Security, connectivity overrides anti-incumbency trend in western Uttar Pradesh
“Our women can freely take a morning walk alongside the expressway and our cattle are safe because the illegal slaughterhouse in the region has been shut down,” said 70-year-old Ram Pal Tyagi, discussing politics on the polling day in Kharkhauda village of Meerut. This, the farmerturned-small businessman added, had improved the water quality as well.
A tour of six of the eight constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh that went to the polls on Friday suggested that an improved sense of security provided by the Yogi Adityanath government is an overriding factor in the BJP voter sticking to the party despite complaints of corruption, unemployment, and in¨ation. Added to this, the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, the Noida-Kanpur Expressway, and the Regional Rapid Transit System are giving the villagers a tangible idea of India’s growth story under the BJP rule.
PM gets credit
Talking to a cross-section of voters revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues to get credit for improving India’s global image but many feel that the mangalstura jibe was beneath his stature. “We didn’t expect it from him,” said Naresh Fauji, a former pradhan in Baghpat constituency. “Had Yogiji said something similar, we wouldn’t have minded it but Modiji saying this sent an impression that all is not well in the march to 400.”
On the magic gure,
Dhiraj Sharma, a lawyer, said, “See, when you started in the morning, you would be thinking that you would cover the constituency in one hour but it seems it is now taking you much longer. The same is the case with the BJP getting near to the gure of 400.” He said there is discontent but those who make the caste calculations leave out the in-between castes of Kashyaps and the Sainis and the Valmikis among the SCs. “They are still strongly behind the BJP and would make the dierence wherever there is a close ght.”
Upper caste voters in the region complain of losing out on the farm worker because of free ration but those who are getting it are not complaining.
Ramesh Saini, who runs a small nursery, said Mr. Adityanath has made the candidate redundant. “We know he will get the work done through bureaucracy and police. We can safely move at night. It is not just the Muslim miscreant, he is saving us from the in¨uential Hindu castes as well.”
RLD, BJP assimilation
The assimilation of Rashtriya Lok Dal and BJP cadre remained a work in progress. “Our leader (Chaudhary Jayant Singh) has asked us to repay the debt of Bharat Ratna to Chaudhary Charan Singh but his language in the speeches doesn’t suggest that we have to add interest to it as well,” said Manveer Sigh
a Jat farmer in Modinagar of the Baghpat constituency.
Rajveer Singh, vice president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Airajnaitik), said this was the rst election after the anti-farm law protests at the Ghazipur border. “Farmers have not forgotten the pain and unkept promises. They see the Bharat Ratna as aapda main avsar. (opportunity in adversity). Modiji found himself in adversity in west U.P. He conferred the Bharat Ratna on Chaudhary sahib and it allowed the Jat farmers to ¨ex their political muscle,” he said.
In the ercely contested Meerut seat, the Modi-Yogi magic is being stretched because the BJP worker has not been able to devote himself to Arun Govil, who continued to be seen as a celebrity outsider even on polling day. “Nirale hain (he is unique),” winked a party worker relating the actor’s inexperience in rough and tumble of politics. “He doesn’t seem to get that he was seen as Ram when the households had one television set. Now youngsters have mobiles. They know he is an old actor. Some women continue to touch his feet out of respect. That’s it,” he said, adding it would impact polling percentage.
The anti-incumbency of the previous MP Rajendra Agrawal is also showing its eect. “Expressway to bane, kharanje (tiled lanes) nahin,” said Ram Kishan Saini. Ajay Tyagi chipped in with the problem of high toll tax. “A modest farmer can’t think of using the shiny roads.”
But he was silenced by his friends who said the ExSingh, pressway had reduced the travel time and petrol consumption.”
Facing a tough time
In Aligarh, two-time BJP MP Satish Gautam is facing a tough time because of his foul tongue and poor report card in the eyes of the workers. Not to forget the
ssures in his ties with the Kalyan Singh family.
“The worker is there on the ground only because he has no other option. He is looking at Yogiji instead of the candidate,” said a senior BJP worker in the city, speculating a drop in the polling percentage though.
Research scholar Faizan Ahmad laments the discontinuation of the Maulana Azad scholarship but praises Mr. Adityanath for the improvement in the law and order of the region.