As Uttar Pradesh started voting today in the first round of a seven-phase election, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan displayed confidence that the party would be able to beat the challenge from the Samajwadi Party and its allies.
Sanjeev Balyan, the BJP MP from Muzaffarnagar, said he is confident that even Muslims will vote for his party this time.
Muslims make up 40 per cent of voters in Muzaffarnagar but no major political party has fielded Muslims in any of the six assembly constituencies.
In the 2017 UP election, the BJP won in all six constituencies.
This time, the party is seen to face a tougher fight because of farmers' anger in western UP. The Samajwadi Party and Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) hope to tap into that sentiment and they have been reaching out to farmers.
"Who says farmers are not with us? Who are they to talk about farmers and farming? Which village have they stayed in? Their fathers, grandfathers were farmers. And they call themselves farmers. They can't even tell the difference between matar and gobi (peas and cauliflowers)," Mr Balyan told NDTV.
He went on dramatically: "When the westerly wind blows, it takes away with it all insects."
Was he calling his rivals insects? Agitated, he replied: "I was only talking about a saying about the fields. I have utmost respect for my opponents and would never attack them personally."
The BJP leader claimed that it is his party that has taken forward the legacy of former Prime Minister Charan Singh -- a popular Jat leader and Jayant Chaudhary's grandfather - and farmer leader Mahendra Tikait, the father of Rakesh Tikait, who led the farmer protests.
"I consider us the political descendants of Chauhary Charan Singh and Tikait. The sons and grandsons can have all the physical assets they want, but I consider us as the real political descendent of these tall leaders," Mr Balyan asserted.
He also denied any attempt to polarise the voters in Muzaffarnagar, where riots in 2013 left at least 60 dead and thousands homeless. Many BJP leaders, while campaigning, have made communally divisive statements and have even dragged in the row in Karnataka over hijabs in classroom.
"We are contesting the elections on the basis of our work. We are not doing any polarisation. Muslims will vote for us because of the work we have done," he said.
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