Hridayapath, Dispatch 3: The Uttar Pradesh Capstone — Election Trail Chronicles From Ghaziabad To Kushinagar

Hridayapath dispatches mostly focus on detailed interviews about what local citizens think about and yearn for from their political leaders. But this one will be slightly different. It will give short summaries of a few key political happenings and some observations on development in a few constituencies. They are useful for a few reasons:

First, a long trip involves a lot of "small talk" with people, usually at chai shops, restaurants, fuel stations, etc. They provide the "executive summaries" of the decision-making process. Political junkies, like you dear reader, might hair-split and overthink about the ways of the world. But normal people choose based on a few simple factors.

Second, it will be interesting to know about political happenings in the constituencies, where you do not stop to have long conversations, that fall along the route.

Third, the BJP is full of churn with the frequent "discarding of the old and ushering the new." One has to keep track.

Fourth, some developments are interesting and very visible.

Fifth, what is travel without philosophical musings after all?

So, I present titbits from the eastern end (Ghaziabad) to the western end (Kushinagar) and a few in between.

Ghaziabad — The general retires

General VK Singh won Ghaziabad with a margin of over 5 lakhs in 2019, in one of the best wins for the BJP. Yet, he was dropped and replaced by Atul Garg this time around. It seems that BJP ruthlessly pursues organisation renewal along with the pursuit of victory.

PM Modi was doing a roadshow in Ghaziabad a few days ago. That evening, I was browsing a few local Hindi News channels. A random supporter cried, "Ab ki baar, 800 paar!" The panel went bananas as they dissected the comment for the next 10 minutes. It was unreal!

Meerut — "Ram" returns home

Hapur district became a part of the Meerut constituency after the creation of Ghaziabad. Rajendra Aggarwal, the three-time BJP MP, had just managed to scrap through with a margin of 4000 votes in 2019.

He is now replaced by "Ram ji" himself. Arun Govil, who played the lead role in the popular TV show based on the Ramayana, is the BJP candidate. Apparently, he grew up in Meerut. But, he now lives in Andheri! He faces SP's Sunita Verma Pradhan.

Atul Pradhan's candidacy was announced first and then replaced, making it yet another case of embarrassment for SP. PM Modi did not miss a chance to mock the many candidate replacements of SP.

Bareilly — An urban star in the making

Bareilly reminded me about the lesson from history class. During the First War of Independence, in 1857, the freedom fighters had captured this town. Also, the Barelvi sect of Islam grew out of here!

The most heart-warming part was travelling inside Bareilly city is to see that the urban infrastructure and cleanliness are top-notch. The flyovers make travelling smooth. It is also part of the "Smart City" project. A new metro is in the works! There is a fairly big industrial area as well. So watch out for this city!

Politically, Bareilly is synonymous with Santosh Gangwar, a MoS in PM Modi's council of ministers. He has been the MP for 30 of the last 35 years. Due to age factor, he has been replaced with Chattrapal Gangwar this time.

Apparently, the party workers are unhappy with the dropping of the grand old man of the city. It is understandable given that Santosh Gangwar has been around for a long time. He is known for making it a point to attend major family functions of karyakartas.

Lakhimpur Kheri — Two big BJP leaders

There are two parliamentary constituencies that are part of the Lakhimpur Kheri district — Kheri and Dhaurehra (not to be confused with Dharuhera of Haryana). Surprisingly, both of these constituencies produced important BJP leaders viz. Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri and Rekha Verma from Dhaurehra. The former is MoS Home and the latter is a vice-president of BJP.

An unremarkable place producing two important leaders. Both are expected to sail through in 2024. Ajay Mishra got into a controversy when his son allegedly rammed through people during the protest against farm laws. He allegedly manhandled journalists too!

There are a few sugar mills around this place. And the omnipresent and heavily polluting brick kilns! Is anybody thinking about the electrification of these? In a podcast, economist Neelkanth Mishra said that state governments don't even have an idea of the number of brick kilns!

Gorakhpur — The old city woes

A huge fertiliser plant welcomes you after crossing the Mahesara River into Gorakhpur. It is home to the Gorakhnath Matha and the legendary Geeta Press. CM Yogi still visits the Matha quite frequently. I spoke with an elderly couple about the chances of BJP. They smiled at me and almost said, "Dude! Ravi Kishan is expected to win big again."

Gorakhpur seems to have quite a few big hotels. I saw a Radisson, Marriot and Sarovar Portico. There is also a new AIIMS. Though the suburbs are clean and orderly, it becomes an urban nightmare as you get closer to the inner city.

It cries for even basic urban management. There are no one-ways. People park everywhere even in narrow lanes making traffic utterly chaotic. I think there is a need for traffic management and a parking revolution in tier-2 and tier-3 cities as the vehicle density shoots up rapidly.

I switched on the FM. The best representation of what the young people are thinking usually shows-up in the ads. There were ads about schools with best coaching classes, the best IVF clinics and there was even one about a theme park. There was one about the best place to get solar panels. The RJ cracked a funny one about a young man mocking his boss through a script produced through AI!

Kushinagar — The Buddha's last sigh

Avinash Verma, the hotel manager at Kushinagar is a funny guy. I ask him about the chunav. He said there is nothing more to say other than a Modi win.

There is a sizeable chunk of Bumihar Brahmins here. Vinay Dubey, the sitting MP has got the ticket again and he is expected to win handsomely. When I told Avinash that I was travelling towards Bihar, he quipped that Bihari people are jealous of them because of the fast development happening in UP. He also said that Biharis have a new liking for Kushinagar after the alcohol prohibition came into effect in Bihar.

Close to the hotel where I stayed, was the Parinirvan Kshetra of Lord Buddha. I paid a visit at 6:30 am before I started the day. I was quite surprised to see foreign tourists in the middle of singing their prayers.

Did you know that after Buddha's enlightenment at Gaya, he wondered if what he had experienced could even be shared with common people? After persuasion from the Gods, he attempted to impart wisdom, till his end at Kushinagar.

Endnotes

As I travelled in the great Gangetic plain with continuous greenery, I wondered about the past and the future. It is surreal to think about how our ancestors moved en masse into these same fertile lands. With such natural riches, I am confident that these poor regions will prosper again in the coming age of modern agribusiness.

I was thrilled as I scribbled in my notes that there was not a single stretch of bad road from Ghaziabad to Kushinagar. Such a fantastic achievement! Kudos to Nitin Gadkari and the government for making great Indian road trips possible!

Ok, you ask what is the "executive summary" of the small-talks? Here I go:

1. PM Modi is honest and cares for the poor

2. Free ration is very helpful

3. Gundagardi is almost over

4. YouTube informs and provides relief

5. Sab accha chal raha hai 

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.

Read the first article in this series here, and the second here.