Bypassing the votes

And politicos, regardless of which party they belong, sing paens to the highway—or ‘‘four lane’’ as it is referred to in rural Uttar Pradesh. They will tell you that thanks to the GQ, unskilled ‘khet mazdoor’ have got work that gives them much more than the minimum wage; that farmers who lost their land have received handsome compensation that have made many rich overnight; and that shops have started sprouting along the new highway that will help their economy in the long run.

But even as they hold forth on the gains and back it up with precise details, they are united in one thing—the Prime Minister’s ‘‘dream project’’ will have no impact on the voting pattern in this under-developed but highly politicized constituency, come polling day on May 5.

We are a few kilometres off Thariaon (a kasba which the GQ bypasses) at a junction of four villages. Gram pradhans and block presidents have gathered here to attend a meeting called by the district administration on the peaceful conduct of polls.

And as they wait, the discussion veers to politics and elections and the highway. And while their views on politics differ, Congress activist Nirmal Tiwari, BSP gram pradhan Jiya Lal Paswan, and a BJP block president Sachishankar Shukla, all say the same thing—‘‘vote ka 4-lane se kuch matlab nahin hain’’ (the 4-lane has nothing to do with the vote). Even Ismail Ahmad, a village youth who has got a ‘‘permanent’’ job with the CDS-Mukund company that is constructing the Asapur-Khaga stretch on which Fatehpur lies, isn’t going to vote any differently.

And it is BJP’s Shukla who provides the clue as to why Vajpayee’s crowning achievement is not making political waves. ‘‘4-lane to sarkar kar rahi hain, party se kya matlab?’’ (the 4-lane is being constructed by the government, not the party), he says.

The GQ may have touched their lives tangentially, but it is still too remote, too impersonal to be considered a vibrant poll issue. Besides, as Maulvi Riazuddin of Berhampur village says, ‘‘Isn’t it the job of the sarkar to make roads?’’

And unlike middle class India which sees this election as a vote for the PM rather than an MP, in the villages near Thariaon everyone talks of local factors—the performance of the MP, MLA, block pramukh, gram pradhaan.

There are the usual complaints of non-performance against sitting MP Ashok Patel and sitting MLA Krishna Paswan (both of whom belong to the BJP). And then there is the ever present caste factor.

In Fatehpur, elections are closely fought. In 1999, the BJP won the seat by a margin of just a thousand odd votes. The BSP came second, the Samajwadi Party a close third, and even the Congress secured a respectable 98,000 votes.

A large number of villagers at the Thariaon gathering spoke in the Congress’ favour—indicating that the party may improve and could even spring a surprise.