Ex-mayor seeks right to vote against all candidates

VADODARA: He is the man who had the audacity to turn down a BJP ticket and then contest as an independent in 2000. Senior leaders from the city as well as state were trying to convince former mayor Ratilal Desai to contest on party ticket. Today, instead of asking for votes, he has taken up the task of asking for the right to vote against all candidates and a button for the same on the electronic voting machine (EVM).
Desai, now 55, still uses a city bus to commute or drives a second-hand Maruti 800 car fitted with a gas kit. Even his sons would go to school and college on cycles, while many others of their age zipped around on two-wheelers. Desai still stands in queue whenever there is one to wait for his turn.
Desai, a retired air force man, was inclined towards Jan Sangh as a teenager. Later, he worked for Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and eventually the BJP. "But, I came to know there was a difference between what they said and what they practised. Now, BJP has deviated completely from what we used to work for," said Desai, who had even participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement after retirement from the Indian Air Force in 1989.
The first member of his family to have completed graduation, Desai was awarded a BJP ticket in 1992, but the polls did not take place then because of communal riots in the city. He was given a ticket in 1995 and also became mayor in 1997. It was then that he came across the bitter realities of today's politics. "I could not tolerate irregularities and corruption and even made representations against officials and bureaucrats. This was not liked by many even within the party," he said.
"There was a time when we relished khichdi-kadhi and survived even on grams and peanuts. Things had changed a lot," said Desai, adding that all talks of nationalism and clean administration have turned out to be hollow.
After his disillusionment was complete, Desai turned down the BJP offer to contest the 2000 elections on the party ticket and contested as in independent. "The entire BJP worked to ensure my defeat. I lost, but in the process they too lost two seats," Desai recalls. Even after this, he was approached by the likes of Sanjay Joshi, but Desai never joined the party again. "I cannot do something that I don't believe in," he says.