Dressed in a pale green sari, her head neatly covered, her feet bare, 45-year-old Babytai Bais is out campaigning for the second day in her small village of Hivra Basra, giving out pamphlets with her photograph next to the symbol of a burning candle. She does not make speeches nor does she seek votes for herself. Instead, touching the feet of village elders, she just says: “Lakshya rahu dya (watch out for me).”

Following the withdrawal from the Assembly elections of Kalavati Bandurkar — the Vidarbha widow who became the face of the farm crisis after Rahul Gandhi visited her and mentioned her in a speech in Parliament — the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS) has fielded Babytai against Congress ex-MLA Wamanrao Kasawar and Sena MLA Vishwas Nandekar in Wani.

Babytai admits she does not know the names of her opponents. She refers to them just as ‘Panja’ and ‘Dhanushban’ (symbols of the Congress and Sena) candidates. However, the political novice and Class IV dropout is fast learning her politics.

Criticising Kalavati for withdrawing her nomination, Babytai says: “She thought only about herself and not about her sisters like me... I am contesting the election for my 7,000 distressed sisters. I hope the government gives them a pension and raises the price of cotton per quintal.”

While there is cynicism about her candidature following the drama that surrounded Kalavati’s nomination and withdrawal, there is no discounting the fact that Babytai remains one of the most active women from her village. She led the campaign for ‘daaru bandi (prohibition)’ in Hivra Basra, and became among the few from the village to have stepped outside Maharashtra, or for that matter Yavatmal, when she went to Delhi to highlight the plight of farm widows in 2007.

... contd.