All Eyes On Sardhana, A Key Constituency In Western UP

1 Feb, 2017 16:47 IST|Sakshi

The tradition of fighting to the finish continues in the Meerut region even today, 71 years after India achieved independence.

K Ramachandra Murthy

Meerut: In the region which rose in revolt against the colonial regime in 1857 under the leadership of Mangal Pandey, a fierce fight is underway between the BJP, SP-Congress alliance and the BSP. The heat generated by the hectic campaign would subside only after the polling on February 11.

Meerut was one of the places where Indian soldiers mutinied against the Delhi government under the British. It was led by Mangal Pandey while Laxmi Bai organised the revolt from Jhansi. It is called the First War of Independence. The tradition of fighting to the finish continues in the region even today, 71 years after India achieved independence.

Meerut district has seven assembly constituencies. BJP had won four and SP three in 2012 assembly elections which were swept by the SP in other regions. This time the SP is contesting for five seats leaving two to its partner, the Congress. Among the seven, two are very important seats. One is Kithore and the other Sardhana. The focus is more on the second most important constituency, Sardhana, for two reasons. One, in Kithore the sitting SP candidate is a Labour Minister in Akhilesh Yadav cabinet. He won from the same constituency thrice earlier. He will most probably retain it in the ensuing contest too. The curiosity factor is missing in Kithore constituency since the fight is not fierce. Two, the sitting BJP MLA in Sardhana is Sandeep Som, a Thakur, who figured as an accused in the case of Muzaffarnagar communal riots that took place in 2013. The clashes between Hindus and Muslims in August-September that year had left 62 dead. Of them 42 were Muslims and 20 were Hindus. More than 5o thousand persons were displaced. The Jats and Thakurs were allegedly in the forefront of the clashes. The Muslim community has been seething with anger against Jats ever since the riots.

That was the reason why Akhilesh Yadav was not willing to have a tie-up with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) led by Ajit Singh, son of Choudhary Charan Singh, the 5th prime minister of India and a renowned Jat leader. The core base of RLD comprises Jats and Khatriyas. On paper the coalition of the Congress, the SP and the RLD would appear formidable. But for the riots, it should have been a winning combination. But in view of the conditions obtaining on the ground, if you go for an alliance with RLD you end up diverting all your Muslim voters to the BSP. The Congress was initially insistent on taking the RLD along with it but Akhilesh, a shrewd player, strongly opposed to the idea.

As against this background, Som is carrying a stigma of being an instigator of riots. This image could, ironically, be helpful in mobilising the Hindus. Had there been no RLD candidate in the field, the Jats and Thakurs would have sailed with the BJP making it easy for Som. Vakil Choudhary has been fielded by Ajit Singh on behalf of RLD. Atul Pradhan is the SP candidate. Pradhan was president of Samajwadi Chhaatra Sabha (Student wing of SP). Mayawati had picked up Imran Qureshi, son of a prominent leader and former minister Yakub Qureshi. Contesting on the RLD ticket in 2012, Yakub stood second by securing the bulk of Muslim votes. Imran is contesting in elections for the first time. He has beef export business which is doing very well. The Sakhi met him on Monday at Sinodhi village, about 30 kms from Meerut. Speaking to Sakhi TV, he claimed that the BSP is going to win more than 300 seats and Behn Kumari Mayawati will take over as chief minister for the fifth time. He started his brief address to the crowd invoking Ambedkar and Kansiram. Mayawati is scheduled to address a public meeting in this constituency shortly.

BJP candidate Sangeet Som has been served with a notice by the Election Commission for going about the constituency playing the tapes showing Muzaffarnagar communal rights. Som was given Z plus category security after the riots. Living in Meerut for security reasons, he is not approachable to the people of his constituency. He has distanced himself from his constituents.

In spite of the coalition between the SP and the Congress, Muslims of Uttar Pradesh are not going to vote blindly for the combination as sheep. They would weigh the options carefully and then decide. Their approach would change from constituency to constituency and region to region. The religion of the candidate matters. But the winnability of the candidate, whichever the party or religion he or she belongs to, against the BJP is the deciding factors. They vote as they perceive. In the case of Sardhana, they are likely to vote for Imran Qureshi of the BSP since he is perceived to have greater chances of defeating the BJP's Sangeet Som.