“They threatened to convert our basti into Saharanpur [where Dalits were targeted by upper caste Thakurs last year]. We have to walk around with our heads hanging low,” said Ajaora.
Seated outside her small brick house, the Jatav woman referred to an incident a few months ago when some youths from the Yadav and Sainthwar communities, both OBC but locally dominant, beat up a Jatav youth after a dispute during a marriage procession. “It is the Ahirs and Sainthwars who bully us the most. All these low caste people (OBC) have shifted to the BJP. How can we align with them,” asked Ajaora, a resident of Basuda village in Gorakhpur’s Sahjanwa Assembly segment.
She is a Mayawati-loyalist and is highly critical of the BJP, which she alleged misused EVMs to win the State elections. But as local Yadavs and Sainthwars are associated with the “cycle” symbol, she is not motivated to vote for the SP despite the BSP supremo’s appeal.
The Samajwadi Party’s performance in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls hinges upon the support of Dalits like Ajaora. However, political rivalry between the SP and BSP during their respective governments and consequent social tensions between Yadavs and Jatavs, who form their caste bases, is posing an obstacle in the consolidation of support for the SP candidate, Ms. Mayawati’s support notwithstanding.
Travelling across pockets of rural Gorakhpur, this reporter found that not only was social incompatibility deterring Dalits from coming out in favour of the SP nominee, there was also a general lack of enthusiasm among them. “What difference does it make to elect an MP for a few months? BSP has not fielded a candidate. I would have thought about what Behenji said had she herself come here for campaigning,” said Dilip Kumar, an unemployed Dalit youth in rural Gorakhpur.
Then there is the reverence for the Gorakhnath Mandir, of which Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is the head priest, which blunts anger among among Dalits for lack of amenities in their villagesbusties. In Baspar, most Dalits still use the fields or roadsides to relieve themselves, their pathways have not been widened for the last three decades and no solar lights have been put up.
“The drains turn into rivers during monsoons. And pregnant women suffer the most as homes don’t have toilets,” said Vijay, a student. However, his anger is restricted to the local representatives and officials but not the former MP, Mr. Adityanath. “Why will we raise our voice against the Mahantji when he has done nothing bad to us?”
Dalit social activist Amar Paswan said the SP would find it hard to get BSP’s core votes transferred to it. “The workers and supporters of the two parties have been rivals and have no experience of working together. When Dalits see the cycle, they recall all the atrocities faced by them under the SP, while the Yadavs cannot forget the cases lodged against them by Mayawati during her rule,” said Mr. Paswan.
However, among politically aware Ambedkarite Dalits like Baliram, who is unemployed despite having an M.A degree, there is a sense of anger towards the BJP. “They are targeting only Muslims and Dalits. Even if Behenji had not supported SP, I would have still voted Akhilesh Yadav just to keep the BJP out,” said Baliram, who accuses the BJP of helping defaulters escape the country.
Shyam Bihari, another BSP supporter, is also critical of the Modi and Yogi governments and plans to vote for the SP. Though he felt safer under the Mayawati rule, he praises the previous Akhilesh Yadav government for providing emergency ambulance and police services, and creating local livelihood.
“Under the Modi government, all we got was one latrine,” he said.
Besides being a symbolic move of unity ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BSP’s support to the SP candidates in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, also brings arithmetic value as the BSP has a solid base in both constituencies. If translated on the ground, their combined force has the potential to stretch the BJP.
Numbers game
In 2014, under the Modi wave, the BJP won both the seats comfortably securing over 50 % votes and defeating the combined vote of the SP and BSP by over 13% votes.
However, in the 2017 Assembly elections, while the BJP and its allies won all 10 Assembly segments in Phulpur and Gorakhpur, the SP and BSP combined defeated the BJP candidate in six of them. In addition, in Gorakhpur Rural, the combined vote of the SP and the Nishad Party, which is this time directly alligned with the SP, was more than the BJP's tally.
In another Assembly seat in Gorakhpur, Campierganj, the combined vote of the Nishad Party, BSP and Congress (the SP did not field a candidate as per an alliance understanding) was more than the BJP’s vote.
