With an eye on the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) are trying to revive MAJGAR, the caste combination of Muslim, Ahir (Yadav), Jat, Gujjar and Rajput, which suffered a major dent following the 2013-Muzaffarnagar violence. SP leader Akhilesh Yadav has underlined that the SP-RLD alliance was headed for a historic win even as the BJP was using every possible ploy to divert attention from real issues. “We are sons of farmers and have joined hands to save the legacy of Chaudhary Charan Singh. We would lay our lives for the cause of farmers and save the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb of the region,” said Yadav, taking a pledge over food grains with Chaudhary. “Those who are talking of palayan (exodus) we will ensure their political exodus from UP in March,” he said. In the Assembly elections of 2022, 58 seats in the districts of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura, and Agra will vote on February 10 in the first phase. In the second phase on February 14, 55 seats will go to polls, spread over the districts of Bijnore, Moradabad, Sambhal, Rampur, Amroha, Bareilly, Badayun, and Shahjahanpur. For Akhilesh-Jayant, the coming back together of Jat and Muslim voters for unity is at utmost important to win the election. The BJP, on the other hand, is trying its best to polarise the election along Hindu-Muslim lines.
JURY STILL NOT OUT ON BRAHMIN VOTERS OF POLL-BOUND UTTAR PRADESH
Which way will the Brahmins of Uttar Pradesh go? Will they vote for the SP alliance or for Congress or BJP? Or indeed, will they embrace the BSP? The Brahmins of UP come up to a not-that-significant strength of eight to ten percent, but the section carries considerable more weight than mere numbers, influencing socio-political movements and voting patterns. The Brahmins’ political centrality and their initial support to the Congress party could be understood from the fact all the six Brahmin chief ministers of the state were Congressmen, including Govind Ballabh Pant, Suchetra Kriplani, Kamalapati Tripathi, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, Narayan Dutt Tiwari and Sripati Mishra. It is a different matter that no Brahmin face has become CM since 1989. The Brahmins had been loyal to Congress in UP before the politics of Mandal and Mandir took over India. In about 60 assembly seats of UP, Brahmins are in a decisive role. They have been largely with the BJP in the last assembly elections as well as in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. However, this time they are complaining about the economic distress caused by high inflation, unemployment and disenchanted with the ruling party for not getting an adequate share in power and for being side-lined over Thakurs in the state’s power equation. Not surprisingly, Brahmins are being wooed wholeheartedly by all parties ahead of elections. BJP has harked back to its trademark Hindutva narrative. Mayawati deployed her trusted aide and party’s Brahmin face SC Mishra to hold Prabuddha Varg Sammelans to reach out to Brahmins and announced that she would “allow construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya” on coming to power. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is also playing soft Hindutva, promising installation of statues of Parshuram in UP, besides invoking Lord Krishna.
MAMATA ELECTED TMC CHIEF, SAYS WILL SUPPORT AKHILESH IN UTTAR PRADESH
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been elected the unopposed chairperson of All India Trinamool Congress. Her message to her party cadres was simple: to strengthen the party’s ground beyond West Bengal and warned against infighting. Banerjee, however, reiterated the TMC would not contest the upcoming Assembly polls in UP and would support the Samajwadi Party. “I am going to UP on February 8 to canvass for (SP chief) Akhilesh Yadav. We want the alliance led by him to win. We (TMC) will contest from UP in the Lok Sabha polls in 2024,” Mamata said. Mamata Banerjee also urged all regional parties to unite to fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 elections. “I want all regional parties to unite, fight and defeat the BJP in 2024,” she said. Mamata has been working to expand the TMC beyond Bengal and has already set up units in poll-bound Goa as well as in Meghalaya and Tripura. She said the TMC’s Goa unit would make its presence felt in the Feb 14 Assembly polls.
JD(U)’S UP CAMPAIGN RUDDERLESS AS NITISH, RCP SINGH NOT KEEN
The JD(U) is contesting the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on its own. Party icons like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Steel Minister RCP Singh will not be campaigning there, even though the regional party wishes to enlarge its national footprint. Experts say the name of Nitish Kumar has been kept out from the list of star campaigners so as to not jeopardise the BJP-JD(U) government alliance in Bihar. However, JD(U)’s leaders are advocating for RCP Singh to lead the party in the election campaign of Uttar Pradesh. They have favoured and figured out that Singh who was a former IAS officer and served in Uttar Pradesh for a long time, understands the ground situation better there. According to JD(U) sources, the idea of putting Singh at the electoral campaigning forefront was formulated to highlight and bring RCP Singh face-to-face with top BJP leadership, especially PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Naturally, Singh is worried that this could sour his relationship with the BJP top brass. Singh’s supporters say that he is not very keen to go for the campaign, which he had conveyed to the top leaders of the party.
PRIYANKA RELEASES PRO-WOMEN CONGRESS MANIFESTO FOR UTTARAKHAND
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has released the Congress’ manifesto for Uttarakhand promising to reserve 40 per cent jobs for women in the police department, jobs to four lakh people, and creation of a ‘tourism police’ force. The manifesto called ‘Uttarakhand Swabhiman Pratigya Patra’ also promised to give priority to women in 40 per cent government jobs and capping of LPG prices at Rs 500. Gandhi released the manifesto at a virtual rally here, streamed live in all 70 assembly constituencies in the state. Priyanka said, “The Congress will not let the LPG cylinder prices go beyond Rs 500. If it costs Rs 1000 for you, the Congress government will pay the balance, but won’t allow the people to pay more than that.” She said the party’s manifesto has been named ‘Pratigya Patra’ as each commitment made in it will be fulfilled if the Congress is voted to power. (IPA Service)