On May 25, 2024 in Varanasi, a child held something with the image of PM Modi and BJP election symbol saying something during a public meeting which was addressed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for Lok Sabha polls.
Varanasi is one of thirteen constituencies in Uttar Pradesh that will go to the ballot box on the seventh and last round of voting. As campaigning heats up in the political battleground of Purvanchal or eastern U.P.), top leaders are not hesitating to bring controversial issues to the forefront.
Mr. Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and U.P CM Yogi Adityanath did lead the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) offensive where they said that the Opposition INDIA alliance is appealing for “vote jihad.” They claimed that this opposition faction wants to rewrite India’s Constitution to give religious-based reservations as well as make majority community second class citizens.
The other seats going for polls on June 1 apart from Varanasi are Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushi Nagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Robertsganj. In these elections in 2019 general assembly elections out of these 13 seats were won by BJP Apna Dal alliance on eleven while two others were bagged by Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), which was then in league with Samajwadi Party (SP).
Pitching OBC, Dalit unity
In Maharajganj pankaj choudhary comes from bjp and fights with congress’ virendra chaudhary. In Gorakhpur , where yogi aditynath had been an mp before becoming cm of up; current bjp mp Ravi kishen is contesting against sp candidate kajal nishad. There is a significant Nishad community, which falls under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, in this constituency where the SP has been attempting to repeat its 2018 by-election success when its Nishad candidate Praveen Kumar Nishad defeated the BJP’s Upendra Dutt Shukla. The party had made an aggressive pitch for a caste-based census in the area and broad based unity between OBCs and dalit social groups.
Ajay rai from congress will be contesting against Mr.Modi again in Varanasi which was always considered as prestigious seat of general elections. In 2019, PM modi won with a margin of over 4,78,000 votes defeating shalini yadav of sp who came second while Ajay Rai finished third. The BJP’s Neeraj shekhar is pitted against Sanatan pandey from samajwadi party at Ballia once it was known for former pm chandra shekhar. For Ghazipur on the other hand that has been one of eastern UP’s most conflict-ridden seats, sitting BSP MP Afzal Ansari is an SP ticket contestant facing off Paras Nath Rai of BJP & Umesh Singh of the BSP
‘Growth engine of India’
Purvanchal will witness a new face because Mr.Modi said during his campaign that the image that people have about Purvanchal would change including saying that ‘viksit Bharat’ dream would be fulfilled through eastern U.P.He also pointed out that when their South Indian allies were abusing and humiliating people from U.P., these opposition parties kept mute.“Purvanchalis are not only growth engine of Uttar Pradesh but they are growth engine of entire nation India.” “Lot many things have happened during last decade but this may alter picture completely,” stated PM
Opposition parties have pushed a social justice narrative, insisting that the BJP would be wiped out across the UP region. “BJP will completely wipe out ourselves from Purvanchal,” said Akhilesh Yadav SP president laughing at BJP’s “Poor sau par” chant. “I am confident that they will not reach even 140 seats,” Mr. Yadav said in Gorakhpur.
