In Mathura, BJP banking on RLD’s Jat pull to counter ‘outsider’ narrative against Hema Malini

While Hindutva is expected to play a role in the western UP constituency, the BJP’s two-term sitting MP and actor-turned-politician Hema Malini is facing a stiff challenge from her opponents, who are calling her “pravasi (outsider)” and “Bambai wali saansad (Mumbai’s MP)” while appealing to the voters to elect a local “brijwasi” this time.

The BJP will be hoping to counter the anti-incumbency with its alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) drawing in the Jats. In Mathura, an estimated 45% of the constituency’s population is Jat. But a section of the community too favours local candidates, though according to Malini’s supporters, she is a “Jat bahu” – a reference to her husband and actor Dharmendra, who is a Jat.

The BSP candidate Suresh Singh, who belongs to the Jat community, repeatedly reminded voters: “Dhyan rakhiye, apna hi kaam ayega (Keep in mind, only one of your own will help you).” Incidentally, before joining the BSP, Singh had been associated with the VHP.

Congress candidate Mukesh Dhangar, who has the support of ally SP, has also attacked the BJP candidate along similar lines saying, “Nahi chahiye pravasi, abki baar brijwasi (We don’t want an outsider, elect a local this time)”.

In bid to counter this narrative, Malini is circulating a four-page pamphlet, in which she refers to Mathura as her “karmabhoomi (place of work)”, highlighting the development work undertaken during her two tenures. The sitting MP has also floated the slogan “Viksit Mathura, Hema ki guarantee”, echoing the PM’s “Modi ki guarantee” slogan.

Calling it “propaganda”, the BJP’s Mathura media in-charge Shyam Chaturvedi says Malini’s opponents were raising the “outsider” issue because there are no other issues over which to target the BJP. “Hema ji has been associated with Mathura for several decades. Also, since all the public representatives here are of the BJP, they address the public’s problems.”

But not everyone in Mathura is convinced. “Malini has got development work done in Mathura, but these are major projects which she planned on her own. She never came to the villages to ask about local problems,” said Preetam Singh, a Jat in the constituency’s Hathoda village.

He added that while Hindus want the Krishna Janmasthan to “get a grand shape like the Ram Mandir of Ayodhya”, he will not vote on the issue of temples. “The BJP raises such issues only to polarise voters. Temple will not feed my family. Inflation and unemployment are major problems.”

Kishan Singh, a Jat from the same village who had voted for the BJP in 2014 and 2019, said he won’t vote for an “outsider” this time, “Why does the BJP not give opportunity to any local leader who could be available to us?” he said.

But for Sulkhan Singh, another Jat from Hathoda, the BJP’s alliance with the RLD decided his vote for him. “Jahan Chaudhary ka parivar, wahan hum (I am always with the family of Chaudhary Charan Singh),” he said.

In the Artauni village – which has a mixed population of Jats, Prajapatis (both OBCs) and Jatavs (Dalits) – Nek Shah, a Jat, is impressed with the global standing India achieved under Modi, but adds: “Where are the jobs? The government came with one recruitment scheme, Agniveer, which is useless.”

Shahi Idgah-Krishna Janmasthan issue

At the Islamiya Market near Mathura’s Deeg Gate area, Kadir Qureshi, 52, who has been unemployed since the slaughter house he worked at shut down after the BJP came to power in UP in 2017, said: “Hindus – especially youths – proudly say the BJP government has oppressed Muslims.”

On the ongoing Shahi Idgah dispute, Qureshi said, “Ram Mandir has already been built. Now they have entered Gyanvapi and started worship in a sealed cellar. They will do the same in Mathura too. Hindus will get this too if the BJP continues in power,” he said, adding he will vote for the candidate who put up a fight against the BJP.

But among other voters, there is a desire to see a temple at the disputed site. Umesh Singh, a Thakur and businessman living nearby believes it is certain that if Modi gets a third term and the BJP comes to power in UP in 2027, a temple will be built at the Krishna Janmasthan.

Bhoori Devi, 65, a street vendor near the premises of the Shahi Idgah, said, “I have been seeing a mosque since I came here from Rajasthan after marriage 40 years ago. I believe one day a grand temple will be built in Mathura.”

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Malini had defeated the RLD’s Kunwar Narendra Singh by 2.93 lakh votes. At the time, the RLD had an alliance with the SP and BSP. The Congress’s Mahesh Pathak had got only 28,084 votes.

In the 2022 Assembly polls, when the RLD and SP were in an alliance, the BJP had won all the five Assembly segments in the Mathura Lok Sabha constituency.

The BJP is confident of a 2019 repeat. “Mathura is a safe seat for the BJP. The RLD is also with us this time,” said Shyam Chaturvedi, the BJP’s Mathura media in-charge.