UP Election 2017: Amid Campaign, PM Narendra Modi Has A Message Waiting...From Varanasi

Varanasi: As the battle for UP is underway, PM Narendra Modi has invoked Lord Krishna to explain his involvement with the state, "Krishna," he said "was born in UP but made Gujarat his karma bhoomi. I was born in Gujarat but UP has adopted me". And in UP it is Varanasi, his parliamentary seat, that he has made his political home. For the BJP, losing Assembly seats in Varanasi would be a major loss of face. Varanasi polls in the final phase on March 8.

For over five decades, SP Singh, a Banarsi businessman now in his seventies, spends his evenings with chai and gossip on Dasashwamedh, arguably the most photographed ghat in the world. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Mr Singh, who is from an old Congressi family, had voted for Narendra Modi. "People of Benares may have been swept up by the Modi wave then, but voh ulti ganga bhee bahana jaantey hai (they know how to make the Ganga flow backwards).' Mr Singh uses this idiomatic expression; which originates in the river's behaviour in Benares, where it reverses its natural direction of flow, to indicate that the BJP could be in for trouble in its own bastion.

Varanasi South, Varanasi Cantonment and Varanasi North are the assembly segments that form what people here call 'Modi's Garh.'  All three are giving the BJP trouble. "They know there's trouble, why else do you think (BJP president) Amit Shah would come and camp here,' says Vinay Tripathi, a local.

For the BJP, nowhere is trouble greater than in the prestigious Varanasi South seat. Within its ambit lies much of what is quintessentially Benares - the lanes of Kashi Vishwanath, the temple, the mosque, Gowdhulia chowk, 41 ghats, the Banarsi sari weaver mohallas. A shopkeeper in Gowdhulia says, 'Agar desh mein Modi lehar thee, toh yaha Dada lehar hotee hai' (If there is a Modi wave in the country, here we have a Dada wave.' Dada is BJP's Shyamdeo Rai Chowdhury, who has won this seat in seven consecutive Assembly elections. He was denied ticket this time, a move that has become a biggest talking point.
 In a tiny lane, off Godhuliya, Mr Chowdhury's house, though newly refurbished, retains its simplicity and is known to have its doors open to the public (in the last few months mostly traversed by journalists). "Dada walks around with a paper and his stamp, if anyone needs anything, on the spot he will write a letter and stamp it. People want nothing more than getting their work done and he helps everyone," his neighbour tells us.

In 2007, after delimitation changed the demographics of this seat, taking the number of Muslim voters up to 80,000, NDTV had interviewed Mr Chowdhury on whether this would allow him to retain his winning streak. "As long as I can meet my people, as long as I can walk down the steps of Dashashwamedh ghat, the people of Varanasi will not allow another. They will never betray me."

Ironically, it was the same imagery and language that Shyam Deo Chowdhury used talking to the media when the betrayal came from within, "They tell me I'm too old to contest again but here I am, standing on my two feet. Every day I walk across my constituency, to the ghats and am fitter than those younger than me. I should have been taken into confidence.'" Initially he voiced his protest strongly, denouncing the decision. Over the past few days, with the BJP in full damage control mode, he has toned down his protest but is still not campaigning actively for the BJP candidate, Neelkanth Tiwari.  

Mr Tiwari's selection is directly being attributed to the RSS. ''It's a well-known fact, that the RSS has dictated several tickets in Varanasi, that's been damaging to the party," says Himanshu Sharma, a local journalist.  

This change in guard is working in favour of Congress' Rajesh Mishra. Known for his ability to forge strong personal equations, even BJP supporters concede that Mr Mishra is putting up a tough fight. "People will vote for him not the party," is the sentiment most often expressed about him, especially among a large section of the boatmen who live and work by the ghats in this constituency.

In the past two decades, the Nishads, a caste that encompasses more than 20 sub-castes who have traditionally lived off the river - Malla, Kevats, Bind's Kashyaps, Sahnis have been successfully wooed by the BJP. One of the persons chosen to propose Modi's nomination for the 2014 elections was a Nishad. But now the Nishads of this constituency are upset with the BJP's decision to construct a jetty at Dashashwamedh ghat, which they feel will impact their livelihood.

"Modiji said that Ganga Maiya called him to her ghats and that's why he chose Benares. But he's not been good to Ganga Maiya as son,' says Pramod Majhi, an official Ma Ganga Nishad Seva Samiti.  He argues that the proposed jetty is being constructed to provide a platform for people to watch the famous Ganga Aarti, held every evening on Dashashwamedh ghat. Traditionally, many visitors watch this aarti from boats, hired for this purpose. "The government has succumbed to the demand of the Pundits who have asked for it and who want to rob us boatmen of our earnings. Rajesh Mishra has opposed the idea of the jetty and he's always stood by us, so many of the Nishads will vote for Congress this time," Mr Majhi said.

In the other seats - Varnasi Cantt - there's strong resentment against the BJP for fielding the son of the sitting MLA, Jyotsna Srivastava. "First we had her then her husband then it was back to her and now her son. Since 1991, they have treated this like their personal fiefdom but even a zamindar does more work for his land," says Ram Narayan Bind, a school-teacher from Ranipur mohalla. In Varanasi North, the BJP candidate, sitting MLA Ravindra Jaiswal won last time by a narrow margin of just 2,336 votes, defeating BSP's Sujit Kumar Maurya. Mr Jaiswal is pitted against Mr Maurya once again but it's the SP-Congress candidate, Abdul Samad Ansari who is giving Jaiswal a tough contest. Mr Samad who won this seat on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 2007 is contesting on a Congress ticket and has managed to ensure both cadres are working hard for him.

Over the last week, in the face of these challenges that threaten its hold over the city, the BJP has turned to the politics of religion to polarise voters, says Sunil Kashyap, a PHD student at the Benares Hindu University. He displays WhatsApp messages by BJP supporters that play on the words 'kabristan' (graveyard) and 'shamshan' (cremation ground), evoking the PM's February 19 speech at his Fatehpur rally.

This is generating its own response. We meet a Sheher-e-Mufti of Benares, Abdul Batin Nomani, a prominent Muslim voice and member of Sri Kashi Vishwanath-Gyan Vapi Masjid Sadhbavna Trust, at his house situated near Adampur thana is a typical, densely populated mohalla of weavers whose vote stands firmly with the Congress-SP alliance. He doesn't take political questions directly but says that his appeal is that people vote for "parties that have a secular approach and do not take positions for just one community".  

An ardent BJP supporter says," One speech and PM Modi can fix it all".

"We have compelled him (PM Modi) to hold three rallies (tentatively slotted for March 5 in neighbouring Mirzapur and Jaunpur and March 6 in Benares) back-to-back to save his garh (bastion)," says Ashok Dubey, an old Banarsi who is a BJP supporter.