Anti-graft ‘iron lady’ challenges Rijiju, former CM Tuki in Arunachal

The battle in Arunachal West, one of India’s largest Lok Sabha constituencies by area, is expected to be between Union Minister Kiren Rijiju of the BJP and former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki of Congress. But as the campaign crescendos to the day of polling on April 19, the buzz is around Toko Sheetal, who defied naysayers to walk more than 2,000 km to Delhi in 2022 to make a statement against “large-scale corruption” in the Frontier State and earn the “iron lady” tag.

The battle in Arunachal West, one of India’s largest Lok Sabha constituencies by area, is expected to be between Union Minister Kiren Rijiju of the BJP and former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Nabam Tuki of Congress.

But as the campaign crescendos to the day of polling on April 19, the buzz is around Toko Sheetal, who defied naysayers to walk more than 2,000 km to Delhi in 2022 to make a statement against “large-scale corruption” in the Frontier State and earn the “iron lady” tag.

The Assam-based Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) has fielded her from the constituency encompassing 33 Assembly seats and areas beyond 15,000 ft above the mean sea level. She is the only woman among candidates in the two Lok Sabha seats — the other is Arunachal East — in the State while eight women are contesting the simultaneous Assembly polls, one of them having won her seat unopposed.

Ms. Sheetal, 43, was associated with the post-COVID Arunachal Against Corruption (AAC), which has followed a trajectory similar to that of the Maharashtra-based Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption (IAC). Like Mr. Hazare, AAC’s founder-activist Sol Dodum has stayed aloof from politics.

“People, mostly from the weaker sections of society, are showing their support for her because they feel she is an iron lady with the courage and resolve to combat corruption,” RTI activist Geli Ete, campaigning for the GSP candidate, tells The Hindu.

“I am not against (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi because I am on the same page as him regarding zero tolerance for corruption. I am against corruption in the State, which is contrary to the image the BJP has at the Centre,” Ms. Sheetal says, trashing theories that she has an ambition to be like a now-jailed product of the IAC campaign – Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The BJP has trashed her accusations. “The allegations against the BJP-led government in the State are baseless. People know Arunachal Pradesh witnessed unprecedented development under Modiji’s leadership,” Mr. Rijiju, 52, eyeing his third term from the constituency, says.