Divide and rule

The ploy, he says, has spread across the Jat belt in UP, from Hapur to Muzzafarnagar to Shahjahanpur. The BJP has been working hard to ensure a four-cornered contest in UP, as it is most fruitful for the party. Hot on the heels of Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee suggesting a closeness to UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, comes the new missile. The stratagem is straight-forward — wherever Muslims are in large numbers, and the contest a fierce battle between main parties — BJP, SP-RLD and Mayawati’s BSP — attempt to divide votes even further by inflating the Congress’ appeal.

This would correspondingly decrease their votes and thus help the BJP emerge victorious. Says Quereshi, ‘‘We were surprised to discover both BJP and Congress flags flying atop rooftops of shops in the main market. It is well-known that the trader class is with the BJP, but since when did they begin favouring the Congress?’’

After some quick sleuthing by Quereshi and his team, it was discovered that not only did the ‘‘RSS shopkeepers’’ fly Congress flags atop rooftops, but they also had impromptu group chats with curious passers-by about how they were going to vote for the Congress. Says Manish Tyagi, an ardent member of candidate Tyagi’s team, ‘‘Yeh to bania log ki chalaaki hai, (this is the trickery of the trader class). Do we need to be reminded about the RSS and its skills in rumour-mongering?’’

Quereshi adds, ‘‘It took them just one day to spread the message throughout the globe about Ganeshji and his milk-guzzling miracle.’’ The RLD-SP’s counter-attack is equally swift — their teams have fanned out wherever the ‘‘RSS-shopkeepers’’ have made contact and have de-briefed ‘‘victims’’ about the latter’s ploy and trickery.

Apart from informing the public at meetings, the RLD-SP also orgainse roadshows, door-to-door campaigning (jan samparks) and neighbourhood group meetings (nukkad sabhas). Says Hodi Tyagi, a zilla pradhan of the RLD, ‘‘Later, our people pose as curious onlookers to find out the effect of our campaign. The result has been positive. People are beginning to see through the deception.’’

But the Jat belt of Meerut, Hapur and Baghpat, sees a fierce fight between the three main contenders — SP-RLD, BSP and BJP. While Baghpat is seen as reserved constituency for the RLD (the Lok Dal has been winning the seat since 1977), Hapur and Meerut see an interesting bout.

In Hapur, Qureshi says the Jat-Muslim-Yadav combine will sail the party to victory, the BSP’s Dr SU Kaushik says party candidate Kunwar Ayub Ali) who left the RLD last month to join the BSP) will get the formidable Dalit-Muslim vote, while the BJP’s Ramesh Chand Tomar hopes to get the upper caste votes.

In Meerut, the BJP-JD (U) candidate, K.C. Tyagi is pitted against the BSP’s Haji Shahid Akhlaq Qureshi, the Congress’ K.K. Sharma and the RLD-SP’s Malooq Nagar. Says Tyagi,

‘‘Muslims are not making any issue against me.’’ Though the RLD’s Nagar is confident of victory with a Jat-Gujjar combine, he is unfortunate to have the Gujjars divided between the BJP’s Jaipal Singh and the Congress’ Jagbir Singh.