The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) might have had a clean sweep across Gujarat during this Assembly election, but in Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace Porbandar, the son of Santokben Jadeja, the undisputed mafia queen of the region, has scored a hat trick.
Kandhalbhai Jadeja won from the Kutiyana seat in Porbandar district giving the Samajwadi Party its first ever seat in Gujarat.
The Not-So Close Competition
Jadeja won by a margin of 26,702 votes. He secured 60,744 votes against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dheliben Odedara who got 34,032 votes as per data from the Election Commission of India (ECI). The Congress’s Nathabhai Bhurabhai Odedara got 8,841 votes, much behind Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Bhimabhai Makwana who is in third place with 19,557 votes.
The Infamous Family
Jadeja, popularly dubbed as "bhai" has been riding on the popularity of his mother Santokben Sarmanbhai Jadeja, the late don whose story got a Bollywood retelling as Shabana Azmi’s “Godmother”. He belongs to the dominant Mer community. Jadeja's parents allegedly used to run a criminal enterprise, involving smuggling and violence. His father Sarman Munja Jadeja was shot dead by rivals. In 1990, his mother was elected as an MLA from Kutiyana.
'Godmother' is a 1999 Hindi biographical drama film, inspired by the life of Santokben Jadeja, a mafia queen-turned politician. Reports suggest that her son has taken over her legacy, wielding power in the region. He also has multiple criminal charges including murder registered against him.
Tryst With Politics
In 2012 and 2017, Jadeja contested from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and won. Later, NCP denied him a ticket as he had openly supported the ruling BJP on several issues, including in the crucial Rajya Sabha polls.
He then switched to the Samajwadi Party (SP).
He has always maintained that he is not interested to join the bigwigs like BJP and Congress; however, he has always maintained good ties with the two parties.
In an earlier interview with the news agency ANI, he said: , “My mother, father, and uncle all were MLAs from Kutiyana and used to work for the poor. They worked for all the communities of the society.”
On being asked the whether he wins due to fear, he said, "If you had asked me this in ‘80s-’90s, I would have said maybe. There was a ballot paper then. Now there is EVM. People vote for me due to my work. Everyone here knows me as I have spent my entire life here. This is my mother’s village,” he added.
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