Hridayapath, Dispatch 1: What Moradabad, Pilibhit, And Rampur Think About Modi Sarkar And 2024 Election

I embarked on a two-week trip across Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, West Bengal, and the North East. At Swarajya, we have christened this series "Hridayapath," or the path of the heart, as it aims to get reports from aspirational India, which votes with passion.

The objective of this exercise is to produce ground-level election-related coverage from places that are usually not covered in the mainstream news.

The kinds of questions we have in mind are —

Why are people from northern districts (or constituencies) of UP repeatedly voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in spite of their relative poverty?

What has changed in Madhubani, Araria, or Alipurduar? How much has development percolated there? How are the government schemes faring?

What really animates people in these parts? Are the castes and charisma of candidates still hold thrall? What are peoples' take on the local realpolitik?

The plan is to travel off the beaten path. We are quite confident that none of the places will be on the travel itineraries of Delhi journalists or tourists.

From Delhi, the planned journey traverses the border with Nepal along Pilibhit, Kushinagar, Kishanganj, and Kokrajhar, and then moves through the chicken's neck into Assam.

Hopefully, we will all know a bit more about UP, Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam beyond the major cities of Lucknow, Varanasi, Patna, Kolkata, and Guwahati.

It is a beautiful, clear summer morning as I depart from Delhi. Playing on the stereo, the lines:

"धुआँ छँटा खुला गगन मेरा
नई डगर नया सफ़र मेरा"

capture the mood perfectly.

Exiting Delhi, the world-class Delhi-Meerut expressway makes you go, "So elegant, looking like a wow!" A flawless drive for the next half-hour until we veer off at Dasna towards Hapur. The high rises of Indrapuram, a fast-developing suburb, jut out into the sky.

"We all prefer robotic surgery," says a hospital ad. Technology is catching up fast under our noses. I read somewhere that robotic surgeries have become so cost-effective that hospitals are pushing patients to opt for them.

After Ghaziabad, we pass through the sugarcane belt, though there are only patches of the crop standing. The harvesting of Rabi wheat, as happens in April, is in full progress. Once you cross Hapur town, you enter the "dhaba land". Your humble writer tucked into a parantha at the famous Shiva Dhaba.

I arrive at my first major stop, entering Moradabad through the delightfully named "jigar dwar."

Moradabad: Smart City

We navigate the narrow lanes of Moradabad town. It is just before 9 am. Shops are beginning to open. Moradabad finds a place among the 100 "smart cities." Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had inaugurated a spate of projects only a few days ago.

I stopped to ask for directions. Mohammed Anas, an e-rickshaw driver, is busy starting his day. I ask him whether the smart city project has taken off. He says he is not a fan of the BJP, but agrees that "work has been done." He says he charges his e-rickshaw at a terminal constructed as part of the smart city scheme.

But it has be to mentioned that the overall city infrastructure needs a massive lift. The work can start with tackling the ubiquitous open sewerage problem.

I chat with a few young people about politics. They like the new Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate, Ruchi Veera, the former Bijnor member of legislative assembly (MLA), but did not think that she would win.

Veera was chosen after a major drama unfolded as two candidates, one from Akhilesh Yadav's side and one from Azam Khan's side, submitted their applications (same with Rampur!).

S T Hasan, the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), withdrew his application. Azam Khan's side won the battle of attrition. But I was told that the SP is split down the middle between the two factions.

The BJP has fielded Sarvesh Kumar Singh, who won in 2014 but lost to Hasan in 2019. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded Irfan Saifi, which will help the BJP by splitting the Muslim vote. It is advantage BJP here.

I cross Ramganga River out of Moradabad on to Rampur.

Rampur: Akhilesh Vs Azam Khan Overshadows NDA Vs INDI Alliance

The areas under Rampur, Mordabad, and nearby from Rohilkhand are taking after the Rohilla Muslims that came from Afghanistan in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Their squabbles with the Nawab of Oudh and the betrayals are legendary.

Rampur's population is 42 per cent Muslim. Azam Khan is the dada of the town. He won in 2019 after defeating actress Jaya Pradha of the BJP. He resigned as an MP after he won the Rampur assembly seat.

The BJP won the bypoll. Azam Khan got disqualified after being convicted in a cheating case. He is serving multiple prison sentences at Sitapur jail. Rampur is known for its knives! It shows in its politics.

Both Rampur and Moradabad go to polls in the first phase on 19 April. But there is absolutely no election mahaul (environment)! I saw virtually no campaigning.

As in Moradabad, there was SP infighting with multiple candidates filing nominations. Muhibullah Nadvi, who is the cleric of the mosque in Delhi Parliament Street, has emerged as the "final candidate."

The BSP has fielded Zeeshan Khan. The BJP is fielding sitting MP Ghanshyam Lodhi, a powerful Other Backward Classes (OBC) leader. The BSP is accused of being the BJP's B Team, tacitly cutting into SP's vote. The SP-BSP combine in 2019 was unable to take on the BJP. So, Lodhi sees an easy win.

I try to talk to a young couple in the bazaar (market). They just smile and say "Modi, Modi" and move on. Maybe the words are just superfluous!

I cross the Devha River into Pilibhit. It is the home to producing the best flutes in India, courtesy the bamboos that grow around the town.

Not surprisingly, in the "One District, One Product" scheme, the flute is the chosen product.

I went in search of the largest flute manufactures in town. Arman Nabi shows around his shop. He says the scheme is yet to take off and that not many are aware of this scheme.

But he is happy that flute is the chosen product. His firm exports flutes to Europe, the US, and the Middle East. He says he is not interested in politics and wants to focus on his business.

In Pilibhit, the BJP has replaced Varun Gandhi with Jitin Prasada. Pilibhit has a long association with the "Gandhi family" of the BJP, with Maneka also representing the constituency for a long time.

He was positive about Jitin Prasada also. He says the opposition is irrelevant (Bhagwat Saran Gangwar is the SP candidate). My interviewee said that it did not matter who the candidate was, as a Modi-Yogi wave has gripped all of UP!

I am now eastward-bound!

This report is part of Swarajya's 50 Ground Stories Project - an attempt to throw light on themes and topics that are often overlooked or looked down. You can support this initiative by sponsoring as little as ₹2999. Click here for more details.