Neha Lalchandani
Vajpayee’s Man Friday Lalji Tandon won the seat in 2009 and passed on the baton to another senior leader Rajnath Singh who, carrying forward Vajpayee’s legacy, emerged victorious in 2014 and 2019, and is looking forward to a hat-trick from the City of Nawabs which goes to polls on May 20.
In 2014, Singh bagged 54.43% of the votes polled, which went up to 56.64% in 2019, when he won the seat by a margin of 3.5 lakh votes against SP candidate Poonam Sinha. Though SP had contested the 2019 election in alliance with BSP, Singh won more votes than both the SP-BSP combine and Congress, which totaled 4.62 lakh votes.
Lucknow moves beyond
This year, Singh is up against sitting Samajwadi Party MLA from Lucknow Central, Ravidas Mehrotra and Sarwar Malik of the BSP. Singh is only the fourth non-Brahmin to have been elected from Lucknow.
Before him, three non-Brahmin MPs elected from Lucknow include BK Dhaon and Lalji Tandon, both Khatris, and Mandhata Singh. When Singh contested his first election from Lucknow in 2014, he faced Brahmin candidates from SP, BSP and Congress. Interestingly, none of the major parties has fielded a Brahmin candidate. Three main candidates belong to Thakur, Khatri and Muslim communities which shows that Lucknow is no longer voting on caste lines. Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency has over four lakh Muslims and an equal number of Brahmins, besides over two lakh Kayasthas. SP’s Ravidas Mehrotra is a socialist who became a legislator from the city for the first time in 1989. He has been to jail over 250 times in his career, mostly for ‘breach of peace’.
BSP’s Sarwar Malik started his career with students politics in 2012 and contested the Lok Sabha election from Lucknow on TMC’s ticket in 2014. He joined BSP in 2015 and was fielded by the party from Lucknow North assembly seat in the 2022 state elections.
Even as both the opposition candidates are toiling hard to make their mark in the face of BJP’s poll blitz, Rajnath is depending on the development plank to set the victory margin target of ‘5 lakh paar’ (victory margin of over 5 lakh votes).
‘Opposition face not visible’
While Rajnath Singh enjoys widespread popularity in the city, non-BJP supporters want to vote for INDIA bloc but many of them are not aware of the candidates that the opposition parties have fielded. A shopkeeper in Indiranagar, who did not wish to be identified, said: “I don’t know who the opposition has fielded. We have not seen any opposition candidate campaigning on this side of the city. However, I believe the INDIA bloc has shown significant improvement in garnering public support,” he said.
Rajnath’s popularity
In Indiranagar’s Bhootnath Market, Aslam, who runs a flower shop, says that people in Lucknow are not voting on caste or religious lines. “Singh’s image and the prestige of having a defence minister represent the constituency, is enough reason for many in the minority community to vote for him. Had it not been for Singh, maybe I would not have voted for BJP,” he said.
Vishal Singh, an entrepreneur, says, “He is a very dignified politician. I have never heard him speak ill about other politicians, a trait that is seldom seen. He gave Lucknow facilities like Shaheed Path and Outer Ring Road. He also ensured safety and security to residents in his last two terms.”
BJP continues to remain a popular choice for businessmen. Talking of the development brought in by BJP, they say that PM Narendra Modi remains the face of the party. “We don’t care whom the BJP fields as long as Modi is the PM. For me, Lord Ram and the nation are major election issues. Infrastructure development is taking place at a massive speed. The PM has a vision where he is not talking about 2029 but about 2047. People’s needs are being met, they are getting access to health and education,” said Sanchit Garg, an industrialist in the solar energy sector.
Issues: Unemployment a major concern
At the famous Sharma Tea Stall in the heart of the city, people continue to brave the scorching heat for a cup of tea and some political ‘gupshup’. Vipul Singh, a 26-year-old electrical engineer, voices the plight of many of his friends as he relates how several of them have had to change their fields as they could not find jobs. “I am working in sales. Over the past few years, I have filled forms for several jobs but there have been very few vacancies. There are hardly any permanent jobs and those available are on third-party payroll. Despite this, political parties are talking of caste and religion and are not discussing real issues,” he said.