Lok Sabha Elections 2024: SP looks to regain its bastion as BJP deploys heavyweights to conquer Azamgarh

Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh): Considered to be a Samajwadi Party (SP) bastion, primarily owing to the ‘MY’ (Muslim-Yadav) factor— Azamgarh is one of the few districts in Uttar Pradesh which stood by the SP even when the state witnessed a ‘Modi wave’ in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Muslims and Yadavs, who together form around 50 per cent of the electorate, have always been the deciding factor in the polls in Azamgarh. In 2014, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav had defeated his BJP rival by over 62 thousand votes and in 2019, SP president Akhilesh Yadav romped home by over 2.60 lakh votes.

In the by-poll held here following Akhilesh’s resignation, BJP nominee and Bhojpuri film actor Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua defeated SP’s Dharmendra Yadav by eight thousand votes. BSP nominee Guddu Jamali had then dented the Muslim vote bank of the SP securing around 2.5 lakh votes and ensured the BJP victory.

The situation has changed this time as Guddu Jamali has joined the SP, which also made him a member of the state legislative council. Although the BSP has again fielded a Muslim candidate from here, he does not seem to be in the contest and is not expected to divide the Muslims votes as Jamali did in the by-poll.

While BJP has re-nominated Nirahua, the SP has fielded Dharmendra Yadav, who is Akhilesh’s cousin.

Realising that the caste equations are not in its favour, the BJP has been trying to rake up ‘’Hindutva, Ram Temple’’ and ‘development’ besides making attempts to make a dent into the ‘Yadav’ vote bank of the SP through Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav.

Prime minister Narendra Modi visited Azamgarh twice in the past two months and addressed public meetings. Mohan Yadav also visited the constituency and interacted with Yadav community leaders in a bid to garner support of the community.

'’Yadavs are rooting for the SP....Mohan Yadav will not be able to make any difference here....no one knows him,’’ says Mahendra Yadav, a resident of the town. He also said that unemployment was a big issue for the youths here. ‘’A large number of youths migrate to bigger cities like Surat, Kolkata and Mumbai in search of employment as there are no jobs here,’’ Mahendra said.

A large number of people, especially Muslims, from Azamgarh also work in the Gulf countries though they are mainly engaged in construction, carpentry and similar jobs.

The famous Banarasi silk saree manufacturing hub of Mubarakpur in the district has been severely affected by rising cost of raw materials and shooting electricity charges. It also appears that BSP candidate Mashhud Ahmed will not be able to divide the Muslim votes the way Jamali was able to do in the by-poll. ‘’The Muslims will by and large support the SP....Guddu Jamali has been working to prevent division in the Muslim votes,’’ says Abdul Samad, a resident of Takiya locality in the town.

Nirahua cites development of the constituency during the BJP rule to seek votes and also stresses that he too is a ‘Yadav’. ‘’For the SP, only Akhilesh’s family has Yadavs....he can’t think beyond his family,’’ he says in his election speeches.

‘’BJP has support of the upper castes.....SP will stand to benefit if there is no division in the Muslim-Yadav votes.....we expect a keen contest,’’ says Ranvijay Chaube, a local scribe. He, however, said that unemployment, competitive exam paper leaks were also issues in the elections here.

Another factor which appears to be going in favour of the SP is that all the five MLAs under the Azamgarh LS constituency are from the SP. Despite sweeping other parts of the state in the 2022 assembly polls, the BJP failed to dislodge SP from the district.

Almost all top leaders of the BJP, including Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, have addressed election allies here. Akhilesh Yadav also addressed an election rally at Saraimir on Tuesday, which witnessed a near stampede like situation.

It remains to be seen if the saffron party will be able to capture the SP bastion again. Polling will be held here on Saturday, May 25, in the sixth phase of elections.