Farmers Movement Archive

With flurry of actions, Saharanpur in wild west turns into potboiler

LUCKNOW / MEERUT: As hectic politicking picks up pace ahead of UP polls, it is the west UP district of Saharanpur which has turned into a political potboiler. The district has witnessed the most number of crossovers by various party ranks, including former UP minister Dharam Singh Saini who switched over to the Samajwadi Party on Friday. The formal induction of Saini, an MLA from Nakur, in SP camp came three days after Congress heavy-weight Imran Masood joined the Akhilesh Yadav-led outfit leaving the grand old party faceless in the politically crucial region. It was Saini who defeated Masood twice -- in 2012 as BSP candidate and in 2017 on BJP ticket. Before that Saini had won the 2002 and 2007 assembly elections from Sarsawa assembly seat in Saharanpur, bordering Haryana. According to political analysts, Saini community has sizable presence in Shamli, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar and Noida and Dharam Singh Saini has influence in around 15 assembly constituencies in the area where Sainis are more than 30,000. BJP sources said that Saini was holding grudges against the BJP since the beginning after he was made the minister of state (independent) charge. During Mayawati's regime between 2007 and 2012, he was a cabinet minister. Sources said that Saini was also close to Maurya who raised the banner of revolt against the BJP and triggered a flurry of resignations in the saffron camp. Sources said that if Saini contests from Nakur, Masood might be shifted to the neighboring constituency of Behat where Congress's MLA Naresh Saini has defected to BJP. In 2012, Naresh lost to BSP's Mahavir Singh Rana by a slender margin of 500 votes. But in 2017 he defeated Rana, who contested as a BJP candidate, by a margin of over 25,000 votes. Saini is from the backward class and is said to be popular in his constituency. BJP sources said that he was likely to be given a ticket from the saffron party from Behat which goes to polls in the second phase of UP elections. This is not all. Imran's twin brother Nauman Masood left Jayant Chaudhary led RLD, an ally of SP, to join Mayawati's BSP. Having lost from Gangoh as Congress candidate in 2017, Nauman had joined RLD at the peak of farmers' protest against the three farm laws. The Dalit and Muslim dominated district, which is also home to the renowned Islamic seminary Darul Uloom, Deoband, had attained a centre-stage just over a month ago when the Yogi Adityanath government, just before the announcement of state elections, initiated a host of projects including construction of a university in the Ma Shakumabri Devi and an Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) commando centre. While construction of a university in the name of goddess Shakumbhari marked BJP attempt to hoist its tried and tested Hindutva symbolism, the coming of ATS centre was perceived by the saffron party with its trademark nationalistic lenses.

The Times of India

2022-01-15

Lucknow