Boasting a quality dahi market and a tradition of supporting a culture of dissent and Samajwad,Deoria district,with seven Assembly constituencies,is at the heart of the Poorvanchal experience. Student of politics remember it also as the place where then chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav planned to stop L K Advanis Ram Rath Yatra in 1990,only to be pipped at it by chief minister Lalu Prasad in neighbouring Bihar. Electorally,there is another reason why Deoria holds a significant position on UPs map. It is an established centre for Brahmins,where they have held positions of influence and are present in good numbers. Ahead of February 11,when this district goes to polls,Deorias Brahmins feel unwanted by all parties and say they will vote for a member of the community,irrespective of the party. Says lawyer C B Pandey,who has floated the Naitik Party that is contesting three of the districts seven seats: Brahmins rooted for Mayawati,as during Mulayam Singhs rule,at thanas or with officialdom,Brahmins were chased away or not respected. We hoped Mayawatis regime would end that. But that treatment has continued with upper castes. The BJP is confused,and while the Congress and Rahul Gandhi are impressive,they dont have a local big leader jo ki haath pakad sake (who can come to our help). Estimates based on the 1931 census put Brahmins in UP at over 9 per cent of the population,more numerous than in other states. Both numerically and as opinion-formers,Brahmins have mattered in the political calculus here for long. In eastern UP,there are areas where the population of Brahmins is said to be up to 20 per cent,and the party they choose is expected to have an impact on the overall result. Originally Congress supporters,Brahmins here shifted to the BJP after the late eighties. In 2007,however,they cast their lot with Mayawati as the BSP reached out to other castes,if only to prevent the SP from coming to power. Rajkumari Tiwari,a mother of three who lives in a village in Barhaj,is candid about why no party attracts her any more. Mayawati has just helped her caste in every way. We are not saying give us more benefits,but at least equalise now. Are we to get the short shrift? Mayawatis five years have only been beneficial to her castes people. Others too attack parties for focusing on just the backwards and Scheduled Castes. Says a Brahmin teacher,not wanting to be named: Yadavs stepped out with rifles when Mulayam came to power. We dont want to be abused by them or ignored by Maya. The only Brahmin who made hay while Maya ruled is Satish Mishra. Nothing was done to make us more comfortable. Lawyer Ved Prakash Mishra feels the only option before them is a toss-up between the two national parties,Congress and BJP. Mulayam said at a rally he will free all those in the SP who have had cases slapped against them. Maya would say the same too. Only the Congress and BJP would never say anything like that. What is not clear yet is which of the two parties that would be. Both parties have disappointed us this time, says local journalist Sanjay Shukla. One is trying to bring in Uma Bharti. So why blame Brahmins if they look at the candidates and then vote in one of their own? Having dropped off the radar of most parties,feel the Brahmins,they also find themselves excluded from many opportunities earlier open to them. Says advocate Aseem Anand Mishra: We were the Cuba of the world,with sugar factories and sugarcane paying for all family expenses,shaadi-byaahs ,education. All that has been shut down since the SP and the BSP came to power. Even in education,reservation has shrunk opportunities. The idea of reservation for OBCs probably does not raise hackles the way it once did,but the annoyance does remain. Says a first-year BSc student, Prabhu Nath Tiwari: What about the general student? The courts have restricted reservation to poor OBCs; that does not happen. What about poor Brahmins? No one thinks of them. Anyway there is no electricity to study and then reservations shrink our opportunities even more. Ragini Tiwari,an undergraduate student at Kasturba Girls College,sees a conspiracy in the way such quality institutions have been allowed to go waste. She sees an attempt to hit the old Brahmin elite by blunting the only edge they had,to study and get ahead. I dont know which party can address this basic education problem. No one wants to talk about it. District Congress office-bearer Mukund Bhaskar Mani insists the party is the balm people are looking for. There is no jaat paat kich kich (no casteism pushes and pulls) with the Congress,all feel wanted at a Congress forum, he says. That should attract the Brahmins too.
