Why UP is looking beyond two big national parties in Lok Sabha elections

Mainstream media is a bad word in not just Ismailganj but in the neighbouring villages of Udaychandrapur and Jetwardi

The Dalit youth of Ismailganj, a village in Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency, as they sit amid overflowing drains, ask the most inconvenient questions about the Indian state abdicating its responsibilities towards its poorest citizens, and express skepticism about Narendra Modi government’s claims on Pulwama terror attack and Balakot air strike.

Mainstream media is a bad word in not just Ismailganj, predominantly a Jatav village, but in the neighbouring village of Udaychandrapur, which has a significant population of Pasis, as well as the Yadav and Kurmi dominated Jetwardi.

“Why doesn’t the media ask the most basic of the questions? What happened to the promises the government made in 2014? What has happened to the commitments succeeding Congress governments made to the poor in the last 70-years?” Akash Kumar, a 21-year-old graduate, currently preparing for the Railway Protection Force exam, asks.

Akash and his friends point to drains of their village, the small 100 square foot rooms their respective families call home, the lack of a good school and a dispensary in the vicinity as evidence that the state cares little for its most underprivileged.

The gaggle of youth say “jumlas”, or slogans, of money transfer – whether Rs 6000 per year to small farmers by the Modi government or Rs 6,000 per month the Congress has promised – were these parties distributing handouts to ensure people neither ask tough questions of them nor demand a stake in power.

“I think it is deliberate. Why else would you spend Rs 3,000 crore on a statue, or something similar to organise Kumbh festival when that money could have gone to build schools and hospitals? It is because you are afraid that people might get educated and ask questions,” says Sanjay, a 17-year-old currently enrolled in an ITI.

Sanjay’s father is an agricultural labourer, while he is training to become an electrician, but aspires to become a journalist. Sanjay is combative about his future. A couple of years back, Sanjay changed his name to Sanjay ‘Ambedkar’. Last year, he launched a YouTube channel – bhimraji10inIndia. He posts clips of local events, including of the skits performed in his village on B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on April 14. The channel currently has 1,367 subscribers and over 55,000 views.

At a little distance from Ismailganj sits Dasharath Patel, a Kurmi tailor, who is a fan of the prime minister. “Modi in the last five years has accomplished more than what preceding governments did since independence,” he says, addressing passersby with a ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Ratan Pandey, a driver, disagrees with him. “Why don’t you say ‘Jai Siya Ram’ as it has the name of mother Sita as well,” Pandey asks, but adds how any Brahmin would be a “fool” to not vote for Modi just because he is upset with Yogi Adityanath.

Dasharath, in his 50s, says he is also disgusted with those in his community who have taken to argue against Modi. He has received the first instalment of Rs 2,000 from the PM Kisan Nidhi scheme, which he says has helped him significantly. He claims the cattle menace to crops is being overstated.

In Udaychandrapur village, Rohit Bachcha, a middle-aged carpenter, who is a Pasi, has heard of atrocities on Dalits. “I have worked hard to educate my three daughters and two sons. My eldest daughter is a science graduate, but there are no government jobs,” Bachcha says, admitting his community voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014, but could vote differently in 2019.

In Jetwardi village, Yadavs, Kurmis and Jatavs sit together outside their shops discussing politics. The narrative is similar – unmet promises of 2014, skepticism on Pulwama, “poor governance” of the Adityanath government, cattle menace, and their dwindling earnings in the last couple of years. There is some dispute on whether Modi government’s schemes, like Ujjwala and Swachh Bharat, have worked or not, but unanimity about cash crunch in the rural economy. However, everyone credits the Adityanath government for having constructed good all weather roads connecting all the villages in the entire Soraon tehsil.

“When our deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya represented Phulpur in the Lok Sabha, he adopted Jetwardi as his Adarsh Gram, but little work was done. No wonder the BJP lost the bypoll here,” Manish Kumar, a Yadav, says. Rakesh Patel, a 35-year-old Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist, vehemently agrees, but bemoans how SP has become exclusively a party of one caste. “The RSS never asks to vote for any particular party. We work for the nation, and the organisation keeps away from party politics,” Rakesh says. He admits to have stopped going to the local RSS shakha a year back, but believes the Kurmis, who voted the BJP in 2014 and 2017, could split if the grand alliance of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party were to field a Kurmi from Phulpur.

Jawaharlal Nehru represented Phulpur in the first three Lok Sabhas. "There was expectation that Modi ji with his 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas' slogan would work for all. He has now suddenly rediscovered in the middle of the election campaign his 'backward' origins," Janmejaya Yadav, a retired principal, says.