A Man for all Elections
Madanlal Agrawal has nursed an unusual passion-fighting elections. He has contested every election since 1968 and lost his deposit on every occasion. Nevertheless, he soldiers on gamely, vowing to contest in all the constituencies in the elections this week!
Jitendra Muchhal profiles the eternal candidate.
If ‘Dharatipaked’ Madanlal Agrawal really does what he claims to, it would be simply incredible. The possibility, however, seems remote. Setting apart all previous electoral landslides and records to a minuscule molehill in the world’s largest democracy, he says, “I propose to contest for all the 545 parliamentary seats in the forthcoming general elections. My representative and I shall file the nomination papers for all the seats. The money required for all this shall be raised through a returnable loan.”
That has indeed been his practice since 1968, when he fought his first election for the municipal corporation of Gwalior, his hometown. Reminiscing about his past, Dharatipakad says, ” When I was a very young boy of five or six, I used to be very reluctant to go to school. When forced by my elders, I would lie prostrate, holding the ground with my palms for support. Since then, the prefix ‘Dharatipakad’ has stuck on.”
Born in a business family Dharatipakad had a chequered education. After securing good marks in class V, he left school only to rejoin in class VII. Leaving once again in class X he appeared as a private candidate at the intermediate level, but failed. Then, after a gap of almost 14 years, he managed to complete his graduation in arts and law.
Dharatipakad showed the first signs of freakish behaviour when he went to his grandfather’s funeral stark naked. “It suddenly dawned on me, He says , “that nothing, not even the loin cloth, goes with a man. Some years later, when one of my sons passed away, I laughed all the way to the crematorium, for I am of the opinion that the expression of sorrow by close relatives is very painful to the soul of the deceased.”
Dharatipakad started attending to the family business at a very young age and learnt the ropes in a very short period. His family had ventured into the sanitaryware retail trade but the business ran into heavy losses. He took up the task to set the shop in order and that was when the trouble started. “When the sanitaryware shop started showing profits, my brothers became jealous, which led to mutual conflicts. They used to beat me-in fact, they even registered a complaint in the police against me. But I had firmly resolved not to retaliate against their false allegations.”
It was around this time that Dharatipakad was drawn towards electioneering. For “as long as people with complete devotion, spirit of selfless service and sacrifice do not come to power, the world cannot be at peace”.
In the 1968 corporation elections in Gwalior, when Dharatipakad made his debut as a candidate, it was a close finish, according to him. “I had fair chances of winning, but my brothers played foul. They forcibly removed my campaign personnel and instigated people against me.” The result-he lost.
Dharatipakad has contested innumerable elections since then, at every level, with a consistent track record of always forfeiting his deposit. But that has not deterred him in the least. He has mostly contested against mega-candidates, heavyweights like Mrs. Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Madhavrao Scindia.