In Awadh and Central Uttar Pradesh districts, including Sitapur, Lucknow, Chitrakoot, there are five buzzwords being heard in this election — Ration, ‘Saand’, ‘Suraksha’, ‘Samman’ and the ‘Musalman’ voter.
From Sitapur to Hardoi, Lucknow, Rae Bareli and Amethi, Fatehpur, Barabanki and from Pratapgarh to Chitrakoot, News18 travelled through a dozen districts that have about 70 seats and go to polls in Phases 4 and 5 to speak to voters and politicians. The five most-mentioned words in these conversations seem to be determining which way the votes will be cast.
Ration (Mila Hai)
“Ration pe boliye” – reads a chit passed by BJP candidate in Unchahar seat, Amar Pal Maurya, to another speaker on the stage at a public meeting where women are in strong attendance. “Modi ji and Yogi ji did not let anyone starve during the pandemic,” Maurya tells the crowd. Visit houses in nearby villages and one can find half-filled sacks of ration still lying with the pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
The free rations distributed by both the central and state governments in Uttar Pradesh seem the biggest factor in favour of the BJP in the state. Some even say this was the “double dose” more effective than the Covid vaccine. Speaking to women across villages, News18 found that the free rations seem to have worked wonders on the ground and has blunted anger to some extent on issues such as unemployment and inflation.
“There are silent women voters who will vote in a big way for the BJP on the issue of free rations. I raise this benefit in every public meeting if mine,” BJP’s Hardoi City candidate Nitin Agrawal told News18.
Saand (Se Mushkil Hai)
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is raising in a big way the issue of stray cattle destroying fields, telling voters that they may have got free rations but their fields were destroyed by stray cattle. Multiple villagers told News18 how they were forced to stay up nights guarding their fields. “Saand aur Aaand (Bulls and Field Fencing) is the talk in the villages as saving our crop from bulls is a big headache and issue,” a group of villagers in Chota Ismailpur village in Amethi told News18.
BJP leaders admit that this is an issue against them as the Yogi government stopped slaughter of cattle, but promise a solution after March 10. “We will open a record number of ‘gaushalas’ in the state as per the budget passed recently. The state will be free of the stray cattle problem after March 10,” Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya told News18. Many other BJP candidates are promising to the voters that they will devote their entire MLA LADS money to build more ‘gaushalas’.
Suraksha aur Samman (badha hai)
Two words also heard a lot from voters are ‘Suraksha’ and ‘Samman’ (security and respect), with the women voters, specially, speaking of much better law and order situation and “respect” in terms of them being made beneficiaries of various schemes such as houses, cylinders and PM Kisan Samman Nidhi by the BJP government. In a village near Barabanki, News18 found a dozen new houses built from money under the PM Awas Yojana in which the occupants recently moved in.
The PM Awas Yojana also seems to have made an impact in the Bundelkhand districts of Chitrakoot and Banda which poll in the Phase 4. “We neither dreamt of getting water nor to ever leave our ‘kachha’ house. The government has given us both,” Lalita Devi and her daughter-in-law Muskan told News18 in a village in Chitrakoot, pointing to a water connection they have got in their new house under Har Ghar Jal scheme.
However, for some, the issue of ‘Samman’ is linked with caste and many Yadav and even some non-Yadav OBC voters complain of ‘Thakur-vaad’ in the Yogi government and say the backward castes have not been treated well in the last five years. “Yadav men have been demonised and treated like mafia by this government. CM is saying hamari garmi Uttar denge. We want our respect back,” a bunch of young Yadav boys driving motorcycles in Sultanpur told News18.
Musalman Voter (Ek Hai)
In Chowk area of Lucknow, at the famous Tunde Kababi shop and Shree Kachauri Corner, local Muslims are clear — this time the Muslim voter is all united to vote for the Samajwadi Party. “There is no confusion now. BSP is not in any position to beat the BJP. The Muslim voter knows it is cycle which can beat the BJP,” Riyazul Haq told News18 while having lunch at Tundey Kababi. Another local here, SJ Raza says they want change. “If the same person remains in power, he becomes arrogant. UP has always voted for change and this time it will be Akhilesh,” he says.
Young Muslims say they realise that the BJP wins seats like Lucknow (West), under which Chowk falls, as the Muslim votes get divided. “This time, too, SP, BSP and Congress have all given Muslim candidates in this seat. Now everyone is clear that vote for SP,” a student, Mohd Imran, told News18 while having Bhaturas at Shree Kachauri Corner.
Local Muslims also counter the point that law and order has been improved by the Yogi government. “It was Akhilesh who brought the Dial 100 Helpline and the mobile police vehicles,” says Tabassum Raza.
The BJP had swept the Central UP region in the 2017 assembly elections winning nearly 85% of all seats. But a consolidation of Muslims behind the SP, and if the Bahujan Samaj Party becomes a non-factor as many expect here, could hurt the BJP in some seats. It is, hence, banking heavily on its free ration plank as well as law and order to keep its vote-share intact and hoping for a woman consolidation. Next week, one may hear more on “ration mila hai”.
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