A majority of the Hindus in Meerut parliamentary constituency seem polarised to vote for Modi and not the sitting MP and Bharatiya Janata Party nominee Rajendra Aggarwal who is despised by all communities for having contributed nothing for Meerut in the last five years. Even senior BJP leaders admit that the people would vote for Mr. Aggarwal simply to strengthen Mr. Narendra Modi.
The Muslims and Dalits are still debating whether to vote for the former MP Haji Shahid Akhlaq fielded by the Bahujan Samaj Party, or Uttar Pradesh Minister for Labour and Employment Shahid Manzoor of the Samajwadi Party or cine star Nagma of the Congress. All these aspirants except Ms. Nagma who is a new comer are despised for their non performance. A vote for them would be only to defeat the BJP.
Also in fray is Major (retd) Himanshu Kumar a social activist contesting on the Aam Admi Party ticket.
‘We do not want Mr. Aggarwal as our MP but will vote for him because Modi ji has to be strengthened,’ is the general view in Hapur and other areas.
The womenfolk are annoyed with the local contestants for having failed miserably to make Meerut safe for them. “Even Congress candidate Nagma had to slap a man to keep teasers away. If a Lok Sabha contestant is not safe what would be the plight of females especially small school girls who have to go through hell in buses every day”, said an angry Neelam Singh, an advocate, wondering if the molestation, rapes and murders so common in Meerut could be ever stopped by someone. Ms. Nagma has promised special buses for women if voted to power.
Commenting on the overall chaos in Meerut and elsewhere in the country noted Gandhian scholar and former Vice Chancellor of Choudhary Charan Singh Meerut University Ravindra Kumar said that India was on the verge of making history and the people should elect only those who would work for the constituents and have a national vision. “Please exercise your franchise to build a mature political mandate which we have been lacking for quiet sometime,” Dr Kumar said.
The internal rift in the Congress became wider on Friday when the city Congress president Salim Bharti suspended senior leaders Harendra Aggarwal, former MLC and the party’s assistant zone coordinator Pradeep Kansal for six years for allegedly hampering Ms. Nagma’s electioneering. Countering Mr. Bharti’s move Mr. Aggarwal and Mr. Kansal said that they were not bothered as he had no powers to suspend them.
The Rashtriya Apna Dal candidate Usman Gaji attempted to commit suicide outside the Divisional Commissioner’s office on Friday. Alert cops snatched the bottle of petrol he was carrying for self- immolation and the towel with which he tried to strangulate himself. He was booked for attempted suicide and later let off on bail.
Reena Mallick, Savita Chauhan, Heena Kazmi and Harjit Singh all educated farmers in Kithore expressed anger at all the major candidates for having done nothing to improve the deteriorating law and order situation in Meerut district or taken any steps to solve the problems of inordinate delays in sugarcane payment, erratic power supply, lack of infrastructure including teaching staff in Government schools and lack of medicines or doctors in primary health centres. “These are the issues that need to be debated during elections and only the candidate who promises to work for the people and not sit in the air-conditioned offices or official residences in Delhi or Lucknow should be returned,” AAP nominee Himanshu Kumar said as he went around the villages of the area on Saturday.
