, the six-time tribal MLA understands the nitty-gritty of electoral politics particularly how to connect with his voters like a seasoned modern politician.
This is manifested in his style of campaigning, which is a mix of tribal culture and politics, in Bastar.
Seventy-year-old Mr Lakhma visits village after village during his campaign by beating drums and dancing, thus attracting the attention of the villagers easily.
He invariably chooses a huge tree in the village as his venue of public meeting, resembling the ‘panch sabha’ (meeting of elderly people of village), connecting instantly with the local tribes even before speaking a word.
He carries with him a bag containing a bottle of mustard oil, one kilo of onion, and a bottle of kerosene to every public meeting in the villages to create a visual impact on the issue of price rise of essential commodities.
