Muzaffarnagar-Kairana: Khaps, lota namak, and maha panchayats

The BJP might find it tough to repeat its superlative performance in western Uttar Pradesh from the last two Lok Sabha elections.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav addresses a public meeting in Muzaffarnagar on April 15 ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Muzaffarnagar votes in the first phase on April 19. | Photo Credit: PTI

At Rajputana Garh Kalandi village in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, a billboard greets you with a picture of Rajput Samrat (king) Mihir Bhoj. The village is part of Som Choubisi, a cluster of 24 Rajput villages spread across the Lok Sabha constituencies of Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, and Meerut, where the Rajputs have decided to boycott the BJP.

A well-attended Thakur (Rajput) panchayat in Kheda, Muzaffarnagar, on April 16 announced a boycott of the BJP candidates, expressing resentment against the poor representation of Rajputs in the party’s distribution of the Lok Sabha ticket especially in western Uttar Pradesh, where Kunwar Sarvesh Singh is the only candidate from the community in the region’s 22 seats.

This was the same ground in Kheda in which a similar maha panchayat was held in 2013 in the midst of communal riots in Muzaffarnagar. The polarisation had given the BJP an unprecedented rise and the BJP had not won only Muzaffarnagar hands down but clocked its best showing in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections, winning 71 of the State’s 80 seats, papering over caste differences in this region of complex social dynamics.

Ashu Som and Dipak Som, who were part of the Rajput delegation that went from Kalandi atop a dozen tractors to Kheda to participate in the panchayat, told Frontline: “Last time, the BJP had given 16 tickets to Rajputs in Uttar Pradesh. But this time, they have been denied tickets. We will not vote for the BJP. We will vote for a candidate, which will defeat the BJP. They have taken us for granted.”

The maha panchayat had posters saying “Kamal Ka phool, hamari bhool” (Lotus was our mistake). The lotus is the BJP’s party symbol.

Complex caste dynamics

Before the maha panchayat in Kheda, a similar panchayat had taken place in Nanauta village in Saharanpur (this Lok Sabha constituency also goes to the polls on April 19) where the Kshatriya villagers carried out the traditional lota namak (salt in bowl) ceremony in which the participants take a vow and put salt in a small metal urn as a mark of solidarity. Going back on the promise attracts social boycott.

Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, and six other constituencies including the symbolically significant Kairana go to the polls in the first phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 19. The BJP, which had won these eight seats in 2014, was reduced to three in the 2019 Lok Sabha election when the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) fought together.

The three seats included Muzaffarnagar and Kairana besides Pilibhit, where the BJP has dropped Varun Gandhi this time and instead fielded Jitin Prasada, an import from the Congress. In all the seats, the BJP is finding the going tough but what would hurt it most is a possible reversal of fortunes in Muzaffarnagar. A strong anti-incumbency against sitting MP and Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan is visible, though traditional BJP voters remain loyal to the party.

A billboard with a picture of Rajput Samrat (king) Mihir Bhoj at Rajputana Garh Kalandi village in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. The village is part of Som Choubisi, a cluster of 24 Rajput villages spread across the Lok Sabha constituencies of Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, and Meerut where the Rajputs have decided to boycott the BJP. | Photo Credit: Anand Mishra

A visit across the constituency reveals that the complex caste dynamics of the region are back in focus, something that was subsumed by the larger Hindu identity post the 2013 communal riots in the region. Balyan, who had won the 2014 Lok Sabha election with a margin of more than 4 lakh votes against the BSP candidate Kadir Rana, saw his victory margin dipping to just over 6,000 votes when he had to contest against the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh.

The BJP had faced strong protests by the Jat community, whose interests Ajit Singh claimed to represent. This time in a twist of irony, the RLD, which in the last election had accused Balyan of winning using foul means, has joined hands with it. Ajit Singh is no more and his son, Jayant Chaudhary, is actively campaigning for the NDA, having attended rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Meerut on March 31 as well as of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Muzaffarnagar’s Budhana on April 3.

But with the SP also fielding a Jat candidate in Harendra Malik, who belongs to the adjoining Kairana constituency, it will dent the Jat votes. Besides, the BSP candidate Dara Singh Prajapati could dent BJP’s Prajapati (potter) caste vote of Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs) as well as consolidate Dalits behind the BSP. Whenever the BSP has not fought the election or is not active in the field, large sections of Dalits in Uttar Pradesh have shown a preference for the BJP in the last 10 years.

Chaudhary Mangay Ram Tyagi, a leader from the Tyagi community and the national vice president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, was also miffed with Balyan and is backing an independent candidate, Sunil Tyagi. The SP’s candidate Harendra Malik was aggressively wooing the disgruntled Rajputs, Brahmins, and Tyagis besides banking on a fraction of Jat votes and the total support of Muslims and Yadavs.

Muslims are silent about whom they will vote for. While the majority of Muslims will vote against the BJP, Balyan will get some votes due to his personal equations. The BJP’s attempt to reach out to Pasmanda Muslims has had some impact. Dilshad Ansari in Sardhana, Muzaffarnagar, said: “Educated Muslims will vote for the BJP in the name of development. Roads are good now, which were not constructed in many decades.” But his sentiment was not shared by Raeesu, who said he would vote for the panja (hand, the Congress symbol). When reminded that there is no Congress candidate in Muzaffarnagar, he said he will back the Opposition alliance.

At Wasim Fruit Seller in Sardhana, Muslim youths said: “Why [should we] spoil [our] relationship with the BJP by voting for the SP and the BSP, who are afraid to be seen with us? Better to vote for [Asaduddin] Owaisi’s party and show our strength.” With Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen not fielding a candidate here, Muslims, particularly those who run businesses, are not in a mood for aggressive voting.

Recently, RLD vice president Shahid Siddiqui quit the party opposing its alliance with the BJP. He is now overseeing the SP’s campaign in Muzaffarnagar and Kairana and this could give the SP an edge.

Among the EBCs, there is a clear divide. Near Sardhana’s Devi Mandir, mobile SIM card sellers Deepak Sharma and Arun Prajapati swear by the phool (lotus) symbol of the BJP irrespective of “whoever is the candidate”. In Beg Rajput, Anil Kashyap from the Mallah (boatmen) community, who works in a private company, said: “Chunaav ghasse ka hai” (there is a tight contest). But he added that he is from the same Navik (boatman) caste of Nishadraj, who had helped Lord Ram cross the river. Naveen Balyan from the Jat-dominated Attali village says Sanjeev Balyan will win as there is no alternative.

But Babu Saifi, from the Lohar (ironsmith) caste near Gagan Dharam Kaanta in Muzaffarnagar, said: “Iss baar ka chunaav tedha hai” (election this time is twisted). The Lohars, who had earlier voted for the BSP, saw their vote divided later. This time, with the BSP fielding a candidate, they might back the party. “The election is triangular. The outcome will depend on which sides Muslims go.” Satyendra Kumar Sharma, another resident, highlighted the problems of unemployment and inflation and said: “Badlaav hona chaahiye” (there should be change).

A different kind of Hindu-Muslim divide

Md Shuaib, a polytechnic student at Kalan village, whose family business is making jaggery out of sugarcane, said young people of his age group are sitting idle here in the absence of any job. He added that, unlike other States in the Hindi heartland, the Hindu-Muslim divide is not generic here, as those who converted to Islam have relatives among the Hindus. “You will find Jat, Gujjar, Rajput on both sides (Hindu Jat-Muslim Jat, Hindu Rajput-Muslim Rajput, Hindu Gujjar-Muslim Gujjar).”

This bears out in the adjoining Kairana Lok Sabha where two families of Hukum Singh and Chaudhary Munawwar Hasan have represented the constituency for the last four decades. Despite Hukum Singh, in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election, raking up the issue of Hindu families leaving Kairana due to distress, Rashid at Bhura Chungi in Kairana city said: “That was just a political issue taken up by top leaders in the BJP. Hukum Singh ji was a candidate, so he went by it. We had our relationship with both families and they care for all communities.” In 2016, Singh had clarified that it was not a Hindu-Muslim issue but the BJP has kept raking it up. Even in this election, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed a conference in Saharanpur in March this year and raised the issue of the alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana and Shamli.

After Hukum Singh’s death, the Kairana Lok Sabha byelection in 2018 had proved a successful test case of Opposition unity in which the RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan, supported by the SP and the Congress and ably assisted by the BSP’s absence, had defeated the BJP candidate Mriganka Singh, the daughter of Hukum Singh. But a year later, the BJP candidate Pradeep Chaudhary won back the seat.

Iqra Hasan, the Samajwadi Party candidate from the Kairana constituency. Her supporters are playing up the contest with the BJP’s incumbent MP Pradeep Chaudhary as one of “Kairana ki beti” (Kairana’s daughter) versus the “outsider”. | Photo Credit: PTI

This time, Tabassum’s daughter Iqra Hasan (27), a postgraduate in international law from the SOAS University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies), is contesting from the SP and making the contest tough for the BJP’s Pradeep Chaudhary. When this correspondent visited her office, Iqra was away for a meeting with villagers. A poster in her office promises residents to “free Kairana Lok Sabha from the darkness of five years”. Although she studied in London, Iqra’s supporters are playing up the contest as “Kairana ki beti” (Kairana’s daughter) versus the “outsider” Pradeep Chaudhary.

At Shamli Badwa Chauraha, Rohit, a graduate, and Gautam, an Industrial Training Institute certificate holder, said: “Iss baar gaon ka pradhan aur MP dono badalna hai” (we have to change both the village head and the MP this time). He says young people in his village earlier prepared for jobs in the Army but have stopped after the Agnipath scheme was launched. “What will we do with a four year job?” he said.

Sanjeev Karanwal, who belongs to the Hindu Kalal community and has been working with the Hasan family for the last 20 years, says the absence of Hukum Singh’s family from the electoral contest will help the SP candidate.

Politics of polarisation

Kairana, once known for the Kirana gharana of music, is now in the news for the politics of polarisation. Gujjars, both Hindus and Muslims, call the shots in politics here. Nearly 30 per cent population of Kairana is Muslim. Iqra’s brother Nahid is the MLA from Kairana, who defeated Mriganka Singh in the 2022 Assembly election.

The BJP candidate is banking on “Modi magic”, Yogi Adityanath’s campaign, and the BJP’s alliance with the RLD, but the odds seem stacked against him. The BSP candidate, Sripal Singh Rana, is a retired BSF jawan who can cut into the BJP’s votes.

Recently, the BJP candidate attended a meeting of the Kalsyan Khap, an organisation of Hindu Gujjar set up by Hukum Singh’s father Man Singh. But Iqra is meeting leaders of all communities instead of banking solely on the support of “Hasan Chabutra” under which Muslims were organised by her grandfather Akhtar Hasan, who was a Congress MP from the seat in 1984. Her maternal great-grandfather Shafquat Jung was also a Congress MP from the seat in 1971. Iqra’s mother Tabassum Hasan was the MP here from the BSP in 2009 and then from the RLD briefly in 2018.

The issue of sugarcane farmers not getting their payments for nearly one and a half years is creating a headache for the BJP. Nearly a month back, there was a massive agitation in Shamli for sugarcane payment. Iqra Hasan attended the protest, aware of the impact of sugarcane farmers in the belt.

Indications are that the sugarcane belt might serve a bitter pill to the BJP’s “double engine sarkar” in Uttar Pradesh in this Lok Sabha election. Kairana has the maximum number of candidates (14) in the fray in this round of the election in the State.

But as it is said, nothing is final in politics and polarisation plays up even at the last moment, so voters are keeping their fingers crossed. Amit Saini, a local journalist, said: “There have been cases of last-minute reversal at the direction of community leaders. Everything is dynamic till the time of voting.”