Voting is to be held in the first phase on all five seats of Uttarakhand. There is a lot of campaigning going on, but this time the wind seems to be against BJP. The reason is that the anti-incumbency wave is so strong that opposition candidates are getting people’s support without making any special efforts.
उत्तराखंड: लोकसभा चुनाव में इस बार बदला-बदला सा है जनता का मूड; अंकिता कांड, जोशीमठ, मुसलमानों को निशाना और अग्निवीर योजना पर नाराजगी…
Voting for all five Lok Sabha seats of Uttarakhand will be held on April 19. Well, the situation in Uttarakhand is no different from other parts of the country in the sense that this Lok Sabha election largely seems to be turning into a contest between BJP versus the general public. Its effect is that the opposition candidates who are fighting with BJP are getting public support without doing anything special.
The BJP has been in power in the state for ten years and had won all five Lok Sabha seats in 2019 as well as 2014. But this time the situation seems to have changed. Anti-incumbency wave has gripped BJP. The population of the state is about one crore and in this Hindu majority state, the population of minority communities is less than 18 percent in which Muslims constitute 14 percent.
Muslims on target
Well, this is a do or die election for BJP. Under the rule of Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand seems to be becoming the second laboratory of Hindutva after Gujarat. Dhami has taken several steps targeting Muslims, including bringing the Love Jihad Bill. Tombs and mosques built on alleged government land were demolished, while no such action was taken against temples. Uniform Civil Code is also considered to be another such step but it has not become a popular election issue.
If we look at the campaign, BJP is visible everywhere with cutouts, posters and hoardings. Campaign vehicles of other parties including Congress are hardly visible and the opposition is largely missing from local to national media. Nevertheless, dissatisfaction is clearly visible at the grassroots level and this is causing internal restlessness in the BJP.
Uttarakhand has five Lok Sabha constituencies – Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Almora and Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar.
Displeasure over Agniveer scheme
Uttarakhand is home to more than 1.9 lakh former defense personnel, including 50 thousand widows of martyrs. ‘Fauji vote’ plays an important role in any election. This time the anger against the Agniveer scheme can be clearly seen and ex-servicemen across the state are demanding its withdrawal.
A large group of ex-servicemen went to meet General VK Singh (retd) in Dehradun on April 13 and asked him to withdraw the Agniveer scheme as it has affected every second family in the state. The Center had sent Singh to talk to them and calm their anger. But the voice of the people was ignored.
At the forefront of the target of ex-servicemen is the state Home Minister Ganesh Joshi, who is also the Soldier Welfare Minister. Joshi’s public meetings were being boycotted and on some occasions the atmosphere became so bad that he could not even get out of his car.
BJP candidates are facing anger
Ganesh Joshi is not the only BJP candidate to face the anger of the people. Earlier this month, Maharani Rajlakshmi Shah, who won Tehri Lok Sabha seat for BJP in three consecutive parliamentary elections, had reached Garhi Cantonment in Dehradun to talk to people of Nepali origin. Joshi was with him. People surrounded both of them and did not allow them to address the meeting. This anger against the Queen is clearly visible even in her own constituency as people complain that despite repeated requests, none of their problems have been resolved.
Shah is facing challenge not from Congress’s Jot Singh Gunsola but from Uttarakhand Unemployed Union President Bobby Panwar. Panwar is contesting the elections as an independent candidate and is popular among the youth as he promises to fight for education and jobs.
Shadow of ‘Agniveer’ on social relationships
The shadow of Agniveer Yojana is also falling on social relationships. Raman Singh of Pithoragarh, a district bordering Nepal, says, ‘The youth from our place who joined the army used to have marital relations from Nepal, they had no problem in finding brides there. But now no one wants to marry their daughter to ‘Agniveers’ because there is no job security in it nor are they entitled to other benefits including pension.
Agniveer is not the only issue that has turned the public against the ruling dispensation. Anil Baluni, the BJP candidate in Pauri Garhwal constituency, is seen as an outsider who has served as media advisor to the Modi government. Baluni is in the fray against former Congress state president Ganesh Godiyal. Baluni is hoping to cash in on ‘Modi’s third wave’. Enumerating the achievements of the Modi government, he mentions the Char Dham project which has boosted domestic tourism.
Shadow of Ankita scandal
Pauri Garhwal is a large constituency covering Srinagar, Joshimath, Kotdwar and Landsdowne. But the atmosphere in Pauri Garhwal does not seem to be in favor of BJP. The atmosphere in Srinagar is also against because the state government has failed to arrest the main culprit in the Ankita Bhandari murder case. Joshimath as well as entire
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