In a hair-dresser’s shop in Deoband, a group of Muslims are divided between voting for the Samajwadi Party-Congress candidate and the BSP. One of them, however, surprises us by saying that he will vote for the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Sab badhiya chal raha hai…shanti hai, kaam theek chal raha hai (All is well and peaceful in BJP rule),” the man told News18, when pressed on why he would vote for Modi. Another Muslim man sitting next to him interjected, saying that a “few of our brothers” may vote for BJP as they have got benefits of schemes but the majority of Muslims would not.
Both the Ganga and the Yamuna flow through Western Uttar Pradesh and people here say that the region is known for its ‘Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb’ (communal harmony). The region has a decisive number of Muslim voters in many Lok Sabha seats like Kairana, Muzzafarnagar, Saharanpur, Rampur and Moradabad, which all are polling in Phase 1 on April 19.
News18 travelled through West UP last week to find that while most Muslims root for the SP-Congress alliance and some for the BSP, there is a section of Muslim voters slowly veering towards the BJP too. Some of the last lot cited the benefits of government schemes, and improved law and order situation, and a few even asked what is the point of being opposed to BJP which is in power both in Lucknow and Delhi.
A group of people playing a game of cards in Saharanpur town told News18 that some Muslims may vote for BJP as they have seen development. “Their mohallah (neighbourhood) now has a better road than mine. Why won’t they vote for the BJP?” this group, all Hindus, asked. A group of Muslims in a village of Saharanpur attended Congress candidate Imran Masood’s rally but admitted that a few Muslims among them too could vote for the BJP. “Some feel they have got benefits of schemes of Modi government…” one of them said.
News18 drove to Rampur where Shafeek Ahmed Ansari is the MLA from Suar assembly seat — the only Muslim MLA in the NDA camp in Uttar Pradesh. A group of Muslims are at his office to meet the BJP’s Rampur MP and candidate Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi and take selfies with him. “BJP has brought government schemes to everyone without any bias. I got Ujjwala and drinking water connections without much running around. Whoever gives benefits, people vote for them,” two Muslim friends in Suar told News18.
Another Muslim man here asks what is the point of voting for an opposition candidate in a seat like Rampur. “Our Suar MLA is from BJP. Our MP from Rampur is from the BJP. The government in Lucknow and Delhi is of BJP. Then, who will bring development to Rampur or Suar? One can’t turn a blind eye,” another Muslim man in Rampur asked. In Moradabad, News18 spotted some Muslims at both the rallies of Home Minister Amit Shah and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
“Some Muslim women are also leaning towards the BJP…they appreciate the Triple Talaq ban brought a few years ago,” a Muslim man at Shah’s rally told News18. He cited how the BJP was in power in two of the five assembly seats in Moradabad, a first in history. “That is not possible without some Muslim support,” the man at the rally said. News18, however, found that many Muslims were not willing to express their political preference before media cameras and pleaded to be excused, saying they didn’t wish to speak on the polls.
A young Muslim girl having a meal at KFC with her family in the main market of Moradabad said things were safer for women in the region now after the BJP came to power. “I just hope they spend more on education and health facilities in Western UP. I am an MBBS student and have seen the condition of hospitals. But I have no complaint with the BJP on the issue of safety…there is a marked change,” she told News18.
In Muzzafarnagar, a sizable number of Muslims were present at BJP candidate Sanjeev Balyan’s nomination rally. “Look, they were asking me if Muslims will support me,” Balyan told a group of Muslim persons while pointing to the News18 team. These people in turn told us that they had voted for Balyan in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections too as there was now peace in the region for the last 10 years. “The wounds of the 2013 communal riots have now healed for everyone,” says Balyan.
A few Muslims blame the BSP for their disillusionment and will probably move to the BJP. “Muslims today are distressed because BSP has stopped performing its political role for us. Why has Mayawati put up so many Muslim candidates and broken her alliance with the SP? Some Muslims may well vote for the BJP as they feel it will anyway win due to the division of votes,” an aged Muslim man in a Deoband market said.
Such anecdotal narrations seem to be turning around the theory on its head that Muslims always vote for the stronger opposition party which can defeat the BJP. While most Muslims may still vote for one of the opposition parties in Western UP, some seem to be leaning towards the BJP too. This may consolidate gains for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
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