In Saharanpur’s busy shopping district, the necessities of everyday life — warm clothes, shoes, blankets, quilts, and aromatic spices — are being snapped up. In the Sarafa Bazaar, the street of jewellers, there is a hushed silence.
There are virtually no customers in this part of western Uttar Pradesh and, as the shopkeepers inform us, it’s been like this since November 8, when ₹500 and ₹1000 currency notes were rendered worthless.
At TT Jewellers, in existence since 1870, young T.T. Jain belongs to the eighth generation of his family. “Akhilesh Yadav, in alliance with the Congress, will be very strong. He has thrown out all the tainted people, he believes in development,” he says, adding, “I am going to vote for him — and so is my entire family.”
But is he a traditional Samajwadi Party voter? “No,” he says, “we are traditional BJP voters ... initially, we thought demonetisation would be good, it would end terrorism, corruption, but it has destroyed our business completely. Young people like Akhilesh; he will be good for the State. The jewellers’ community will not vote for BJP this time in U.P.”
Mr. Jain, it turns out, is no exception here. As I randomly enter other jewellery shops, the story is the same. All traditional BJP voters, the jewellers have decided to vote for the SP this time.
Jitendra Aggarwal stresses demonetisation has “broken the backbone of the jewellery business” — purchases are now around 10 per cent of what they were earlier.
“For weddings, no one is buying new jewellery; they are just getting old pieces polished and refurbished.” It isn’t just jewellers who are moving SP-wards, but “half the trading community”, he continues.
The backbone
The trading community may not be large, but it was always considered the backbone of the BJP, right from its Jan Sangh days, and have a few thousand votes in every urban constituency.
Shashi Kumar and his son, Sachin Singhal, say that when they cast their votes, “the impact of demonetisation will be on our minds”. “Modi’s mission has failed,” says Mr. Kumar, “it adversely affected small businessman like us, not the corporate giants.”
I-T notice
Subhash Chandra is even angrier — he has just received a notice from the Income Tax authorities, adding insult to injury.
“We were all BJP supporters because we thought it was a pro-business party,” Mr. Chandra says.
“But demonetisation has destroyed not just the jewellery business but all small scale businesses, let they be carpets in Bhadohi, bangles in Firozabad, brass ornaments in Moradabad. And this has been followed by raids — this is persecution. If Akhilesh becomes Chief Minister again, it will be because of Modi,” Mr. Chandra adds.
And it isn’t just the jewellers of Saharanpur. Sandeep Aggarwal of the Bareilly Mahanagar Sarafa Association says: “Much of our clientele was from neighbouring villages. Now, they are cashless: so no one is buying anything… this will affect the elections.”
Feeling betrayed
Ravi Dev of the Moradabad Jewellers Welfare Association, too, concurs: “When people don’t have cash, jewellery is the last thing on their mind. Add GST, and the current recession: traders feel betrayed that the party they supported has kicked them so hard.”
India’s jewellery market, estimated at ₹3 lakh crore, is 85% unorganised: demonetisation and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax will, in the long run, alter the shape of the sector. But for the moment, it appears likely to affect the BJP vote in Uttar Pradesh, a State in which, otherwise, caste allegiances will largely decide people’s electoral preferences.
