WHEN THE RESULTS of the 2017 assembly elections were announced, the Deoband constituency in Saharanpur district attracted unusual attention. Deoband, which is home to the prestigious Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom, elected a BJP candidate, Kunwar Brijesh Singh. The BJP won the seat after 21 years as the party rode the hindutva wave to victory.
Deoband had become a microcosm of the electoral and ideological change in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP’s strategy, helmed by then party president Amit Shah, had paid off as it wooed non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav dalits amidst a polarised atmosphere. In Deoband, while other parties fielded Muslim candidates, the BJP fielded a Thakur. Of the 3.4 lakh voters in the constituency, there were more than 1.25 lakh Muslims. But their votes got divided, giving Singh an easy victory.
The BJP has again fielded Singh, who now wants to change Deoband’s name to Dev Vrind. To avoid repeating the division of Muslim votes, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has put up a Thakur candidate, Kartikeya Rana. The BJP, meanwhile, said it would win more Muslim votes. “Last time we got over 2,000 Muslim votes, this time it will cross 10,000,” said Karunesh Nandan Garg, BJP’s election in-charge for the seat.
BJP leaders, however, conceded that the party might not be able to repeat its 2017 performance. The party’s focus remains on the twin planks of hindutva and welfarism. The BJP’s competitors are nuancing their strategies to counter the singular hindutva version. Akhilesh has tried to shed his father’s pronounced pro-Muslim image by playing the soft hindutva card. Various opinion polls have signalled that the SP is closing the gap with the BJP.
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