Doctoring voters to vote for Ranjit Don
They are bona fide medical practitioners (their degrees say so) engaged in a political enterprise. They are busy stumping for incarcerated Dr Kumar Suman Singh alias Ranjit Don, an independent, contesting from Begusarai.
The two doctors — Dr Shravan being the brother of Ranjit Don — are sharing the burden of campaigning with the Don’s wife, Deepika alias Dolly, a third year graduation student. Also lending a helping hand are Deepika’s father Brijnandan Singh and brother-in-law Umesh Prasad. Together, they are determined to catapult the Don to Parliament.
The issues they parrot sound like political rhetoric — to remove social imbalance and strive towards creation of a casteless, fearless and a corruption-free society — but what stands out is their claim to remove unemployment. An independent hoping to end unemployment speaks volumes about the candidate’s ideals.
How do you propose to do it? Hindustan Times asked Deepika, who was campaigning in Sikandra village on Tuesday. “Hum naujawanon mein daktar banne ki umeed jagayenge (we will inspire the youth to become doctors),” she says. Plain and simple! It’s not at all surprising, coming as it does from the wife of the ‘Don’, most of whose family members are doctors. It is a different matter that the ‘Don’ is accused of having facilitated acquisition of their degrees through leak of CAT and CBSE question papers.
And how do you intend to do it? “Well, we will open new medical and engineering colleges, which will help those youth who cannot go and study outside the state. The institutions will also provide employment,” she replies.
Commenting on her husband’s propaganda posters, which have the photograph of the ‘Don’ in handcuff, Deepika says, “My husband is innocent. He has been implicated as part of a political conspiracy. We want our voters to know this.”
Ask Deepika why her husband chose a teacup and quarter-plate as his election symbol instead of the doctor’s proverbial stethoscope, and she would shy away from a reply.
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