Uttar Pradesh will conclude the final phase of voting on Monday  March 7, the electoral   campaign for the 54 Assembly constituencies that will vote in the last and seventh phase ends today, Saturday, March 5. It has been a long electoral season in the state considered most crucial to many political parties, especially to the Bharatiya Janata Party whose future at the Centre is often gauged by their stability in UP. At a time minute by minute election coverage is the norm, we curate a list of must read reports from past years that show how electoral politics has evolved in UP.

And no justice for women: Muzaffarnagar gang-rape survivors are not the only ones losing hope

The story of the communal violence that preceded the 2014 Lok Sabha polls continues to haunt even as the Assembly polls are underway in UP.

https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/and-no-justice-women-muzaffarnagar-gang-rape-survivors-are-not-only-ones-losing-hope

How the M-Factor Can Catapult a Winner in UP but Failed in 2014

M for the Muslim factor can only be a winner if multiple choices do not give an advantage to the spoiler BJP

https://sabrangindia.in/article/how-m-factor-can-catapult-winner-failed-2014

समझ-बूझ भरी रणनीति के साथ वोट डालेगा यूपी का वोटर

संघ परिवार के इशारे पर चलने वाली भाजपा ने 2014 के लोकसभा चुनाव में 18 फीसदी मुस्लिम वोटरों के असर को खत्म कर दिया था। यूपी में 11 फरवरी को चुनाव शुरू होंगे। लेकिन इस बीच संघ परिवार ने जिस तरह मुस्लिमों के प्रति अवमानना का रुख अपनाया है उसे देखते हुए यह साफ हो गया है के हाशिये का यह समुदाय बेहद समझ-बूझ के साथ रणनीतिक ढंग से वोट डालेगा।

https://sabrangindia.in/article/samajha-bauujha-bharai-rananaitai-kae-saatha-vaota-daalaegaa-yauup

Is this Desperation or Worse: Dainik Jagran and the UP Polls, 2017

https://sabrangindia.in/article/desperation-or-worse-dainik-jagran-and-polls-2017

Dainik Jagran, UP Elections, Bijnor and More

https://www.sabrangindia.in/article/dainik-jagran-elections-bijnor-and-more

The post Uttar Pradesh roll recall: Stories from elections past  appeared first on SabrangIndia.

1. “A Dalit BJP candidate here not only sits on the floor when he goes canvassing to the homes of upper-caste voters, he never forgets to carry a steel glass along to drink tea. Here's why: A Dalit using a cup at an upper-caste home would make the utensil ‘impure’”.

2. “It is dominated by Jat voters, about 90,000 of them. They decide the winner. So while other Dalit candidates here, too, show respect to upper caste voters, he takes things to an extreme. Diler calls his ways of sitting on the floor and using his own glass his ‘par amparagat aadat’ (family custom). And the ‘paramparagat aadat’ is followed at every step. Metres from the panchayat office Diler in his late 40s, repeatedly touches the feet of Mohan Singh, Jat pradhan from Tochhigarh, who is years younger than him. ‘Main aapke pair padhta hun, mujhe meri galti to batao. Main ek gaon ka chowkidar bannna chahta hun, vidhayak nahin’. (I beg of you, please tell me my fault. I'd rather be a watchman than an MLA if you are angry with me)”.
3. “Diler is candid in justifying his desire to remain shackled in Casteism. ‘Main ek bhangi ka beta hun. Mere pita bhi yahin karte thhey. Main apni maan maryada khatm nahin kar sakta. Zama na chahe badalta rahe.’ (I am the son of a Valmiki. I cannot break away from tradition. Let the world change, I won't).”
4. “He pulls out his steel glass from his pocket when asked if it is true that he doesn't drink tea in cups provided by the upper castes. The Valmiki caste is the lowest among Dalits in the caste hierarchy and Diler inherited the so-called tradition from his father Kisen Lal, a five term MLA and one-time MP. Diler's supporters say people of all castes love him for his desire to remain steeped in such discriminatory Casteist practices.

The most worrying part of this is that a victim of a dehumanized regime of Caste and the Untouchability attached to it, is himself a protagonist of Untouchability and is happy with his sub-human status. It may be claimed that nobody is practising Untouchability with Diler and it is his own choice to perpetuate it, which is no crime. This scenario is far more dangerous as victims have been convinced that there is no respite from Untouchability and they should accept it is as part of their fate despite a Constitution which banned Untouchability on November 26, 1949. 
 
The most significant aspect of this brazen love for Untouchability is that Diler is contesting elections on the ticket of the BJP, the political arm of the RSS. He comes from a Dalit family which has been with the RSS, his father Kisen Lal, is a five term MLA and a one-time MP. Diler despite being a Dalit has been groomed by the Hindutva mind-set to remain a staunch believer in Casteism which is synonymous with Untouchability. His self-imposed practice of Untouchability is the outcome of his training in RSS where all Hindus have their roles and status determined by Manusmriti. He is a true Hindutvadi Sudra.

According to MS Golwalkar, the most prominent ideologue of the RSS, Hinduism, the Hindu nation and Casteism were synonymous. of :
“The Hindu People [sic]…is the Virat Purusha, the Almighty manifesting Himself. Though they did not use the word ‘Hindu’, it is clear from the following description of the Almighty in Purusha Sukta wherein it is stated that sun and moon are his eyes, the stars and the skies are created from His nabhi (navel) and Brahmin is the head, Kshatriya the hands, Vaishya the thighs and Shudra the feet. This means that the people who have this fourfold arrangement, i.e., the Hindu People, is [sic] our God. This supreme vision of Godhead is the very core of our concept of ‘nation’ and has permeated our thinking and given rise to various unique concepts of our cultural heritage.”[i] [Italics as in the original]

Golwalkar must have been familiar with the fact that Manusmriti in chapter 1 and verse 91 decreed that the only job for Sudras was to serve 'meekly' the other 3 castes.

India’s Constituent Assembly adopted a democratic-secular Constitution on November 26, 1949, at which point the RSS English organ, Organizer in an editorial on November 30, 1949, complained:
“But in our constitution, there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing”.

Golwalkar while addressing faculty and students of the School of Social Science of Gujarat University on December 17, 1960 strongly defended Casteism in the following words:
"Today we try to run down the Varna system through ignorance. But it was through this system that a great effort to control possessiveness could be made…In society some people are intellectuals, some are expert in production and earning of wealth and some have the capacity to labour. Our ancestors saw these four broad divisions in the society. The Varna system means nothing else but a proper co-ordination of these divisions and an enabling of the individual to serve the society to the best of his ability through a hereditary development of the functions for which he is best suited. If this system continues a means of livelihood is already reserved for every individual from his birth." [ii]

It is only through the minute perusal and analysis of RSS literature that we come to know that KB Hedgewar, founder of RSS had no objections to practising the degenerate and inhuman practice of Untouchability, especially so as not to antagonise ‘high’ Caste sympathizers. In Nasik Hedgewar went to the house of a Brahmin known as Dr. Gaidhani along with Krishna Rao Wadekar and Bhaskar Rao Ninave. When the time for meals came, Ninave who happened to be from a ‘low’ Caste asked Hedgewar whether he should sit separately for meals, as was commonly practised. When Wadekar suggested that there was no need for it, as Gaidhani had no way to know Ninave’s Caste, Hedgewar openly disagreed with the suggestion that Ninave should eat sitting beside other Brahmins. Hedgewar’s logic was that it would cause immense pain to Gaidhani. Hedgewar’s argument was,  
“what benefit will we get out of it? On the contrary, if he sits separately for the meals that [action of his] will leave a far better impression on Gaidhaniji. Our swayamsevak may feel a bit hurt but in the view of our work this much pain should be tolerated. First he should win him with our love then these differences will disappear.”[iii]
 
It is unfortunate that while the RSS is busy appropriating Dalits into a crude and discriminatory social mould, there is no challenge offered to this hegemonistic bondage from those anti-Casteist organisations which claim to fight Untouchability. Within this terrible scenario, large sections of the Indian political and social elites –mandated to defend democratic-secular Constitution—are just silent spectators. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar needs a re-emergence, now when Untouchability is so cynically, and unquestioningly re-asserting itself.
 
 

The post The Return of Untouchability, Uncriticised and Unquestioned appeared first on SabrangIndia.

इलाहाबाद, उत्तर प्रदेश में भारतीय जनता पार्टी गठबंधन करके चुनाव लड़ रही है। गठबंधन में अपना दल (अनुप्रिया पटेल गुट) और भारतीय समाज पार्टी भाजपा के सहयोगी है। भाजपा ने गठबंधन के तहत कार्यकर्ताओं का सम्मेलन बुलाया गया। यह कार्यकर्ता सम्मलेन अपना दल (अनुप्रिया पटेल गुट) की तरफ से घोषित प्रत्याशी पूर्व मंत्री विक्रमाजीत मौर्य के समर्थन में बुलाया गया था।

गठबंधन के तहत बुलाये गए सम्मलेन से भाजपा कार्यकर्ता पूरी तरह से नदारद रहे। आपको बता दें कि इलाहाबाद की फाफामऊ सीट पर कई नेता टिकट के लिए लगे थे। भाजपा की तरफ से दर्जन भर नेता टिकट मांग रहे थे। गठबंधन के तहत फाफामऊ सीट अनुप्रिया पटेल के खाते में चली गयी। जिससे भाजपा के नेताओं में जबरदस्त असंतोष चल रहा है। जिसका असर कार्यकर्ताओं के सम्मलेन पर देखने को मिला।

दरअसल, टिकट बंटवारे के बाद प्रदर्शन, नारेबाजी व पुतला दहन के बाद भी पार्टी में जो शांति बताई जा रही थी साफ तौर पर इस सम्मेलन में देखने को मिली। कार्यकर्ताओं ने उत्साह न दिखाते हुए सम्मेलन में न आना ठीक समझा। सुबह 10 बजे शुरू हुये इस सम्मेलन के समापन होने तक आधी से ज्यादा कुर्सियां खाली पड़ी रही।

फाफामऊ विधानसभा से जहां समाजवादी पार्टी से अंसार अहमद और बसपा से मनोज पांडेय उम्मीदवार हैं जिनसे भाजपा गठबंधन के प्रत्याशी विक्रमाजीत को कड़ी टक्कर का सामना करना पड़ रहा है। लेकिन जैसा की कार्यकर्ताओं के सम्मेलन में देखने को मिला भाजपा कार्यकर्ता पूरी तरह से सम्मलेन में नदारद रहे। ऐसे में भाजपा का यूपी फतह का सपना शायद सपना ही रहने वाला प्रतीत होता है।

The post इलाहाबाद – भाजपा कार्यकर्ता सम्मेलन से भाजपा कार्यकर्ता ही रहे गायब, नेतृत्व से असंतोष साफ दिखा- Dainik Aaj appeared first on SabrangIndia.

PTI reports that both Samajwadi rockets and Mayawati bombs have flooded the Diwali firecrackers market here with traders seeking to cash in on the highly surcharged political atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the crucial Assembly elections barely a few months hence.

Samajwadi rockets and Mayawati bombs have flooded the Diwali firecrackers market here with traders seeking to cash in on the highly surcharged political atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the crucial Assembly elections barely a few months hence.

Packets containing ‘Samajwadi rockets’ have the picture of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav feeding sweets to “outsider” Amar Singh, who is being dubbed as a villain in the power game in the ruling party and Yadav clan.

The cover of another cracker packet shows BSP supremo Mayawati staring furiously with words ‘Angry Bomb’ written next to her photo.

‘Akhilesh ki lari unlimited’ is another hit item with a string of 1,000 crackers. The packets carry the photograph of the Chief Minister, who is very popular among the youths and has virtually emerged as their ‘undisputed’ leader in the run-up to the Assembly elections.

“As the state braces for the battle of ballots in early 2017, the current political developments and the mood of the masses have caught our imagination,” said a roadside cracker stall owner in Hazratganj, the busy commercial hub in the state capital.

The crackers are being purchased by youths and politicians as well by those finding the items fascinating, as the tussle in the Mulayam family has become the talk of the town.

The strife-torn Yadav clan has left everyone guessing whether Mulayam’s family members will celebrate Diwali together with the same mirth and enthusiasm as the crisis in the party appeared far from over.
Usually it is an atmosphere of bonhomie during festivals when the clan’s top leaders take a break from the rough and tumble of politics, and assemble in their ancestral village Saifai or in the state capital especially on occasions like Holi and Diwali, besides family functions like wedding ceremonies, engagements and house warming.

Old timers said the family had never missed any celebration at Saifai in Etawah district, notwithstanding political compulsions. But this time, they are keeping their fingers crossed.

The post Diwali 2016: Samajwadi ‘Rockets’ & Mayawati ‘Bombs’ Flood Stalls as UP Polls Near appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post अहिंसा की धरती चम्पारण में बीते चार दिनों से जारी है हिंसा appeared first on SabrangIndia.

BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday addressed a rally in Lucknow and shared the stage with the expelled Bahujan Samaj Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya. Much had been made by the 'mainstream national' media of the Maurya's desertion of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) a few months ago. While Shah used the opportunity to hit out at successive BSP and Samajwadi Party governments in Uttar Pradesh over corruption, he did not have a cheering audience to hear. Empty chairs offered cold solace. He also alleged that people of the state were left empty handed while the leaders of the two parties ‘flourished under their rule.’

Fully aware that the state’s sizeable Dalit voters may turn against the saffron party due to recent attacks against them by Hindutva militants, Shah made a desperate pitch to woo them.
The choice of the venue was Rama Bai Ambedkar Rally Sthal, which parties have been using to flaunt their support ahead of any elections.

However, Amit Shah was left red-faced with an incredibly lukewarm response to the rally, which the supporters of both BJP and Maurya had worked hard to organise. Much to Shah’s disappointment, barely 30,000-35,000 people turned up at a ground, which is known to accommodate as many as five lakh people. Mayawati, in her previous rallies, had addressed a full house here.

The ground looked deserted with hundreds of thousands of chairs remaining empty. Sources close to the organisers even told the local media that apprehending a damp squib, Shah had reportedly dropped the idea of coming to the rally. One organiser even said, “Last night we were told that Amit Shah ji has cancelled the plan because of reports of zero response from Dalit community. But it was too late for us as we had already plastered the rally venue with the huge cut-outs of PM (Narendra) Modi and Amit Shah. In the end, we succeeded in persuading him and he came to the venue with a chartered plane today.”

Shah was forced to end his speech in four minutes in Gujarat after the Patel supporters vandalised furniture and protested against him in his Patidar rally in Surat earlier this month.
Uttar Pradesh goes to polls next year and today’s snub by Dalits will cause a lot of anxiety among the top brass of the BJP , which had swept the state in 2014 Lok Sabha elections by winning 72 out of 80 seats. The BJP’s failure to replicate the success in the assembly elections next year will be an indictment on the performance of the Centre’s Modi government, which has been accused by its detractors, of poor governance  and repeated U-turns. Dalits have been holding protests against the BJP and Modi government after the growing incidents of atrocities allegedly by members of Hindutva forces. Mayawati had been appealing for Dalit-Muslim unity at the massive rallies she has addressed in Agra, Allahabad, Azamgarh and Sahranpur.

The post Now in Lucknow, Dalits Desert Amit Shah & BJP appeared first on SabrangIndia.