Point of View : V.V.S. Manian
Uttar Pradesh was like my second home, years ago. I have seen and experienced the state suffering during Indira Gandhi’s emergency era. It is the only state where crime thrived with the blessings of politicians. The entire complexion changed when Yogi Adityanath took over the mantle of the most challenging job: cleaning river Ganges from pollution, to put an end to the robust gangsters who walked on the streets of UP like terrorists.
The people of UP had faith and rewarded BJP with a big boost in the state election. In this general election, the BJP should sweep the polls- UP decides who will sit in Delhi. But the poor turnout in UP in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections, with the lowest polling percentage at 55.2, indicates that the BJP has faltered somewhere. The polling in UP should have been much higher considering the Yogi Modi wave.
The BJP is perhaps not focused on its strategy but was overconfident in the Ram Mandir gala divine show. First, the BJP believes that if votes are cast in the name of Modi in the Lok Sabha elections, it could benefit. The first phase is not Modi’s charisma, but there are too many local issues, like sugar cane prices, statehood in Western UP, and the fate of closed factories. These are the issues raised by the BSP in Meerut, Baghpat, and Bulandarshahr seats.
In Mathura, there is a strong feeling that the government has not done enough to clean the Yamuna, is not focused on the development of religious tourism (except Ayodhya), and has not made much progress on the industrial front. Issues like registration of flats and delay in getting compensation have been focused in the election campaign of the opposition in Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar.
According to reliable sources in the field, the ‘BJP is causing the biggest loss to BJP’. The BJP’s choice of candidates is going to prove difficult for the party. In view of the dissatisfaction of Rajputs with the BJP in Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar, the BSP has fielded Rajput candidates at both of these places. Arun Govil from the BJP is in the fray for the Meerut Lok Sabha seat, while Devvrat Tyagi from the BSP is trying his luck. Here also, the BJP is becoming weak due to the Tyagi candidate. In Aligarh, the BJP has fielded sitting MP Satish Gautam. BSP has given tickets to Hitendra Kumar, who comes from the BJP and is a Brahmin. Film actress Hema Malini has won the elections from the Mathura Lok Sabha seat two consecutive times. The BJP has again fielded her. But this time it may be difficult for her to win. Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Suresh Singh, a former IRS candidate from the Jat community, its candidate. Obviously, the vote of Jats is certain to be reduced in the Mathura seat.
The lowest turnout of voters is not a good sign for the BJP. The power and influence Modi and Yogi had in UP should have attracted much higher turnout. It was 62 percent in 2019. (5 percent less despite new enrollment). Yogi has to swing into action. What is going wrong in the fortress of BJP? We will find out about it in the first week of June.
