A battle between friends-turned-foes is on the cards in Mirapur

The byelection in Mirapur sees Rashtriya Lok Dal and Samajwadi Party face off, with Muslim vote division and past controversies playing key roles

Byelection in the Mirapur constituency of Muzaffarnagar is turning out to be a prestige battle between Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Samajwadi Party (SP), long-time friends who turned foes just before the Lok Sabha polls when RLD joined the National Democratic Alliance after the BJP-led government announced Bharat Ratna for Chaudhary Charan Singh.

The election was necessitated after RLD MLA Chandan Chauhan was elected to Lok Sabha from Bijnor. While RLD has fielded Mithlesh Pal, SP has shown faith in Sumbul Rana, daughter-in-law of former Muzaffarnagar MP Kadir Rana.

Political observers feel that by fielding former Ms. Rana, SP is playing the game on the BJP’s pitch. Mr. Rana was a Bahujan Samaj Party MP at the time of the Muzaffarnagar riots and is an accused in the case. He is seen as a polarising figure, but the SP think tank could not ignore his claim after keeping the influential family out of electoral politics in Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. Despite being over 35% of the population in Muzaffarnagar and Bijnor, the SP-RLD alliance didn’t field a single Muslim candidate in the 10 assembly seats that fall under the two Lok Sabha constituencies.

A section of Muslims felt while the politics of Sanjeev Balyan, Sangeet Som, and Suresh Rana prospered after the riots, those who stood for them were put out to pasture. With around one lakh Muslim voters, Mirapur appeared the right choice to test the waters but with Bahujan Samaj Party, Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram), and AIMIM also fielding Muslim candidates and that too from the numerically strong Jhoja community, a division of Muslim vote appears certain.

A Muslim Rajput, Ms. Sumbul, sought Hindu Rajput votes, but it seems the Rajputs have put their tussle with the BJP on the back burner for the bypolls because of Mr. Rana’s past.

Jat and Gurjar voters of RLD initially showed dissatisfaction over Ms. Pal, a former RLD MLA who is present with the BJP, being chosen as the candidate, for they felt it would consolidate only the BJP’s most backward caste vote bank that had drifted away from it during the Lok Sabha polls. “However, with Muslims moving away from us, we needed to consolidate the Hindu vote, and we have been able to convey it to our voters,” said a senior RLD leader.

While the tie-up with RLD is seen as a Centre’s choice and the party leadership openly opposed the State government’s policy that mandated restaurants and eateries to put the names of their owners and proprietors on their establishments, for the bypolls, RLD Chief Jayant Chaudhary and Yogi Adityanath seem to have become frenemies to take on the common opposition. In the rallies, both Mr. Chaudhary and Mr. Adityanath attacked the PDA pitch of SP on similar lines.

A Bharatiya Kisan Union leader said unlike Haryana where Jats junked Dushyant Chautala for aligning with the BJP, most Jat farmers are behind Mt Chaudhary in West UP and the BJP had accepted the reality. He said this was one of those short periods when the farmer had put his tractor and latth (on hold) to watch how their leader safeguards and promotes their interests. “There was a time when Jayant was presented mace in public meetings. Now he is being offered flowers.” He said it was not that farmer’s problems had been solved but for the time being he appears to be ready to buy the painful memories of the Muzaffarnagar riots that the ruling party is selling to him as a bigger problem with a new slogan.

Published - November 19, 2024 04:30 am IST