5. Bureaucrats were strongly opposed to our thirty-point programme. They felt we are going to take away their job security. 6. In their campaigning our candidates did not talk about issues that were local or close to the hearts of the people. 7. Distrust people had about Sharad Joshi’s stand on elections. ‘I will not come to you to seek your votes’, was his earlier stand and against that now he had decided to contest elections. This created a lot of misunderstanding. 8. We had a setback in urban centers because people felt our programme is only for the farmers. 9. There was a propaganda that our policies will make grain more expensive and that alienated landless labourers. 10. Many people did not like our slogan of demolishing statues of Nehru family. 11. Our party failed to attract young people for whom employment was the main issue. Personally, Joshi was very disappointed by his failure in politics. Expressing his frustration he wrote (Shetkari Sanghatak, 13 September 2004) : ‘Farmers come to attend my meetings by the lakhs. On my word thousands of farmers have been to jail. I felt that since farmers listen to me, understand me, I would be able to convert their love into votes. But every time I tried to do that, I failed to garner their votes. This truth has to be faced. We were not able to convert our numerical strength into votes. When there was an issue concerning farmers, some agony of theirs had to be expressed, I was their rescuer, their main support; but when it came to elections they were happy with the name “Sharad” but what made larger impact was the realization that “Joshi” surname did not belong to their caste…We badly lost in each election.’ On Political Front
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