On one of the busiest Saturdays in western UP, last week, the galaxy of leaders was on whirlwind tours of the region in a do or dies battle.
SP leader Akhilesh Singh Yadav and RLD leader Jayant Chaudhury jointly took “ana sankalp” vow (holding a fistful of food grains) to end BJP rule, announced nutritious ten-rupee-thali, and 300 units of free electricity to each household. They accused BJP of vitiating the atmosphere and doing politics of hatred for the sake of power.
Gujarat Congress leader Hardik Patel also caused a stir as the police slammed the gates of Sardar Patel Institute as he goes to meet students injured in police lathicharge on railway job stir at Prayagraj. NSUI president Neeraj Kundan and Youth Congress president BV Srinivasan accompanied him. Patel announced to continue his support for the students and said that the state government’s move to still the voice was undemocratic. He was there as an emissary of Congress leader Priyanka Vadra Gandhi
The BJP is taking the election with utter seriousness amid severe challenge from the Samajwadi Party-Rasthriya Lok Dal combine in Western UP with 136 seats. It had won 112 seats in 2017. Senior BJP leaders have rushed here to meet the voters one-to-one. In Saharanpur, Home Minister Amit Shah stop his door-to-door campaign because of what is stated as a large crowd.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also address a virtual rally through LED screens at party offices to West UP voters on January 31.
No less enthusiastic are the SP leader Yadav and RLD leader Chaudhury. They jointly announced at a press conference in Ghaziabad on Saturday of strong front against BJP and expressed confidence in forming government in the state. On Friday, Yadav had to fly to Muzaffarnagar but permission to the flight was inordinately delayed leading Yadav to shoot charges of it being a deliberate move to sabotage the launch of a joint campaign. A proposer Ramvir of BJP candidate Laksmi Chaudhury is shot dead in Mathura. It has added to the tense atmosphere.
Senior BJP leaders have rushed to Meerut, Shamli, Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad for door-to-door campaigns. Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and state party chief Swatantra Dev Singh are not taking chances.
The sliding Jat votes and consolidation of Muslim votes in favour of SP raises a concern for the BJP and it is trying to create a wedge between them. Amit Shah met Jat leaders including Kisan Morcha leaders Rakesh Tikait and Naresh Tikait, but not to much success.
The Rashtriya Muslim Morcha of RSS national executive member Indresh Kumar is also holding meets with Muslim groups in Moradabad, Amroha, Muzaffarnagar, and other Muslim-dominated areas to woo minority voters.
Western UP has become a tough battlefield as in many areas BJP candidates and leaders are facing a hostile crowd. Even Swantantra Dev Singh was jeered at by Valmiki Basti in Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar. Many others like deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, Harendra Prasad were chased away in their constituencies. At several places, the candidates or party leaders were forced to leave the meeting venue.
Unemployment, rising prices, petrol prices, junking of ten-year-old cars, non-remunerative prices to farmers, high edible oil prices, the long and infamous walk of migrant labourers, body queues at the crematoriums, are the issues that are rocking the election campaign. These constitute a major opposition peg along with the politics of hatred and overt move to communalise politics by the BJP.
The BJP is countering it with the SP being a mafia goonda party, and for they being a minority-dominated Jinna party. The electioneering is hotting up. Would it be able to retain the tally or would the SP-RLD trounce it?