Lucknow echoes in Allahabad, and beyond

On the face of it, everything is normal. It has only been a few hours since the haadsa happened and most people haven’t reached home yet to catch the news on TV. Only a few have read the one-paragraph flash in the local eveninger, Gandiva, saying six people had died in the Lucknow stampede.

But news travels fast in these parts and by the time we make our way back from the ghats, the post mortems are in full flow. And the governing sentiment is not shock or sorrow. It is anger or indifference — depending on the political affinity of the person in question.

Vishnukant Mishra and Sushil Kumar are angry. ‘‘Is haadsa ka bahut prabhav padega chunav par (this incident will have a huge impact on the elections),’’ says Mishra, adding it is the last nail in the BJP’s ‘‘feel-good’’ coffin.

Sushil Kumar says that the Lucknow kand shows Lalji Tandon’s chotapan (pettiness). ‘‘Can you imagine a leader of his stature trying to buy votes by distributing sarees to the poor, and that too in the Prime Minister’s constituency?’’

R.K. Sonkar echoes their views. ‘‘The Election Commission should cancel the polls in Lucknow. Just because Vajpayee is the candidate, the EC may not do anything. But don’t you think giving free sarees to get votes is wrong?’’

A little distance away, shopkeeper Shankar Lal dismisses the Lucknow tragedy as just another accident with a philosophical callousness that comes easy in Varanasi. ‘‘Hindustan ki aabadi ek arab hai. Das-bees ki hatya koi badi baat nahin (India has a billion people, the death of a few is no big deal),’’ he says, as Madan Gupta interrupts, claiming only last week, six people died of sunstroke waiting for Mayawati’s rally to begin.

The bottom-line: ‘‘Chunav ke daur mein to haadse hote hi hain’’ (in election time, mishaps are normal).

In eastern UP or ‘Purvanchal’ as it is known, elections will take place on April 26. Even before today’s tragedy in Lucknow, the BJP had begun to face a tough battle in this region — particularly in Mirzapur and Varanasi where the Congress appears to have gained unexpected support. Lalji Tandon’s misdirected largesse may add to that groundswell.