'Yamraj' files nomination as Independent for Maharashtra's Madha LS seat

Solapur (Maharashtra): A man attired as 'Yamraj', the Hindu God of Death, and riding the deity's preferred mount, a buffalo, reached the Collectorate on Thursday to submit his nomination as an Independent candidate for Maharashtra's Madha Lok Sabha constituency

Ram Gaikwad, garbed in a gold-and-black robe and dhoti, a gleaming golden headgear with two protruding curved white horns and toting a shining mace, announced that he would contest the LS polls from Madha to enter the Parliament with the aim of saving the country from the menace of corruption, poverty, unemployment and other ills.

He claimed that he was donning the role of 'Yamraj' to "finish" off corruption in the country, ensure Maratha quotas, prevent the misuse of central investigation agencies by the government against political rivals, the politics of hacking and breaking political parties, self-centred politics, etc.

Gathering plenty of interesting glances from passers-by, who stopped to see the unusual spectacle, the handle-bar moustache sporting candidate’s arrival was heralded from quite a distance as over a hundred of his supporters lustily cheered and raised slogans in his support.

As his buffalo, guided and controlled by a couple of aides, reached the Collectorate office, Gaikwad alighted with aplomb, cast a menacing glance around and then stomped inside to submit his nomination papers.

In case his nomination is accepted, then 'Yamraj' Gaikwad will lock horns-cum-mace with two powerful contenders – Bharatiya Janata Party’s sitting MP Ranjitsinh Naik-Nimbalkar and Nationalist Congress Party-SP's Dhairyasheel Mohite-Patil, who quit the BJP last week to join Sharad Pawar's party.

Though it was labelled as a ‘publicity gimmick’, Gaikwad’s arrival as ‘Yamraj’ not only made waves but managed to garner much attention though most decided to keep a safe distance from the God of Death.