BJP candidates face backlash in Uttar Pradesh ahead of polls

The candidates of the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh have recently been facing the ire of people in their constituencies. Some were chased away by the locals, some were almost assaulted while some faced slogans against them.

In a video that is being widely circulated on social media, BJP candidate Harendra Singh Rinku was seen being attacked by locals in Shakarpur village, Sambhal district. He was campaigning for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections, when locals “chased him away” for the anti-farmer stance that the BJP took during the year-long farmers’ protest.

However, Singh was not the first or only BJP candidate facing backlash in UP. On January 24, Manindar Pal Singh, the BJP candidate from Siwalkhas, Meerut, faced an attack on his convoy when locals reportedly surrounded his car and started throwing stones at it.

Similar was the fate of BJP candidates Vikram Saini and Suresh Pasi, in Muzaffarnagar and Amethi, respectively. IANS had reported that Saini “was forced to return to his car and leave the venue”. On the other hand, Pasi was welcomed with chants of “Suresh Pasi, haaye haaye”.

But perhaps the worst of all so far has been the backlash against UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya who was forced to leave when slogans were raised against him in Sirathu.