BJP’s popularity on test after Saini’s disqualification

MEERUT: The by-election to the Khatauli assembly seat will be a test for the BJP’s supposed Hindutva politics in the western Uttar Pradesh region.

On the other hand, bhaichara ‘harmony’ is the pivotal plank of the BJP’s poll rivals, mainly the Rashtriya Lok Dal-Samajwadi Party alliance. The bypoll is scheduled for December 5 and the result will be declared on December 8.

The Khatauli seat in Muzaffarnagar district of western Uttar Pradesh was declared vacant on November 7 after the disqualification of BJP MLA Vikram Saini as a consequence of him being sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case on October 11. While the Allahabad high court has suspended Saini’s sentence and granted him bail, it has rejected his plea for suspension of his conviction. The BJP has fielded Vikram Saini’s wife Rajkumari Saini against RLD-SP alliance candidate Madan Bhaiya.

Some BJP leaders are projecting Vikram Saini’s conviction as a “punishment for his service towards the society”.

For instance, the BJP’s Muzaffarnagar city president Amit Jain said, “He (Vikram Saini) received punishment for his struggle for the society and not for any individual misconduct.”

That is the reason why the party had given the ticket to Saini’s wife, Jain added.

Asked about the opposition projecting the bypoll as a contest between “bhaichara” (harmony) and polarisation politics, Jain denied that the BJP resorted to politics of hatred.

“Such statements show how depressed the rivals are,” he added. RLD’s Muzaffarnagar district president Sandeep Malik has written a letter to the district returning officer to stop Vikram Saini from campaigning for his wife after the Allahabad high court rejected his appeal for suspension of his conviction.

Malik said Vikram Saini was convicted in a Muzaffarnagar riots case and he could vitiate the atmosphere in the constituency. RLD’s western UP president Yogendra Singh said the outcome of the Khatauli by-election would show whether people still have faith “in the politics of hatred being carried out in the name of Hindutva” or they will discard it to propagate the message of bhaichara (harmony), which they did in the area in the 2022 assembly election.

The BJP made a clean sweep of all nine assembly seats (six in Muzaffarnagar and three in Shamli) in the riot-affected

Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts in the 2017 state assembly elections. But, the situation was different in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in which BJP could retain only the Muzaffarnagar and Khatauli seats and their candidates lost seven seats in the twin districts.

The reversal also appeared to be an effect of the 13- month farmers’ agitation as the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) had openly opposed the BJP.

Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Sudhir Panwar said farmers in the region were annoyed with BJP, which had now lost its most bankable issue of the Kawal case in the bypoll. The mother of one of the Kawal incident victims decided to contest as an independent candidate.

Gaurav Malik and his cousin were killed by a mob in Kawal village on August 27, 2013. The incident had triggered riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts, claimiing 64 lives and rendering over 50,000 people homeless. Vikram Saini is also a resident of Kawal. He took part in a violent protest and was convicted by the court nine years after the incident. In the meantime, he was twice elected MLA from Khatauli on the BJP ticket.

Panwar said that presence of Gaurav Malik’s mother Suresh Devi in the fray as an independent candidate was a major dent for the BJP. Gaurav’s father Ravindra Singh accused the BJP of exploiting the killing of his son and nephew for political benefits. His sole purpose in the election was to propagate the message of harmony, he added.

THE REVERSAL ALSO APPEARED TO BE AN EFFECT OF THE 13- MONTH FARMERS’ AGITATION AS THE BHARTIYA KISAN UNION (BKU) HAD OPENLY OPPOSED THE BJP.