The X Factor of UP Elections 2017

By Faiz Askari, Founder Editor, SMEStreet

NEW DELHI: The clear mandate and the huge victory of BJP in Uttar Pradesh State Elections 2017 have put an strong end to many assumptions. Analysts were once again proven wrong, exit polls have got yet another blow. Theories of having a hung assembly, Muslim’s inclination towards SP etc have all gone busted.

Till few hours before the actual results, media was showing their assumptions which were to get proven wrong. Now most of the people are under shock, I tend to analyse the ‘Why’ and ‘how’ quotient of such great success.

When I am trying to come up with the ‘Why’ analysis of 2017 UP Election results, it was easy for me to recollect my personal interactions with common voters of UP from all sects. Interestingly, these interactions also included a lot of Muslim voters who hail from service class, entrepreneurship  and industrialists background who expressed their strong uncomfort with the then state Government led by Akhilesh Yadav. According to them, few elements such as security and quality infrastructure were missing in the Akhilesh Yadav regime. As an alternative Mayawati’s arrogance was also something which they never wanted. On the contrary, they clearly indicated that we are never impressed by looking at Muslim names in the candidate lists, however, we would like to read and understand the party manifestoes.

So, here are some strong elements which were highlighted in the BJP’s manifesto before the UP election 2017 The assurance of 24x7 electricity in all households have impressed common including people from all sects. BJP also emphasized on setting up of a new redressal system in every district to sort out trader disputes. The trader community of UP is vast. Places like Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Allahabad, Noida, Moradabad and several others can get great relief from such initiative. This segment (traders) are not driven by any single religious section. Muslims have strong participation in places like Kanpur, Moradabad, Allahabad etc. Approximately more than 40% of Muslim participation in this category are getting influenced by this move. This lot is again not so happy by the Samajwadi way of doing things.

Other than these two, key points such as :

• 5,000 for every girl child born in poor families
• Widow pension scheme with Rs 1000
• The motto of Na goondaraj Na Bhrashtachar (no goondaraj, no corruption) will be followed.
• In 45 days, all criminals, who are out on parole and committing crimes, will be brought back to jails.
• FIRs for all citizens will be filed without caste bias.
• A task force will be set up in every district to tackle different mafias.
• Class III and Class IV employees will be hired only on the basis of merit, no interviews to end corruption.
• ₹1,000 crore start-up capital fund will be provided.
• 90% of the jobs will be given to youth of U.P.
• All students scoring about 50% will get free education till graduation.
• Inclusion of the opinion of all women on triple talaq will be taken and placed in front of Supreme Court.

The last two points have also made a strong impact specially on Muslim households not just individual voters.

‘50% free education till graduation’ will be a great move for every common household. Muslims have realized in this state elections. “Money saved is equal to money earned, we strongly feel that if our education system gets into the direction of easing out the financial pressure, we can see more number of well qualified youth from Uttar Pradesh. The caste oriented approach has to get stopped,” says Basheer Mubeen who hails from Kanpur.

Similarly, a hijab practicing, muslim women shared her opinion on grounds of maintaining her identity secret that she also would like to see that the Triple Talaq issue must get addressed the way it should be.

The above findings have also explained the ‘how’ factor of my quest. Moreover, on the contrary, BSP, SP, Congress and others all have focused on attracting Muslim voters with their age old techniques. These techniques were well known but the most blunt was to offer election tickets to Muslim candidates.

Although the discussions and interactions were long, but getting 312 MLAs out of total of 403 seats on 11^th March 2017 is undoubtedly a historic achievement of great success. But as someone one has wisely said great success comes with great responsibility. Now, the upcoming BJP leadership must be drawing the sketch of planning for handling this great responsibility. The fabric of Uttar Pradesh is so enriched that the Lok Sabha Election of 2019 are expected to get directly influenced. However, public will also get 2 years time, which is quite substantial, to analyze the performance of the state BJP Government. Till then, we can only hope and contribute as an individual towards the betterment of the social fabric.