With Gandhis absent & rumblings within BJP affecting Smriti Irani’s prospects, Amethi voters are torn

Amethi: “Abhi koi hawaa nahi hain, mann badal sakta hai mahaul ke sath (There is no wave right now, people can change their mind with a change in political atmosphere),” said 30-year-old Vinay Kumar from the Pasi-dominated Mattepur village in Amethi’s Tiloi area.

One of five assembly segments of the high-profile Amethi Lok Sabha (LS) seat, Tiloi, in 2019, was key to Union minister Smriti Irani, who defeated senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from his traditional seat by a margin of 55,120 votes. Congress leaders say that Irani bagged 16,000 more votes than Gandhi in Tiloi — the seat of Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh, a Tiloi royal who is now with the BJP and whose support is considered significant for any electoral win from Tiloi. This year, Irani is contesting from Amethi against Congress’s Kishori Lal Sharma.

“The block heads and district panchayat chairpersons (in Tiloi) are all from BJP. But this time, we are not getting a sense (of which way the election will go) as there is no wave. This is a silent election,” said Kumar, sitting on a charpoy with his mother and daughter. He has two children — aged seven and two.

Kumar’s family, like many others, traditionally voted for Congress till 2019 when they started voting for Modi “for better or for worse”, said his mother Sukala Pasi, 60.

However, Kumar, who helps arrange lighting for weddings, is concerned about the level of unemployment he sees around him. He is also “unhappy” because the monetary benefits he received under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi stopped after the first two instalments reached him in 2019.

Vinay Kumar with his family in Mattepur village in Amethi’s Tiloi area | Photo: Shikha Salaria, ThePrint

Vinay Kumar with his family in Mattepur village in Amethi’s Tiloi area | Photo: Shikha Salaria, ThePrint

“In March last year, I went to the head office of the agriculture department in Gauriganj to get the instalments resumed. I filled up a form and received assurance, but to no avail,” he said.

Unemployment is the main issue in this election, he added.

“If people are hungry, what can they gain from chanting ‘Ram Ram’? ‘Bhookhe pet bhajan nahi hota (you can’t pray on an empty stomach)’… there is so much unemployment. I don’t even feel like going to the city, there’s no work there either. Things have become worse since COVID-19,” said Kumar who used to work as a gardener for a family in Delhi before returning to his village in 2018.

The family, his mother says, depends on a one-bigha plot and two buffaloes for milk.

“Smriti (Irani) has come here just once… the public is agitated because there’s unemployment and inflation… Had Priyanka (Gandhi) fought (from the seat), there would have been a wave behind her, and she would have swayed the polls. It’s all about the leader, not the party,” added Kumar.

Religion matters

Nearly 2 kilometres from his house resides the family of Satya Pratap Shukla (62), who he is impressed with the BJP government’s schemes such as the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi and the free drug service initiative at government hospitals.

“We can show our Aadhaar card and get medicines from the community health centres (CHCs) at Fatehpur and Bahua,” he said.

But that’s not the only factor informing his voting decisions. “Religion is very important,” said Shukla. “It is the main thing. It has a lot of effect.”

He’s not the only one who thinks “religion matters”.

Another Tiloi resident, M.P. Singh, said religious polarisation has played a crucial role in the elections in the region over the past few years.

Nearly 40 km from Mattepur is the buzzing Gauriganj ‘chauraha’, where ThePrint caught up with sexagenarian Ram Lakhan Vishwakarma, who said his vote will be on the grounds of religion only.

“We are Hindus and will remain Hindus,” he said.

In 2019, Irani had a margin of 14,000 votes over Gandhi’s tally in Gauriganj, the local Congress unit said.

Dominated by Brahmins and Dalits, the constituency elected a Thakur MLA from the Samajwadi Party (SP), Rakesh Pratap Singh. Singh, however, helped the BJP in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections. His family members have joined the BJP since then. Singh is now campaigning for Irani and has cosied up to UP minister and BJP’s Raebareli candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh since the Rajya Sabha polls.

“I am an SP MLA, but how can I respect those who burnt copies of ‘Ramayana’? How can I sit with those who called the Hindu religion a deception?… How can I take forward my politics with them?” Rakesh Pratap Singh reportedly told a crowd last week.

Soon afterwards, Irani assured him that till the time she is alive, she will ensure his body and heart are “not hurt”.

But the public of Gauriganj is divided over Singh’s move, as they are over Gandhi’s decision to not contest from Amethi.

“He (Rakesh Pratap Singh) is not going to win again. He usually visits when people invite him, but he hasn’t done any work. We had complained about a drain and a road but to no avail,” said Ram Shankar Yadav from Gauriganj’s Gundaran Ka Purwa village.

‘Gandhi siblings made a mistake’

“There is a fight in Gauriganj, too. Rahul or Priyanka Gandhi should have contested from here. If Smriti loses, she will lose in the Amethi assembly segment only and not elsewhere,” said M.P. Singh, a doctor at Gauriganj’s Ayushman hospital.

Some residents point to the frosty relationship between Irani and Amethi royal Sanjay Sinh who has been conspicuously absent from Irani’s campaign.

“There is anger against Smriti Irani. ‘Raja sahab’ (Sanjay Sinh) is angry with her, and so are veteran leaders like Congress’s Ashish Shukla,” said Sunil Shukla, a farmer from Gauriganj’s Misrauli.

Sinh, who lost the Gauriganj assembly seat to SP’s Maharaji Prajapati in 2022, famously made the “Tulsi ka phool” reference at the time, while his supporters blamed Irani and the BJP district president for the loss.

Targeting Irani, who played the character of “Tulsi” in a hit TV series, Sinh told supporters, “I was fighting on the symbol of lotus, but some people had a misconception. It is a symbol of the BJP, the PM and all workers. If someone sitting in BJP has a misconception that the symbol is a lotus, tulsi flower, or marigold, we will soon clear their misconception. We lagged a little and should have been a little more cautious. It is true that I got little time, but I am with all of you, come what may.”

Shukla said that while a fight is on between Irani and Sharma, who has managed several elections for Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the past, one of the Gandhi siblings should have contested from Amethi.

“Had either of them, especially Priyankaji fought from here, it would have been a clean sweep for the Congress,” he said.

M.P. Singh interrupted him, “No, Smriti has the upper hand. But, she may lose in Amethi (assembly segment).”

Shukla added, “It all depends on didi (Priyanka) now. If she can galvanise voters in her favour; the tide may turn in the Congress’s favour.”

Back in Tiloi, people feel the Gandhi siblings made a mistake, given that Smriti Irani is facing “silent opposition from BJP insiders” despite having Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh on her side.

“When a voter is silent, you can understand, they want change… But, traditionally, whoever has got the support of the Tiloi ‘riyasat (royalty)’, has won here,” said Amarendra Pratap Singh, who owns a fertiliser shop in the heart of Tiloi.

Swing votes to be a factor

In the Jagdishpur assembly constituency, where, Congress leaders say, Irani had a margin of 12,000 votes over Gandhi in 2019, a video of the sitting BJP MLA Suresh Pasi expressing frustration over not being allowed entry to the nomination room on 29 April when Irani filed her nomination has created a buzz.

Congress leaders say members from the Muslim, Yadav and Pasi communities dominate Jagdishpur. The video has gained traction among the latter.

In the video, Suresh Pasi says, “They (officials in the administration) don’t recognise the sitting MLA. And, history sheeters and ‘zila badar (those evicted)’ from the district are freely roaming.”

“This video has gone viral, and Pasi says he feels disrespected. This has not sent a good message to the people,” Amarendra Pratap Singh said.

“We are traditional ‘Congressis’. This time, Congress is under discussion,” Haji Mohammed from Jagdishpur village, told ThePrint.

In the interiors of Tiloi and Jagdishpur, BJP’s free ration scheme, which helped the party sweep Uttar Pradesh in the 2022 assembly elections, still finds mention, especially among the scheduled caste voters, but Yadav voters are calling for “change”.

“We are relying on free ration. BJP has been running this scheme,” said Sheela Devi, a resident of Jagdishpur.

Another Jagdishpur resident, Ram Naresh Yadav, said that inflation and employment are the main issues this election.

A tea stall in a Yadav-dominated village in Tiloi | Photo: Shikha Salaria, ThePrint

A tea stall in a Yadav-dominated village in Tiloi | Photo: Shikha Salaria, ThePrint

“When Smriti Irani came, she promised sugar at Rs 13/kg; that promise could not be fulfilled. What is the reason for misleading people by making such false promises? Maahaul bigad gaya hai (the situation has worsened),” he said.

Meanwhile, several Pasi community members don’t say which party they favour but only want to help the “winnable candidate”.

Such floating voters played a deciding role in the 2019 polls.

“Our people think one’s vote should not go to waste. As the election draws nearer, our people discuss who is on the winning side. Our village leaders organise a meeting before every election, and we decide to go for the winning candidate,” said Sharmila Pasi.

In the Amethi assembly segment, which gave Gandhi more votes than Irani in 2019, Sinh has been distancing himself from Irani’s campaign, creating a buzz.

“Smriti Irani is facing opposition. There is internal conflict within the BJP. ‘Raja sahab’ (Sinh) is silent and does not participate in her campaign. Amethi lost its self-respect under her,” said Ashok Singh ‘Hitler’, former general secretary of UP Youth Congress.

The Amethi assembly segment voters are also more generous towards the Gandhis. “Rahul can’t fight the election from everywhere,” said Nauniya, an Amethi resident.

Summing up the mood in Amethi, resident Sanjeev Tiwari said: “It is true that Rahul’s presence could have increased the vote share, but he can fight only from one seat. One should remember that the Opposition is fighting the election under his leadership in the entire country,” he said.

(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)