Farmers Movement Archive

UP elections: In Mathura, murmurs of dissent over local issues, farm laws

Just outside Gate No. 1 of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura, 45-year-old Sarvesh Dubey has pulled out his phone to prove a point.Dubey and a group of six men, as they do everyday, have collected at the Krishna Mishthan Bhandar, asweets shopwith a name understandably ubiquitous in a town considered the birthplace of the Hindu god, and are discussing politics.This group of seven Brahmins, and Dubey, a self-avowed Bharatiya Janata Party supporter, is dismayed with murmurs of dissent about a glorious revival of Krishna’s birthplace.So, he plays his trump card and pulls out his phone — the argument to beat all arguments. From a saved recording on his phone emanates the voice of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath addressing a rally in Mathura on December 29, 2021. He talks of the temple construction in Ayodhya, and the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath corridor. He speaks the words that make Dubey look around triumphantly at those around him. “Can Vrindavan Mathura be left behind?” says Adityanath.“Is there one other party, or one other chief minister who would say this?” Dubey asks. The men around him nod, but there is still a note of doubt, even a rebuttal from 36-year-old Ashish Mishra.“Bas election mein hi yaad aata hai (Do they only remember during the elections?)”Mathura, raised by both the chief minister and his deputy in recent months, may be the next vehicle in the BJP’s Hindutva project, a symbol that there is much left unfinished. The Ram temple in Ayodhya is well on its way to being built, Varanasi has been beautified, and Mathura is next.A month before Adityanath’s speech, on December 1, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya had tweeted, “Ayodhya Kashi bhavya mandir nirman jaari hai, ab Mathura ki baari hai.”While a massive temple already exists at Mathura, the conflict is with the Shahi Eidgah that abuts the Katra Keshav Dev temple complex, ostensibly built by a Mughal ruler, in this case Aurangzeb. Much like in the Ram Janmabhoomi case, here too there is a civil suit in a Mathura court that asks for the removal of the mosque.So when the seven men listen to Adityanath’s words, there is some resonance. Just not quite as much as in 2014, 2017, or 2019.Mishra owns a shop that sells religious paraphernalia just outside the temple complex. Beneath his feet, where his red plastic stool is usually stationed in the January sun, is an open drain.“In the past few elections, I voted for the BJP. They are after all the party of Hindus. But they are saying the same things. There is nothing new they have to offer. I knew they would bring up Mathura just before the elections. But here, the temple and the Eidgah are right next to each other. Would I like the mosque not to be there? Sure. But am I prepared for the inevitable violence and conflict for years to come? Covid has wrecked our businesses. We cannot afford more disruptions or a break in peace,” Mishra said.If anything, the argument for “developing” the Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura has greater recall as a promise of infrastructure development, and beautification, as opposed to an emotional, religious call.The one road that cuts through the heart of Mathura’s spiritual centre, from the imposing Holi Gate to the gates of the Janmabhoomi, are lined with open drains. There is only room for two vehicles to pass, and no room for pedestrians. At the beginning of most small bylanes are open garbage dumps, everyday waste from the street market being a constant problem.Vinod Agarwal, who owns a medicine shop right next to Holi Gate, looks at the unmasked chaos in front of him and says, “The one good thing that might happen if they focus on the Janmabhoomi is perhaps this road can get widened and cleaned up. “In the absence of a broader wave unlike 2017 or 2019, there is much more conversation in the five seats of Mathura—Mathura city, Govardhan, Chhatha, Manth, and Baldev (reserved for a scheduled caste candidate) around local factors. All five seats go to the polls in the first phase on February 10.While the BJP is campaigning on improved law and order, the Bahujan Samaj Party seems to be holding on to the Jatav vote, and the alliance of Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal have been promising development and change under Akhilesh Yadav.If Adityanath not contesting from Mathura (one rumour said he would, just as another said he would from Ayodhya) has meant that sitting MLA and minister Shrikant Sharma will fight the elections for the BJP, there is worry among the ranks on the role of an angry and influential Brahmin leader SC Sharma, denied a ticket from Manth, who is now contesting from the city.The primary contender in Mathura is four-time MLA and old Congress hand Pradeep Mathur, also a Brahmin. Manth itself has a fascinating melange of factors; it is the only seat of the five the BJP doesn’t currently hold.The sitting BSP MLA is Shyam Sunder Sharma, serial party hopper, but a seven-time legislator so influential that in 2012, he won on a Trinamool Congress ticket.And Manth is also a seat where cracks are visible in the SP-RLD partnership, where both parties have put up candidates. Sure, the RLD has asked its candidate to withdraw, but Yogesh Nauhwar has refused to do so.Outside the city, in its villages, Mathura is also a marker for a factor that may well define the fate of western Uttar Pradesh, for the district has a sizeable number of Jats, accounting for around 20% of the population.In March 2021, one of the first appearances of Akhilesh Yadav and RLD President Jayant Chaudhary together, a presaging of what was to become a formal alliance, was at a mahapanchayat at the grounds of the Morki Inter College, 57 km from the Krishna Janmabhoomi complex.As evening sets, and 55-year-old Mahavir Chaudhary looks out onto his farms around him, he dismisses talk of the temple with a wave of his hand. Chaudhary spent five months at the Tikri border on Delhi’s outskirts in protest against the three farm laws, and then another month at another protest spot in Palwal.He felt relief when the three laws were repealed, and while there is some softening for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even a conflict within, but he says he will not forgive.“I am a farmer, and I am a Hindu. I have voted for the BJP over the past seven years. But they called us so many names, attacked us. Modi eventually listened, and he is a viraat Hindu leader. But they have to be taught a lesson. This time, most Jats will not vote for the BJP. We will vote for Jayant, even if the seat selection has not been good,” Chaudhary said.But for the RLD, Chaudhary still has a word of warning. He does not trust the Samajwadi Party yet, and while Akhilesh is a “good man”, his party has “too many goons.”He sees a discernible shift away from the BJP, but the scale of this shift he cannot fathom yet. The BJP won all four of its seats in Mathura, with margins of over 13,000 votes, with Chatha and Mathura being won by over 60,000 and 100,000 votes, respectively.“The BJP has big leads, and those may not stay the same, but nobody can say who will win. The one big change though is that this time, there is a fight for every single seat.”

Hindustan Times

26-01-2022

India