“There is a downfall in incidents related to goondaism and corruption but unemployment has risen…BJP is not fighting on the issue of development, they are fighting on the issue of Hindu-Muslim. Development won’t happen this way,” says Rajdeep Singh Patel, member of the panchayat in Mirzapur’s Bhawa village, outside his house.

Once known for its carpet-weaving industry, which has shifted to the neighbouring Bhadohi, Mirzapur is now a household name courtesy an Amazon Prime crime caper, if not as among India’s 250 most backward districts.

The district, which will go to the polls in the last phase on March 7, has five assembly seats; all won by the BJP and Apna Dal (S) alliance in 2017. In 2012, the SP had won three seats while the remaining saw a BSP and Congress victory. It is considered an Apna Dal (S) stronghold – party chief Anupriya Patel has twice been elected to parliament from the constituency. She belongs to the Kurmi community whose 2.5 lakh voters were instrumental in her victory.

Kurmis, Maurya, Nishad, Binds and Mallahs are key voters while the Rajbhars are numerically low – all belong to OBC sections. There are four lakh Dalits, 1.9 lakh Brahmins, 1.9 lakh Vaishysa, over 90,000 Thakurs and 1.2 lakh Muslims in Mirzapur.

In July 2021, Anupriya Patel was inducted into the cabinet by the Modi government – a move seen as a bid to woo OBC voters who previously voted for the BJP. But ahead of an election that is being seen as the first real electoral test for incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath, several OBC leaders recently quit the BJP to join the SP.

Newslaundry visited Bhawa and Devpura of Marihan constituency and Kushiara and Rampur Naudiha of Channbey seat to gauge the pulse on the ground.

Jobs, caste census demands

In Marihan, there is a significant presence of OBC families – with Patel as surname – who belong to the Kurmi community. The seat is represented by BJP minister Rama Shankar Singh Patel who is in the fray again.

With a growing chorus of political parties demanding a caste census, a section of Kurmis wants to vote for a party that pushes such a move. The BJP at the Centre seems reluctant on the issue of caste census while party ally Anupriya Patel had recently said that she was in favour of one.

“Such a census hasn’t been done in a long time and once there is clarity regarding the number of OBCs and SC, everyone will get their right…whoever will talk about the welfare of backwards, we will vote for that party,” says Rajdeep. “If BJP is not fighting on issues, then Apna Dal should’ve walked out,” says Rajdeep, adding that he does not find much substance in Yogi Adityanath’s much-publicised ‘soch imaandar, kaam damdaar’ poll campaign.

While Rajdeep lists highway projects and the Vindhyanchal Corridor as initiatives likely to benefit the area, several others point to rising unemployment.

Sangeeta, 38, Rajdeep’s sister-in-law feels more job opportunities need to be created for women at the village level “for those women who’ve done a diploma course or completed graduation, and can’t go to far off places since they have a family to take care of”.

Asked about government schemes launched by the Centre and state in the wake of pandemic, she says, “Yes, we are getting chana and dal for free but we want jobs so that we are able to earn some money. We don’t want to eat two meals a day for free.”

In Marihan, Apna Dal (Kamera) candidate Avdhesh Singh Patel, contesting on the SP symbol, has been talking about a string of sops for students and farmers and reservation based on caste census.

Dhananjay Kumar Singh, 20, completed a diploma course in 2019 and has since been trying to get a government job. “There are not enough government vacancies and whatever is on offer, we want our hissa (share),” he says, referring to the ongoing protest against an alleged scam and low OBC and SC quota appointments in the recruitment of 69,000 teachers by the Yogi government.

Sumit Singh, 21, who is still pursuing his graduation, is worried that the PET (preliminary eligibility test) meant for lekhpal and village development officer appointments may meet a similar fate. “Now that PET has been made as the mandatory qualifying exam, will those from OBC get their due quota?”

Ailing MSME sector

As one travels from Prayagraj to Mirzapur, the roadside is dotted by fields and kuccha houses with hardly any carpet factory in sight. A large white board on the national highway connecting Prayagraj to Mirzapur promotes Saraswati Hi-Tec City, which was among 23 projects launched by then CM Akhilesh Yadav in 2015 and touted as an industrial model township. But seven years later, it remains a work-in-progress.

44-year-old Mumtaz Ahmed, a weaver by profession, had filled a form related to the ODOP (One District One Product) scheme in 2020 – launched in 2018, it aims to offer financial aid to local artisans in order to boost the MSME sector. With three handlooms installed at his home in Bhawa, Ahmed had 15 labourers working under him in shifts. But he had to let go of around a dozen workers in the last one year.

He says the district industries office had cleared his file but the money was never released by the bank. “I had submitted all the necessary documents at the district industries office and was interviewed by the concerned officials as well. I was told that the project has been cleared. Since then I have been following-up with the bank but to no avail,” he told Newslaundry.

Pointing to a certificate issued by the carpet export promotion council in 2019, he says, “Bade mann se banwaya tha (I got this made with a lot of hope).”

A few kilometres away, in Devpura, we met voters satisfied with the BJP’s initiatives.

Suresh Singh, 73, says, “(Work of) police and administration is fine. We are getting ration and Modi-ji is sending Rs 6,000 twice a year,” he says referring to the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana for small and marginal farmers. As a farmer, his only grouse is the sale of produce at low rates.

While Singh expresses satisfaction over the new street light in front of his house, with a banner mentioning the Atal Jyoti Yojana and Anupriya Patel, his neighbours point to the pucca road in the village with new bus stops.

Mirzapur is among 16 districts in Uttar Pradesh where the percentage of Kurmi voters is between 6 and 11 percent – enough to swing a vote. Many political analysts attribute the BJP’s 2017 electoral success to the Narendra Modi wave and consider 2022 to be a real test for incumbent CM Adityanath.

Ramjeeyut, a Dalit in Bhawa, says, “Back in 2017, we had voted for BJP thinking that the Gujarat model will be implemented here as well…the SP government did bring in ambulance service and started 100 helpline number. But we might vote where everyone else is voting.”

Several opposition parties, including the SP, have promised a string of sops for students, farmers and other sections. The SP has also promised a caste census. But will it be the SP-led alliance this time?

Several villagers in Marihan disagree, saying that they can’t vote for the SP as “we are never on good terms” with the Yadav community.

In a village in Chhanbey, ‘no road, no vote’

In tribal-dominated Chhanbey, it takes around three hours to cover the 16 km stretch from the highway to Rampur Naudiha village – the village has never seen a road in the last 70 years.

The mood is sombre; Bhane, a daily wager, mourns his wife who died after she collapsed while lifting bricks. Before Bhane could take her to hospital, it was “too late”. “It all happened because of the bad road. She was conscious…but we couldn’t take her to the hospital as it takes two hours to reach there,” he claims.

Kalawati Devi, who lives in the Kushiara village nearby, claims “pregnant women have had miscarriages” due to a bumpy ride. Residents of this village have now launched a ‘no road, no vote’ campaign.

In Chhanbey, incumbent MLA Rahul Prakash Kol of Apna Dal (S) is pitted against Kirti Kol of the SP.

“It seems that those elected from this area simply lack the will to bring development,” says Arun Singh, an activist. “A large number of people here belong to the Kol tribe and they had expectations” he says, alleging discrimination in terms of development works in a Kol-dominated area compared to another village dominated by Kurmis.

Because of the kuccha road, girls often miss out on studies. Poonam Pal, 18, who is pursuing BA from a college 30 km away from her village, says, “If we have papers back to back, there are days when we miss out.”

Aakash Kumar, another villager, says, “We are totally cut off from the block mukhyalaya. It’s a dire situation for us, especially if any emergency arises.”

Pointing a poster urging all villagers to “ask for a road from anyone coming to campaign this time around,” Aakash says “thank you” for “listening to us”. The media barely visits, says Arun.

With inputs from Dinesh Patel in Mirzapur. Pictures by Akanksha Kumar.