The Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes backing Mayawati are worried about the Muslim vote.
In Ghaziabad, considered a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) bastion, Mayawati hit out at all her opponents, which include the BJP, SP and Congress, during a public rally attended by thousands. Among many issues the BSP supremo spoke on was the alleged deterioration of law and order in Uttar Pradesh, demonetization measures announced by the Centre and BJP's so-called hidden agenda of abolishing reservations.
But the most interesting part of her speech came when she asked her supporters to not get duped by the 'fake survey polls' which put the BSP much behind the SP-Congress alliance and the BJP. Even though Mayawati took some time out to speak about such polls, her supporters who attended the rally on Tuesday already seemed to agree with their leader, even before she complained how her party is being projected as a loser in the race for power in UP.
Among those who took part in the rally were two students Rahul Kumar and Vishal, both residents of Vijay Nagar area. Speaking to DNA before Mayawati's arrival, Rahul said, ''Everyone is trying to project Mayawati ji as a leader who is not aggressive enough to counter the SP-Congress alliance or the BJP but the fact is that this is the silence before the storm.”
Both Rahul and Vishal believe that Mayawati will cause a major upset for her opponents as people in UP know her position on the “politics of communalism and casteism" as well as on "gundaraj" unleashed during the SP government.
As songs continued to play at the rally, women from all walks of took centrestage at the NDRF Grounds and began dancing, fixated on the camera. A group of women who had come of Dasna unanimously agreed on two issues that they said will get resolved once Mayawati takes helm in Lucknow. One is, of course, law and order and the second is education of the girl child. "There is a lot of eve-teasing and our girls think twice before going out, let alone going to a college every day. All of this will go if behenji is CM," said Sarita.
Mira Devi spoke about how BSP had given Dalits of UP the dignity they deserved. "We want our rights and our share in the progress the state is making. The youth now want private jobs as well. I have three daughters, two of them have Masters degrees and I want something for them which their parents did not have— a good life," Mira said.
The Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes, who are backing Mayawati, are worried about the Muslim vote. Ashok Kumar, who deals in real estate in Muradnagar, said the SP-Congress alliance might eat away the Muslim vote that goes to BSP. "Muzaffarnagar riots and Dadri lynching incident happened when SP was in power. Nearly 500 riots have taken place in the state during this government's tenure. Muslims right now should vote tactically. A Muslim-Dalit bloc in UP will be unstoppable," Kumar said.
Ghaziabad is one of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies and has five Assembly seats— Loni, Muradnagar, Sahibabad, Dhaulana and Ghaziabad. All seats which are not reserved for SC/ST categories. In 2012, all but one went to BSP.
The party's Muslim voters, who work in farms or are daily wagers, the demonetization will be the deciding factor. It is imperative to mention here that Muslims working in farms in villages are closely associated with the land-owning residents belonging to the business community and this is where it gets interesting.
DNA met with Muslim farmers of villages, including Piplera which is known for its vegetable produce especially cabbage, coriander (dhaniya) and fenugreek (methi). Haji Umar is a farmer who both owns land as well as works as a farming contractor. "Rest of the land is mine but 20 bigha (roughly 160 acres) belongs to Pandit ji. I have to pay Rs 5,000 per bigha to him irrespective of the sales. The farmers as well as the landowners are upset," Umar said, adding that he would earn anything between Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 from one bigha.
According to him and another farmer named Pyaar Mohamad, the sales were badly hit after demonetization measures announced in November last year. "We used to get Rs 200 for one kata (50kg) of cabbage but now we are getting Rs 50 for the same. For methi, we used to get Rs 100 for five kg and for coriander Rs 1,000 for 40kg. Now, the rate is Rs 20-25 for methi and Rs 100-125 for dhaniya," Umar added.
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