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Journalism of Courage
THESE DAYS, there’s an unusual buzz around Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur, set in the foothills of the mighty Himalayas. Breaking through the early winter morning mist, one can see groups of eager campaigners carrying saffron flags scurrying to meet labourers before they set out for their daily work.
Considered the impenetrable fort of Azam Khan, it fell vacant after the SP leader was disqualified from the seat he has won 10 times since the early 1980s, with only the Congress managing to breach his defences once, in 1996. Now, for the first time, the BJP in UP is aggressively wooing Muslim voters in the Rampur Assembly bypoll, scheduled on December 5.
But even in a Muslim-majority constituency — 55 per cent of the around 3.80 lakh voters in Rampur Sadar are from the community — the BJP is sticking to its unwritten policy, effective since 2014, of not offering a Muslim representative in Assembly or Lok Sabha polls.
The election will see a two-way fight between the BJP’s Akash Saxena, who lost the seat to Azam Khan in March, and Azam Khan loyalist Mohammed Asim Raja of the SP, who lost the Lok Sabha bypoll to the BJP’s Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi by 42,192 votes in June. With the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) staying away from the contest, Raja will be in a direct fight with Saxena, who is the complainant against Khan and his family members in some of the cases against them.
While the party has deployed a number of Muslim leaders in their campaign, on the ground they are facing questions over the Yogi Adityanath governments’ decision to conduct survey of madrasas in the state, sources said.
“The Muslim community in Rampur is not talking about the Gyanvapi dispute in Varanasi or the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. But they are asking questions about the survey of madrasas, when we ask them to vote for the BJP and try telling them that the BJP government is working for their welfare. They still have confusions about intentions of the government regarding the madrasa survey,” said a leader of the BJP’s minority wing.
He added that workers have been asked to calmly answer such questions and convince voters that the survey was being done because the government wants that students in madrasas too get modern education and make careers as engineers and IAS officers.
On August 30, the state government had directed district magistrates to conduct a survey of unrecognised madrasas. The survey started on September 10 and a around 8,500 madrasas in the state have been found to be functioning without securing recognition from the state madrasa education Board.
The Adityanath government had earlier been criticised for the decision by Muslim bodies.
Unlike past elections, when the BJP banked on religious polarisation in Rampur, this time it’s trying to ground truth its Pasmanda outreach programme for socially and economically backward Muslim castes.
Sources said that BJP campaigners are claiming that over three crore Pasmanda Muslims in UP have got free ration, over 1.25 lakh have got benefits of the Ayushman card, 75 lakh received the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, over 40 lakh have got free electricity connections, 20 lakh got houses, etc.
The party even went to the extent of recently holding a convention of Pasmanda Muslims in Rampur, addressed by Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, ex-Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Minister of State in UP government Danish Azad Ansari and state president of party’s minority wing Kunwar Basit Ali. According to sources, the party has asked Naqvi to hold dialogues with Muslim clerics in Rampur, while other leaders have been involved in door-to-door campaigning.
The party’s election manager in Rampur said, “Those senior leaders and other workers of the minority wing have all been assigned responsibilities to campaign in Rampur, which has been divided in four mandal units. We have a special focus on Pasmanda Muslims, because they felt neglected in the past by governments of the SP or the BSP. As they are beneficiaries of different government schemes, we are approaching them to get their votes,” said a BJP leader.
The ruling party is confident of winning the bypolls after it managed to win both the Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats in by-elections earlier this year.
“We are focusing on Pasmanda Muslims. It is now known among the community that the Pasmandas got benefits of welfare schemes only under BJP rule. We are hoping that some of them will vote for the BJP. Even if they do not but remain neutral by not voting for the SP, we’ll be at an advantage,” said the leader.
In another strategy, the BJP is identifying those prominent Muslims who are upset with Azam Khan. The BJP is contacting to them individually and seeking their support.
The BJP received a shot in the arm Monday when Azam’s long-time loyalist Fasahat Ali Khan alias Shanu joined the party and was immediately deployed in the campaign. On Saturday, Khan’s long-time rival Kazim Ali Khan, who belongs to the erstwhile family of nawabs of Rampur, had lent support to the BJP.
BJP minority wing state president Kunwar Basit Ali said over 200 leaders of the wing from different districts were camping in Rampur and going door-to-door, canvassing for the BJP candidate. “We are sure that a good chunk of Muslim voters who are beneficiaries of government schemes will vote for the BJP in the bypoll. We are speaking to them and answering their queries,” he said.
The BJP has deployed the big guns while the SP’s top leadership is busy with the Mainpuri bypoll. PWD Minister Jitin Prasada addressed an intellectuals’ meeting in Rampur on Tuesday. Cabinet minister Suresh Khanna, minister Baldev Singh Aulakh and party state president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary too have travelled through the constituency. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will address a public meeting in Rampur on December 2. At least a dozen more ministers will tour Rampur before end of canvassing, sources said.
The CM will address rallies in Mainpuri on November 28 and December 2. He will campaign in Khatauli in November 30.
