UP Election 2017 campaign a dull affair as yet
UP Election 2017 campaign a dull affair as yet
UP Election 2017 campaign a dull affair as yet
Athar Husain
It will be just another 30 days when the first vote will be cast in Uttar Pradesh and we have only BSP as one of the major stakeholer in the elections to have announced the candidates, BJP is still having screening committee meetings,much has been said about SP, Congress and RLD are in limbo because of supposedly a pre- poll alliance with erstwhile united SP.This kind of situation is very new to electoral politics in UP where elections have always generated festive outlook at large, months before polling there was buzz in local bazars over cup of tea and in village haats over drags of hookah, nothing of this kind is happening.
There is no discussion in local newspapers about who will be winning and which caste and social group will be voting for which candidate,there is no 'charcha' of candidates but on the contrary there is much discussion over Akhilesh development image and Chach Bhatija fight to Modi's demonetisation decision to Mayawati's Dalit Muslim chemistry to Mulayam's fight for his honour and for Owaisi there is discussion that how much he will dent to SP and BSP muslim votes, but nobody is discussing individual candidates.
This is completely a new phenomenon where leaders of political parties have taken centre stage even at micro level that is assembly constituency.
This has generated lack of enthusiasm amongst local workers of political parties,with most of the campaign issues are coming through the discourse of leaders in media and which is carried forward through social media thus the issues at local level are being left out.
Now,it seems that even political parties have come to terms that majority of the voters are decided about whom they will be voting for and as usual caste will be the big factor.It is reported
on Sunday, the Akhil Bhartiya Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti (ABJASS), the organization that spearheaded the Jat reservation agitation in Haryana last year, held a ‘Jat Sankalp Rally’ in Muzaffarnagar district and urged members of the community to vote for the strongest non-BJP candidate in their respective constituencies.
While Jats make up only around 8-9% of the state’s population, their concentration in key assembly seats in western UP makes them an important voting bloc.
Sunday’s rally was held in Muzaffarnagar’s Kharad village, which is also the native village of ABJASS national president Yashpal Malik. ABJASS has called on khap panchayats from all over the region.
On Sunday itself MIM has come out with its first list of candidates for Muslim dominated constituencies in west UP.
It will be a usual election where caste and religion will play a major role in voters mind but an unusual one where mohalla and chaupal discussions on the winnability of candidate and issues of local concern will become a far cry.
Athar Husain, Director
Centre for Objective Research and Development(CORD)
Lucknow.
