Dalit woman from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur set to be one of the youngest MPs in Lok Sabha

Sanjana Jatav, 26, from Congress has defeated her BJP rival in the bastion of Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma

Ishita Mishra

A Congress MP-elect from the Bharatpur constituency in Rajasthan, Sanjana Jatav hails from a Dalit community.

A Congress MP-elect from the Bharatpur constituency in Rajasthan, Sanjana Jatav hails from a Dalit community. | Photo Credit: Instagram/@incsanjanajatav

As the results of the Lok Sabha polls were announced on June 4, a video of a saree-clad woman, who was celebrating her victory by dancing to the tunes of a Rajasthani song, went viral on social media. The woman was 26-year-old Sanjana Jatav, who is all set to etch her name among the list of the youngest members of Parliament in the 18th Lok Sabha.

A Congress MP-elect from the Bharatpur constituency in Rajasthan, Ms. Jatav hails from a Dalit community. She defeated the BJP’s Ramswaroop Koli by 51,983 votes.

It is not that Ms. Jatav is a seasoned politician or has a political background. No one in her maternal family ever, in his/her, wildest dream, had thought of contesting an election, she said.

“My husband’s grandfather was a sarpanch but no one ever contested any election above panchayat polls,” Ms. Jatav told The Hindu. She said she was determined to work for people.

Wife of a police constable and mother of two, she not only defeated Mr. Koli but also managed to secure a victory in the bastion of Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, whose hometown is Bharatpur.

Speaking about the reasons why people of Rajasthan have voted for her, Ms. Jatav feels that “too much of religion-related violence has made people to choose her.”

Bharatpur has seen the murder of two Muslim men, Junaid and Nasir, by cow vigilante groups in 2023.

“I am thankful to the party leadership for giving me this opportunity and the people of Bharatpur for their immense love and support”, said Ms. Jatav.

The Congress hasn’t showed faith in her for no reason. In the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly polls, Ms. Jatav had contested from Alwar’s Kathumar and lost by a margin of 409 votes to the BJP’s Ramesh Khinchi.

“The party had seen me delivering my best which is why the Central leadership showed faith in me again,” said Ms. Jatav, who currently holds the post of district council member in Rajasthan.

Water crisis

A law graduate, Ms. Jatav said her priority would be to solve the water crisis of Bharatpur where majority of the population was engaged in farming.

“Unemployment, healthcare, everything needs immediate attention in my constituency,” said the Congress MP-elect.

The opposition party in the State has held the Bharatpur parliamentary seat last time in 2009.

One of the close aides of Ms. Jatav said that even the Congress had no hopes with this Lok Sabha constituency where six out of 8 seats had gone to the BJP in the recent Assembly polls, while one seat was bagged by an independent and one by the RLD.

“We felt the Congress had put the burden of contesting Lok Sabha polls on this poor family but Ms. Jatav’s efforts bore fruits for the party and for herself,” he said.

Courtesy : The Hindu

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