Front Page   

A tough quadrangular contest in the offing

When Mohammed Yunus Siddiqui, veteran Muslim leader from Faizabad, says there is an element of farce — with players trying to assume new identities and reinventing their past — in this temple town of Uttar Pradesh, which has been at the centre of Hindutva politics for nearly two decades, he is not far off the mark.

Consider this: Mitrasen Yadav, who won the last Lok Sabha elections as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate has gone back to the Samajwadi Party (SP) and become its candidate.

In 2004, Mr. Yadav had left the SP accusing its leader Mulayam Singh of dictatorial tendencies.

This year, he says the same about the BSP leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.

The man replacing Mr. Yadav as the BSP candidate is Bimlendra Mohan Pratap Misra, scion of the erstwhile royal family of Ayodhya, locally referred to as Pappu Raja. In the heyday of the Ayodhya Ram mandir movement, the Raja was considered to be a votary of the Viswa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the so-called sword arm of the Hindutva combine.

The Raja now says that he had helped the kar sevaks only as a humanitarian gesture and that he was all along opposed to communal politics.

In the case of Nirmal Khatri, the Congress candidate, the thrust of the campaign is that his party is no longer pursuing the “soft Hindutva” line and it has really turned secular.

Even Lallu Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, says that though the Ram mandir is very much part of his election theme, neither he nor his party would aggressively pursue Hindutva.

Faizabad has large segments of Dalits and Muslims, who have displayed varied voting preferences over the years. The other two major communities, the OBC Yadav community and the upper caste Thakurs, have by and large consistently supported Mr. Mitrasen Yadav and the BJP respectively.

Large segments of Brahmins, as well as non-Chamar Dalits, do not seem to be happy with the BSP’s track record.

“The Chamar community will always support Mayawati because she belongs to same caste but the same cannot be said of the Passis and Koeris,” a Passi youth of Milkipur told The Hindu.

The mood in the Brahmin community suggests a three-way split between the Congress, the BSP, and the BJP in descending order of preference.

This has given some life to Mr. Khatri’s candidature and has also pushed a significant section of Muslims towards him.

Clearly, Faizabad is moving away from its traditional preferences and this has given rise to a tough quadrangular contest, where the winner’s margin is likely to be small.

Stories in this Section

EC rejects 2-1 plea to disqualify Sonia
PM to cast vote in Assam
Manmohan rejects Lalu’s charge
Sri Lankan troops seek to open new road access
Let voters decide who is strong leader, says Sonia
More answers needed, says Pakistan
I don’t see Prabakaran as a terrorist: Karunanidhi
Woman militant among 4 killed
Vettori, rain script Daredevils’ big win
A game both teams would hate to lose
R.P. Singh revels as KKR capitulates
Five myths about the Muslim vote
A tough quadrangular contest in the offing
JMM struggles in Guruji’s absence
Left withdrawal was a mistake: Somnath
Manmohan, “key plank for Congress”
Campaigning gains momentum in State
Motorcycle brigade to fight fires in lanes
Send off In a cloud of dust
Special audit for Satyam tax liability
Left’s withdrawal a mistake: Somnath
Mercury soars in north, eastern India
Lack of oxygen led to schoolgirl’s death
Post-poll hostilities fuel tension
20 hosts in home stay scheme
Congress candidate arrested
Power supply collapses
Bio-gasifier crematorium for Thanjavur
GHMC puts builders on notice
Blast scare halts trains in Assam
Pakistan in danger: Musharraf

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu