Uttar Pradesh Elections 2017: In Bahraich, BJP’s poll pitch is about other parties’ ‘bhaijaans’

In 1991, when the BJP won all the district’s seven seats, the sweep was widely attributed to communal polarisation in the wake of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. The BJP has not managed to match that performance since. In 2012, it won two of the seven post-delimitation seats; of these, it lost Balha (SC) in a 2014 byelection. The SP won two seats in 2012, the Congress two, the BSP one.

This time, the six unreserved seats have 16 Muslim candidates among them; last time there were 25. At a public meeting in Matera last week, the BJP’s Kaiserganj MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh urged voters to ensure the defeat of the “15 bhaijaans” contesting in Devipatan division — which includes Bahraich besides Gonda, Shrawasti and Balrampur districts. Of the 20 seats in the division, the BJP is facing a close contest from such candidates in at least 15, said Singh, who went on to list their names. Singh added the state would need a BJP-led government to build a Ram temple.

Singh spoke before Prime Minister arrived to address the meeting. The BJP MP from adjacent Shrawasti, Daddan Mishra, had said the election was a contest between two ideologies – “Bharat Mata ki jai” and “Afzal hum sharminda hain, tere qatil zinda hain”.

Last year, BJP president Amit Shah had been in Bahraich to unveil a statute of Raja Suheldeo, whom BJP leaders frequently invoke for having defeated Ghaji Salar Masood.

Matera’s SP candidate is sitting MLA Yasar Shah, considered close to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The BJP has fielded former SP MLC Arun Veer Singh. Muslims are the single largest voting community but local BJP leaders are hopeful of a divided vote among four candidates, including the BSP’s Sultan Ahmad Khan and AIMIM’s Mohd Akiullah.

Sultan, son for former BSP MLC Athar Khan, is contesting his first election. “I am contesting on the issue of law and order. BJP leaders are trying to polarise the poll by making communal remarks but it will not work.”

In Bahraich constituency, the SP candidate is Yasar Shah’s mother Rubab Sayeda while the BJP has fielded its state general secretary Anupama Jaiswal. Sayeda, incidentally, was Anupama’s English teacher in class XI three decades ago. Sayeda is a former MP and wife of sitting SP MLA Waqar Ahmed Shah, a minister who has opted out for health reasons. The NCP, the Peace Party and the Naitik Party candidates are Muslim, as are two independents. The BSP’s Ajeet Pratap Singh is challenging the BJP’s Jaiswal.

Jaiswal denies that the BJP is trying to polarise voters in the district. “The BJP is contesting on the ideology of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikas’,” she says. She adds she wants Bahraich to shed its tag of communal sensitivity and hence is appealing for votes with a message of social harmony despite the fact that she has seen “discrimination in development on religious lines”. She says that people here have voted on communal and caste lines because of ignorance. “But in the current Narendra Modi government, people of Bahraich are seeing development of a Barabanki-Rupaideeh highway, a railway line and a medical college. People will vote on development this time,” she says.

“We need development but more important for us is social security, hence voting is done here on religious and caste lines,” says Zubair Khan of Chaupal Sagar in Bahraich.

In Nanpara, the BSP, the Congress and the Rashtriya Kranti Party have fielded Muslims against Madhuri Verma, sitting Congress MLA now with the BJP. Last time, the BSP, the Peace Party and the Trinamool Congress had fielded Muslims.

“Due to low literacy, polarisation on communal and caste lines dominated the last election despite lack of development,” says Congress candidate Waris Ali. “The BJP is trying to polarise voters by raising sensitive issues but that is not working this time because anti-incumbency against Madhuri Verma is the dominant sentiment.”

Nanpara has 3.31 lakh voters and around one lakh of them are Muslims, followed by Kurmis and Yadavs. Ali says around 50,000 of the voters are affected by floods every year.

In Mahasi, the BSP has renominated its sitting MLA K K Ojha, the BJP has fielded Sureshwar Singh and the Congress Ali Akbar, the lone Muslim candidate in a constituency where Brahmins too form a large chunk of the population. Over 30 per cent of Mahasi’s 3.28 lakh voters are Muslim.

“The BJP is trying to polarise voters along Hindu-Muslim lines with provocative remarks. Around 2,000 people have been living on an embankment since last year’s floods but no one is speaking about them,” says Akbar, who had lost from Matera in 2012. Rahul Gandhi addressed a public meeting in his support last week.

BJP candidate Singh, a former MLA, says, “We are not trying to polarise voters. The BJP is contesting on the issues of development, national security, triple talaq and other promises made in the manifesto.”

In Payagpur, sitting MLA Mukesh Srivastava, who won on a Congress ticket in 2012, is now the SP candidate. The BJP has fielded a Brahmin, Subhash Tripathi.

In Kaiserganj, the BJP candidate is sitting MLA Mukut Bihari Verma, also party president for Awadh region. The BSP and the AIMIM have fielded Muslims. The SP had earlier selected Rakesh Verma, son of Rajya Sabha member Beni Prasad Verma, but replaced him with its district president Ramtej.

A local BJP leader is optimistic about polarisation. “Some 40 people associated with the BJP were arrested following communal tension over idol immersion last year. That is still fresh in public memory,” says the leader.

In Balha (SC) bordering Nepal, the BSP has used a Dalit-Muslim formula in fielding Kiran Bharti, wife of Shaukat Khan. The couple have campaigned separately among Dalits and Muslims. Of the 3.5 lakh voters here, Muslims (90,000) and Dalits (80,000) add up to nearly half.