Ground Report from Bijnor: People 'eager to change govt in UP'

One of the most important and large districts of western Uttar Pradesh, Bijnor has eight assembly seats. With 49 per cent Muslim and 27 per cent Dalit population, voters here are eager to change the government, but the poor selection of candidates in this district has weakened the opposition's assured lead. The confusion among the voters here has kindled hope in the ruling party. Elections in Bijnor are on February 14. Employment and inflation are the biggest issues here. Farmers are also angry. Ground report from Bijnor:

64-years-old Ramzani chacha near Mandawali on the road from Bijnor to Haridwar earns his living by playing baja in weddings even at this age. Ramzani chacha often talks about notable things and facts. He says that since we have started voting on the basis of caste and religion, we have stopped electing capable leaders. Consequently, the atmosphere has also become bad. A leader should be chosen on the basis of merits. Once elections are held, we definitely think, but at the time of elections, we lose our senses.

His assembly constituency is Najibabad and he says that the candidate who seemss to be people's favourite here, has been MLA twice before. This time he stayed away from public, but he is the only option for those angry with the functioning of the ruling party. Ramzani is eager to change the government. He says that the attitude of the government has been discriminatory.

Taslim Ahmed, MLA for two terms from Najibabad assembly, is also contesting this time as a candidate of Samajwadi Party. People are not very happy with him and there is some resentment against him among the locals. But people eager to change the government seem to lean more towards him than Shahnawaz Khalil of the BSP and Salim Ansari of the Congress.

Najibabad is one of the most important assembly seats of Bijnor. Here the Muslim voters have a decisive role. Imran Ali of Sahanpur town tells that Kunwar Bhartendu Singh, who belongs to the royal family of Sahanpur State, is contesting from the BJP from this assembly seat. Kunwar Bhartendu has been a Member of Parliament in the past.

The Samajwadi Party has fielded Taslim Ahmed from here. He became MLA from the BSP last time and this time he is contesting on the Samajwadi Party ticket. More than one lakh fifty thousand of Muslim voters seem to be confused between the three Muslim candidates from BSP, SP and the Congress respectively. And obviously there is division of votes too.

Abrar Ansari of Najibabad says that the local people are disappointed with the selection of candidates too. There is a lack of enthusiasm. This will also affect the voting percentage. Vijay Kashyap, a young man from Sabalpur village,, says that he will vote for the party that will connect his village with the main road. "All roads to his village are bad. There is no employment and prices are going sky high," he says.

In Afzalgarh, Nurpur and Dhampur assembly seats in Bijnor district also, there is a triangular contest. There is displeasure among people over tickets in all these three assembly seats. BJP is happy with the ticket distribution of the opposition here. Most of the ruckus has taken place in Bijnor city seat. Here both Samajwadi Party and RLD have fielded their candidates, however, later Samajwadi Party candidate Ramesh Tomar supported RLD candidate Dr Neeraj.

Nahid Fatima of Bijnor city says that in Bijnor, the opposition is disrupting an atmosphere well conducive for their win. Particularly, the BSP candidates are spoiling the alliance here. Both BSP and SP have fielded Muslim candidates in the Muslim-majority assembly seat. Dalits are in good numbers in Bijnor district. Mayawati, Meira Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan have contested the elections from here. The election seems triangular. Asif Noor of Nurpur says that not everyone can be satisfied with the selection of candidates, we have to change the government, which caused so much trauma to the farmers.

From Bijnor city, BSP has fielded former MLA from the SP Ruchiveera. RLD's Dr Neeraj is the candidate from the SP alliance. Apart from this, BJP has fielded the present MLA Suchi Choudhary. Danish Siddiqui, a political analyst and resident of Bijnor, says that the fight is triangular. Angry with the government, the opposition appears divided into two poles. It is too early to say that there may be no strategy on the day of voting, but at this point of time, the opposition’s strategy does not seem to be united.

In Afzalgarh too, the competition is triangular. Here, Sarvesh Singh, the son of BJP's sitting MLA and former MP of Moradabad is fighting in the main contest against BSP's Mohammad Ghazi. In Dhampur, the SP alliance didn't give the ticket to its old leader and minister Moolchand Chauhan. Moolchand Chauhan is now the candidate from the BSP. From Chandpur, Swami Omvesh is contesting on SP ticket while the BSP has fielded Shakeel Hashmi.

Notably, the BJP, which is facing anti incumbency along with displeasure of most of the people in the constituency, still figures in a triangular struggle. The most important thing is that it is the weakest in the reserved assembly seats. For example, BJP is looking very weak on Nahtaur and Nagina. The SP has fielded former minister Manoj Paras from Nagina, while on Nahtaur the RLD has fielded Munshi Rampal.

Zahid Ansari of Nahtaur says that the BJP is appearing weak here because there is no confusion among Muslims and Dalits here. There are more than 1.5 lakh Muslims in both the seats. Apart from this, Nahtaur also has a good number of Jats. Vipin Kumar of Nagina also says the same thing, Manoj Paras is still an MLA from here and now the equation is even stronger.

There are a total eight assembly seats in Bijnor. Of these, currently five have BJP MLAs. The district has Muslim majority population. According to Zubair Khan of Mohalla Miradgan in Bijnor city, the equation will actually change with time. The community angry with the government will not divide, it is eager to change the government. The BSP has definitely given tickets to four Muslim candidates, but the displeasure of the farmers is going to reflect significantly in the elections. The farmers' agitation has a big impact in Bijnor as well.

Surendra Chaudhary of Chandpur confirms this, he says that the fact is different from anticipations. "No one has fought against this government more than the farmers of Bijnor. When the Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait shed tears, two of the five farmer leaders with him were from Bijnor. That day thousands of farmers from Bijnor had reached Ghazipur border at night. Recall that three days later, 1000 tractors reached Ghazipur border from Bijnor Kisan Panchayat. The farmer of Bijnor is angry. There will be a unique celebration on the polling day. BJP will not be able to save its five seats. Now it's time for us to answer", he says firmly.

Translated from Hindi by Abhir More