The ads on television may be touting development and governance, but start talking politics in Rajasthan and within minutes you’ll be discussing the caste arithmetic. This was confirmed by Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s massive loss in last year’s assembly elections. His party took 21 seats, but the Bharatiya Janata Party won 163.
Gehlot, according to many analysts, did well with his schemes and budgeting but lost because he had alienated Muslims, Jats and Meenas, among others. So it’s unusual to meet a Lok Sabha candidate in Rajasthan who won’t tell you where he falls in the all-important hierarchical ladder.
But then Dr Tanmay is an unusual candidate.
As Jaipur City candidate for the India People’s Green Party, which he co-founded in 2011, Tanmay doesn’t just refuse tell you his last name — he actively turns away any voters who ask about his caste. “Tum jati dekh kar vote karna chahtey ho, to please mujhe vote mat karna bhai” reads a line on one of his many fliers. If you’re the kind who votes by caste, please don’t vote for me.
“Look, Rajasthan is a state where caste politics dominate," Tanmay told Scroll.in. "Here in Jaipur, you have one Congressman claiming he is the biggest Brahmin in the city and on the other end, even the ‘common man’s’ party, [Arvind] Kejriwal’s party, has a candidate who was selected because he is a Jat.”
He added, “But someone has to fight against the caste system. A hundred years ago, I’m sure it felt like a difficult task for those voices speaking up against sati, for those who wished to end the purdah.”
The 32-year-old orthodontist (whose last name is Sharma, as his dentistry practice testifies) falls into a growing list of middle-class urban do-gooders who were both buoyed by the success of the Aam Aadmi Party in last year’s Delhi elections, but also bitter that they weren’t the beneficiaries of the public’s sudden desire for change.
“There are these people who sit on the outside and complain," Tanmay said. "They do fasts and agitate and accomplish little, until they enter the system and start a party. When Anna started his andolan, we knew this is how it would end up. We knew we didn’t want to be like him, so we took on the system from inside.”
In September 2011, Tanmay was part of a group that founded the Indian People’s Green Party, a sort of centre-right AAP with a focus on small government and environmentally sustainable policies. The party first contested last year’s Assembly elections, to little success, and is now hoping to raise some awareness through a Lok Sabha campaign.
Tanmay ticks a number of boxes in the middle-class do-gooder checklist — he rides a bicycle to work, is focused on improving Jaipur's water situation even if he loses and has married outside his caste ("I'm proud to say this") — and is quite candid about the party’s expectations.
“We believe in a utopian society. You might feel it is just a dream, but we’re fighting for it,” he said. “It’s not true that an idea that is always popular is right. Until four months ago, the idea that was bought by the people of Rajasthan was Congress. Then suddenly they picked the BJP. Any idea that is the minority today could become the idea of the majority in the future.”
For all the talk of the clean and green governance, the India People’s Green Party distinguishes itself from some of the other recent middle-class efforts because of its more conservative bent with its emphasis on small government and liberal economics. When asked how he feels about similar themes running through the BJP’s campaign, Tanmay — grounded as he may be about his chances — betrays some of the hubris needed for anyone to be contesting elections.
“Narendraji is telling that idea now," he said. "But we articulated it in a book more than two years ago, when our movement and party became official.” In fact, Tanmay’s posters have a very clear admonition for those who might be split between him and the BJP — "anyone who wants to vote for Modi, go to Baroda or Varanasi". Said Tanmay, “I feel Narendraji is circulating our idea, and because we are smaller, people believe it is his.”
Indeed, Tanmay is already prepared to justify the story of his electoral failures to future generations. “I’m fighting for the future," he declared. "I’m fighting so that I can tell my son what I did to fight the system. I’ll tell him that people were unable to understand my ideas, but at least I can tell him I fought for them.”
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Gehlot, according to many analysts, did well with his schemes and budgeting but lost because he had alienated Muslims, Jats and Meenas, among others. So it’s unusual to meet a Lok Sabha candidate in Rajasthan who won’t tell you where he falls in the all-important hierarchical ladder.
But then Dr Tanmay is an unusual candidate.
As Jaipur City candidate for the India People’s Green Party, which he co-founded in 2011, Tanmay doesn’t just refuse tell you his last name — he actively turns away any voters who ask about his caste. “Tum jati dekh kar vote karna chahtey ho, to please mujhe vote mat karna bhai” reads a line on one of his many fliers. If you’re the kind who votes by caste, please don’t vote for me.
“Look, Rajasthan is a state where caste politics dominate," Tanmay told Scroll.in. "Here in Jaipur, you have one Congressman claiming he is the biggest Brahmin in the city and on the other end, even the ‘common man’s’ party, [Arvind] Kejriwal’s party, has a candidate who was selected because he is a Jat.”
He added, “But someone has to fight against the caste system. A hundred years ago, I’m sure it felt like a difficult task for those voices speaking up against sati, for those who wished to end the purdah.”
The 32-year-old orthodontist (whose last name is Sharma, as his dentistry practice testifies) falls into a growing list of middle-class urban do-gooders who were both buoyed by the success of the Aam Aadmi Party in last year’s Delhi elections, but also bitter that they weren’t the beneficiaries of the public’s sudden desire for change.
“There are these people who sit on the outside and complain," Tanmay said. "They do fasts and agitate and accomplish little, until they enter the system and start a party. When Anna started his andolan, we knew this is how it would end up. We knew we didn’t want to be like him, so we took on the system from inside.”
In September 2011, Tanmay was part of a group that founded the Indian People’s Green Party, a sort of centre-right AAP with a focus on small government and environmentally sustainable policies. The party first contested last year’s Assembly elections, to little success, and is now hoping to raise some awareness through a Lok Sabha campaign.
Tanmay ticks a number of boxes in the middle-class do-gooder checklist — he rides a bicycle to work, is focused on improving Jaipur's water situation even if he loses and has married outside his caste ("I'm proud to say this") — and is quite candid about the party’s expectations.
“We believe in a utopian society. You might feel it is just a dream, but we’re fighting for it,” he said. “It’s not true that an idea that is always popular is right. Until four months ago, the idea that was bought by the people of Rajasthan was Congress. Then suddenly they picked the BJP. Any idea that is the minority today could become the idea of the majority in the future.”
For all the talk of the clean and green governance, the India People’s Green Party distinguishes itself from some of the other recent middle-class efforts because of its more conservative bent with its emphasis on small government and liberal economics. When asked how he feels about similar themes running through the BJP’s campaign, Tanmay — grounded as he may be about his chances — betrays some of the hubris needed for anyone to be contesting elections.
“Narendraji is telling that idea now," he said. "But we articulated it in a book more than two years ago, when our movement and party became official.” In fact, Tanmay’s posters have a very clear admonition for those who might be split between him and the BJP — "anyone who wants to vote for Modi, go to Baroda or Varanasi". Said Tanmay, “I feel Narendraji is circulating our idea, and because we are smaller, people believe it is his.”
Indeed, Tanmay is already prepared to justify the story of his electoral failures to future generations. “I’m fighting for the future," he declared. "I’m fighting so that I can tell my son what I did to fight the system. I’ll tell him that people were unable to understand my ideas, but at least I can tell him I fought for them.”