Fatehpur Sikri/Agra/Aligarh: Swarnika Rana, 26, a law student in Fatehpur Sikri, doesn’t understand why her farmer father will vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which she sees as the contemporary equivalent of India’s colonial rulers.
Lakshmi Diwakar of Agra knows her vote belongs with Prime Minister Narendra Modi but her widowed sister-in-law believes he didn’t fulfil his promises, and is increasingly jaded about voting itself.
Political ideologies seem to have split families in the make-or-break state of Uttar Pradesh, where eight constituencies vote in the second phase of polls Thursday.
ThePrint met three families — father-daughter, two sisters-in-law and father-son — in three of the constituencies to understand how strong political stances breed polarisation at home.
Fatehpur Sikri
For 15 minutes, Swarnika Rana listens to her father discussing politics over an afternoon meal of ghee-laden chapati, curd and kadhi. Virendra Singh Rana, a 60-year-old Jat farmer in Fatehpur Sikri, criticises the BJP for communalism, but lauds PM Narendra Modi for the Balakot air strikes and “his Pakistan policy”, and admits that he would vote for the party, like he did in 2014.
This is when Swarnika breaks her silence.
“The BJP is following the British policy of divide and rule,” Swarnika says. “They are bringing private players in every sphere of the economy. I had voted for them in the last election but, in the last five years, I have seen them just making tall statements and not fulfilling their promises,” she adds.
Rana’s family — including two sons and two daughters — owns around 30 bighas of farm land where they grow wheat, potato and mustard. The eldest son also runs a hostel business.
Rana admits that agriculture has taken a hit in the past few years, but adds that it is unlikely to be a factor in the Lok Sabha polls.
“The BJP has fielded a Jat candidate from here and our community is going to vote for him,” he says. “But votes will go to the BJP not just due to the candidate, but also on the name of Modi,” Rana said.
“The Modi wave of 2014 might not exist this time, but his name still carries weight, especially after the air strike.”
But Swarnika says she looked up to Modi before 2014. “He is a good orator and he looked promising in 2014,” she tells ThePrint. “In the last five years, I realised what had been promised by the BJP was just false hope. An image has been created that they have done so much work. But there is nothing on the ground,” she says.
Her father just shrugs: “Every person has the right to have their own view point.”
While the Congress has fielded state party chief and actor Raj Babbar from Fatehpur Sikri, the BJP has nominated Rajkumar Chahar. Rajveer Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is the candidate of the Samajwadi Party-BSP-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance.
Also read: How Modi govt managed to transfer funds to 2 crore farmers just 3 weeks after big promise
Agra
Lakshmi Diwakar, 50, walks along a narrow lane called ‘Kumhar Wali Gali (Potters’ lane)’, which is dotted with open drains that run underneath overhanging wires, and is littered with banana peels and plastic wrappers.
A Dalit from the dhobi community, she has a long list of woes for which she blames local municipal officials.
“There is not a single drop of water available here,” Diwakar says. “The roads are completely broken. No one comes to pick up the garbage and clean the area. We have written so many applications for these things but no work has been done.”
But mention the Lok Sabha elections, and Diwakar is all praise for Modi.
“Goondagardi khatam ho gayi is sarkar mein. Beti aa-ja rahi hai, unko pareshan karna bahut kam ho gaya (Hooliganism has stopped under the present government. Harassment of our daughters has come down),” she says. “We have a good PM who is thinking of people from top to bottom.”
However, it was the Balakot air strikes that truly won her over. “For the first time, a PM of this country has given such a strong reply to Pakistan — 300 terrorists have died there,” she adds, “It was all over TV.”
Walking beside Diwakar is her sister-in-law Guddi, also 50, who lives in the Mohanpura locality of Agra. Both voted BJP in 2014, but can’t see eye-to-eye on the party anymore.
When Diwakar speaks about electricity supply, Guddi is sceptical: What is the point of a 24/7 power supply, she asks, if one cannot afford the bill of Rs 2,000-3,000/month.
In 2015, Guddi’s husband suffered a heart attack and died. Since then, it has been difficult for her to make ends meet for her family of three sons and two daughters.
“My son applied for the same job as my husband’s at a clinic, but didn’t get it,” she says. “Our sons are not getting steady jobs. They keep saying that there are no vacancies. No private company pays more than Rs 5,000 and even those are hard to find,” she adds.
“Two of my sons have taken up contractual daily-wage jobs but that is not enough to sustain our family,” she says.
For her, Modi is no beacon of hope.
“If our jawans are dying at the border, our sons are dying here due to lack of jobs…” she adds.
“I had voted for Modi in 2014. The politicians come here asking for votes and, after elections, we do not see them,” she says. “What is the point in voting?”
The Congress candidate in Agra is former Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Preeta Harit, who is contesting against former MP Satyapal Singh Baghel of the BJP and Manoj Kumar Soni (BSP) of the grand alliance.
Also read: Congress allegation of Dalit oppression under Modi rule is wrong, says NDA ally Athawale
Aligarh
In the Barauli area of Aligarh, Kali Charan, a 62-year-old farmer, lounges on a charpoy outside his home. His son Rakesh Kumar, 41, who runs a grocery store, warns this reporter, “Be careful with the old man. He keeps harping on about the Congress. He is all alone in this.”
A group of young bystanders laughs. “Everyone else here is a Modi supporter,” quips one young man, while another claims that he will go with whoever the youth of the village vote for. A third says petty crime has fallen drastically under Modi.
However, Kali Charan notes: “Some ideas of Modiji are wrong. For instance, this Rs 6,000 scheme. It will make no difference to us.”
The “Rs 6,000 scheme” is the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, through which the government seeks to give farmers an annual income support of Rs 6,000.
Rakesh is quick to counter his father, saying many people have received money in their bank accounts under the scheme.
Not to yield the argument, Kali Charan questions the point of implementing the scheme right before elections. “For Rs 2,000, they make us spend Rs 1,000 in arranging documents and running around,” he adds. “The Congress has ruled for 70 years and they know governance. Yes, there have been scams,” he says, before pausing mid-sentence.
“There have been so many scams under the Congress,” Rakesh Kumar pipes in.
But Kali Charan retorts, “There have been scams under every government. The latest ones happened in Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP was in power.”
Charan owns less than two hectares of land where he grows wheat and rice. “It is not that I oppose Modi and support Congress. Anyone who listens to us farmers and works for them will get my vote,” Charan adds.
Former MP Bijendra Singh Chaudhary is the Congress candidate for Aligarh, with the BJP fielding incumbent parliamentarian Satish Kumar Gautam, and the grand alliance nominating Ajeet Baliyan of the BSP
Also read: Not to be left behind in battle of giveaways, BJP says will expand PM-KISAN to all farmers
this is not a reporting, but its a part of modi bhakti.
Well said