A sweltering Tuesday afternoon at the bustling Chowk Bazar here seems to reflect the political mood of this small town, which was in the news two years back over claims that Hindus had begun to migrate out of fear of the town’s large Muslim population.
It’s now in focus with the coming Lok Sabha bypoll, where the strategy of beating the BJP through Opposition unity will be put to test yet again on May 28. A united Opposition had tasted success in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls.
The story, however, is the same: deep faultlines of communal polarisation are palpable in this town having mixed Hindu and Muslim populations. Muslims seem inclined towards the RLD while Hindu shopkeepers back the BJP vehemently.
As this correspondent introduces himself to a hookah seller and asks his name, the shopkeeper, well in his late middle age, conceals his name but reveals his identity, saying ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in reply.
‘Crime has come down’
All praise for the Yogi Adityanath government over its handling of law and order, he says: “In this very bazar, people were murdered in broad daylight during the Akhilesh Yadav regime. After Yogi came to power, crime has dramatically dipped.”
He says Hindus are happy with the BJP and will vote for it. He refuses to buy the logic that Jats – a dominant Hindu caste in the region – are likely to vote for the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Ajit Singh, whose candidate Tabassum Begum has the support of all Opposition parties. His claim, however, is not borne out when one visits Jat villages in the constituency. The BJP has fielded Mriganka Singh, daughter of late BJP leader Hukum Singh, a Gujjar, and hopes to work the Hindu sentiment — combined with the loyalty of Gujjars, a powerful caste here, for the late BJP MP — to its advantage.
At a general store in Chowk Bazar, shop owner Jagdish Prasad claims there was a time when Hindus were wanting to leave the town, reinforcing a controversial claim made by BJP leaders in the region. The problem has “stopped” after the BJP came to power, he says.
However, a Gujjar Muslim lawyer who politely refuses to reveal his name says the reports were a BJP conspiracy and there was no Hindu exodus ever.
In this constituency, where Muslim votes are often a gamechanger, the anti-BJP alliance has fielded Ms. Tabassum, who was earlier with the SP and BSP, in the hope of combining Muslim and Jat votes. Add Dalits to the mix and the combination can be very difficult to beat. However, her brother-in-law and her late husband Munawar Hasan’s younger brother Kanwar Hasan is also contesting from here, something that is being seen as an attempt to divide Muslim votes. “Be that as it may, he won’t be able to cut into Muslim votes beyond a point, as they will vote against the BJP,” says Sundar Singh, a Gujjar from a nearby village backing the saffron party to the hilt.
