|
|
|
|
Posted on 27 February 2012 |
|
| CURRENT AFFAIRS |
|
UP ELECTION WEBLOG |
|
‘Yes, Mayawati has performed but we will not vote for her’
Despite Mayawati’s role in bringing about development, caste seem to rule supreme over voting preferences
Kunal Majumder
Shamli
 |
|
Jat Farmers outside Sir Shadi Lal Sugar Mill, Shamili: (R-L) Ompal Singh, Kishen Pal, Ranveer Singh and others.
Photo: Tarun Sehrawat |
|
“You must visit Shamli to know the real mood of the Jat community,” someone told me in Muzaffarnagar. “Everywhere else you get eight karat Jats, in Shamli it’s the 24-karat ones,” said another from Lucknow. So visiting Shamli was crucial for checking the election barometer among the sugarcane farmers of Western UP. Several questions such as how are the Jat farmers looking at Ajit Singh’s new alliance with Congress, is reservation still an issue, how is the sugarcane business surfaced in my mind. However, what really interested me was to know if after five years, Mayawati has managed to gain any acceptability among the Jat farmers—the traditional vote bank of Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal?
The first thing that comes to mind while talking about the journey from Muzaffarnagar to Shamli is ‘pain’. Mayawati may have created a new district for Shamli (called Prabudhnagar) but she completely ignored the condition of the roads. Just like the roads from Kanpur to Rae Bareli (another non-BSP bastion), these are potholed and heavily damaged. A journey of 30 kms took us one and a half hours to complete.
Outside the Sir Shadi Lal Sugar Mill I meet a bunch of Jat farmers. The former pradhan Kishen Pal initiates the discussion. “I will not lie—Mayawati has indeed done many good things in the last five years,” he says. Others nod in agreement. Pal lists out the good things done by BSP government—prices of sugarcane was doubled to Rs 250 in two years, a new bypass was constructed, Jat youth got employed in police services without paying any bribe and a new district was created. But then he leaves you surprised with his sudden conclusion: “But we will not vote for her.” Why, I ask? Ompal Singh who was constantly nodding his head tries to answer the question. “Mere maan ka baat hai.” (It’s a question of respect). I look at him inquisitively. But why, I ask? Pal comes to the rescue armed with an answer: “Jaatiwaad hai” (there are bearings of the caste system).
Earlier in the day I had met Rajveer Singh Mundet, a prominent Jat leader and state president of Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Sangarsh Manch. I asked him what chances did BSP had of winning from Shamli. “Not much,” he said. Why? “Look at the money she spent to built statues,” he replied. But what about the increase in sugarcane prices, I ask? “True she increased the prices but she also initiated a lot of anti-farmer policies,” he says. When asked to elaborate, he pointed out towards the farmer agitation in Noida. I didn’t ask him if his opposition to Mayawati was casteist.
Coming back to my discussion with Jat farmers outside a sugar mill in Shamli, once the issue of caste was out in the open, there were more forthcoming with opinions. “Mayawati imposed the draconian Dalit Act,” complained Ranveer Singh. Since the prevention of atrocities act aka Dalit Act was brought in by Mayawati, the crime rate against Dalits has come down dramatically. But the Jat farmers here complain that this act is being misused against them. Pal adds another to his list of complaints against Mayawati. “She is dictatorial. She doesn’t allow her ministers to act independently,” he says.
Mayawati perhaps recognises the risk of caste being a determining factor in elections. For once she is at the receiving end of this social evil. BSP has fielded a number of Muslim candidates in the area. Her rally on 24 February at Muzaffarnagar saw more Muslim audience, a sizeable population in sugarcane belt, than the Jats. The Jat farmers preferred to attend Ajit Singh and Rahul Gandhi’s rally across the town.
Kunal Majumder is a Senior Correspondent with Tehelka.
kunal@tehelka.com
Editing by Debashree Majumdar
|
