Uttar Pradesh voter has to pick the best among the worst
The 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are historic. The polls will be hailed as one of the most communal in recent times, with two constitutional bodies being reduced to mere spectators - the Supreme Court and the Election Commission.
Sample this. I was perched on a terrace in the busy Sahabganj markets of Gorakhpur awaiting BJP president Amit Shah 's cavalcade. As I spotted him waving the victory sign, I was surprised by the order and discipline of the road-show.
Even in the chaotic venue the cavalcade was systematically proceeding towards its destination. In front were scores of motorcycles ridden by youngsters with BJP flags, followed by dozens of women in lotus print sarees, tired but walking vigorously to catch up with the beeping bikes.
As we moved amid the BJP workers the road-show passed through the narrow bylanes of Gorakhpur. Just then my ears caught the words of the slogan that was being chanted – "Ek hi naara, ek hi naara, jai sri ram, jai sri ram." I had been hearing it all along but had failed to pick up the specific words.
As we passed through the Muslim-dominated areas of Kasraghat and Alinagar, the sloganeering continued, followed by "Gorakhpur mein rehna hai, yogi yogi kehna hai."
To think that the chants went unnoticed would be foolish - for the onlookers in the Muslim area the message was clear.
This is not the first time that a political party has whipped up religious sentiments this election season. Despite a landmark order by the Supreme Court and specific directives by the Election Commission to not use religious overtures to woo voters, parties are hell bent on throwing the election code out of the window.
From PM Narendra Modi to Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, all have disobeyed and dishonoured constitutional institutions by making speeches that would easily pass as communal. The ease with which divisive issues are raked up repeatedly is deeply unnerving.
The BJP has for long been playing the card of "minority appeasement" and imagined victimhood of the majority community. If we look at the overall expenditure of Uttar Pradesh, not even a per cent of it is spent on shamshaans and kabristans, yet Modi chose to raise the issue in his speech in Fatehpur.
 |
| Nearly a third of the population in the state is poor. |
BSP supremo Mayawati, at a mammoth rally in Ghazipur, was direct in her appeal to Muslims. Drumming up BJP phobia, she hit out at the ruling SP and warned Muslims that Mulayam's brother Shivpal would eventually exact his pound of flesh.
"The Muslims should remember this, that their vote will get wasted (if they vote for the SP) and benefit the BJP. Therefore, the minorities should vote en masse for the BSP because our Dalit vote is consolidated this time,” she boomed.
Understandably, the BSP has given a record number of 99 tickets to Muslim contestants when compared with the big zero of the BJP.
Not so long ago, Mulayam Singh Yadav had accused son Akhilesh of having a negative approach towards Muslims and threatened to fight against him if he did not heed his advice. Well, Akhilesh seems to have more than listened to his father and has left no stone unturned in crying foul against the BJP government's discriminatory attitude towards Muslims.
The real stinker came from one of his most seasoned leaders, Azam Khan.
In a rally in Kannauj, Khan reminded Muslims how the community suffered during the 2002 Gujarat riots. "Modiji, you said Uttar Pradesh has a government of guns. UP people don’t know guns. People of Gujarat understand guns. A carnage happened in Gujarat. The entire world has seen that blot on India. Modiji, you know about guns, about acid, about death. We have suffered it,” he said dramatically, forgetting the Muzaffarnagar riots that happened under SP rule.
In the light of the political bankruptcy displayed by parties, I wonder if someone would remind them about the dark state of affairs in UP. Some three decades ago, it was termed as one of the four BIMARU states of India - the least developed and sick states.
While the three others in this category - Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh - have progressed somewhat, UP has become even more sick. Nearly a third of the population in the state is poor and struggles for a morsel a day.
Today UP can easily bag the tag of worst governed state, be it education, health, infrastructure or economics, while the Muzaffarnagar riots were a grim reminder of how delicate its social fabric is.
As polling reaches the last leg in UP, I pray that god gives insight to the people of Uttar Pradesh so they can see through the communal gameplan of the political parties and reject the moves to divide them.