Elections 2014: 5 questions buzzing in Varanasi as polls open

Varanasi, says a billboard welcoming visitors into the city, is the most mahatyapurn (significant) constituency in India for Lok Sabha 2014. Too bad, Amethi. But ironically, the 12 May election is hardly about Varanasi at all says Dipak Malik, retired professor of economics at Banaras Hindu University and president emeritus of the Gandhian Institute. This is really an election about the man who wants to be the next Prime Minister of India. And the man who wants to stop him. Varanasi is just the picturesque and potently symbolic launching pad replete with references to Ganga ma, Bismillah Khan, Muslim weavers and cries of Har Har Mahadev. [caption id=“attachment_1518637” align=“alignleft” width=“300”]  Arvind Kejriwal is confident of success in Varanasi. Reuters[/caption] The election is expected to have a high turnout. “People have the impression they are electing the Prime Minister directly. NaMo direct,” says Arun Pandey, a BJP supporter. But for the residents of Varanasi many questions are still hanging in the air, and buzzing in the paan shops, as they head into the polling booths. Will Arvind Kejriwal get the Muslim vote? “This time the election is being fought not in the names of Hindus and Musalmans, but in the name of insaniyat,” Arvind Kejriwal told the closing rally of his campaign. But that’s not entirely true. There are a little less than three lakh Muslim voters making them a most coveted voting bloc. “The Muslims will go for whoever they thinks has the most chance to beat Modi,” says Kumar Bahadur Singh, a Congress leader, originally from Bihar. Kejriwal’s giant road rallies over the weekend were meant to convey exactly that message, that he could be the giant-killer. “That was a zabardast response to Modi’s road rally,” says Haji Mohammad Sohail sitting as his silk sari shop in Madanpura. “We were there to welcome Modi but he just went in his car with his Black Cats and didn’t get out. We call it a pack show, not a road show. Kejriwal went in an open truck among the people.” RN Tiwari, a local assistant professor of journalism, says he has heard from Urdu-press colleagues that key Muslim religious leaders held a meeting and at the Friday jummah asked their followers to vote for Kejriwal, and not split their votes among SP, BSP and Congress. But standing outside a paan shop near Madanpura and sipping tea, Salim Sivalari says this focus on the Muslims also worries him. “If Kejriwal loses, Muslim voters will get blamed," he says. “Why must only Muslims bear the burden of his loss, if it happens?” Did the final road rallies make a difference? The media trumpeted Rahul Gandhi’s “massive” rally in Varanasi but didn’t talk up Kejriwal’s far more impressive one in quite those terms. “It was not just the crowds, it was the expression on their faces,” marvels Ashok Sharma, a rickshaw puller who remembers when Lal Bahadur Shastri was the legislator from Varanasi. “But I’ve never seen anyone work as hard as Kejriwal, walking to villages in all that heat. “Modi-ji does 3D rallies but we want people to meet Arvind and ask him questions,” says Alka Lamba with the AAP campaign. ”We are bringing back hope to the system.” Modi, on the other hand, smartly used his cancelled rally as a way to claim victim-hood and gave the BJP an excuse to have both a road rally AND a dharna. “EC was scared of Modi rally. It shows we have a real wave," says Nirbhay Singh as he wished AAP supporters a sardonic “best of luck” during the Kejriwal road show. Will Narendra Modi actually have time for Varanasi if he wins? Rajnath Singh has tried to reassure the voters of Varanasi that the next Prime Minister of India will be from their city. But we thought, Baroda was his heart quips the Aam Aadmi Party. Modi has promised a PMO in the Varanasi but will he really be able to give it what it wants – his time? Murli Manohar Joshi, his predecessor, barely deigned to visit and if confronted with too many complaints about his city, apparently retorted he was not a corporator. The same question applies to Kejriwal too. Will he stick around wonders bookstore owner Rakesh Singh who says the “Delhi business put Kejriwal back 10 years. “Perhaps Kejriwal should have came to Varanasi and had a referendum first about whether to fight from here,” quips Singh who also is queasy about Modi because of 2002. Isn’t Aam Aadmi Party just a bunch of outsiders? “Not a single one of them will cast a vote,” said BJP supporter Arun Puri watching AAP workers setting up a rally near Lanka on Friday. But in a city also brimming with RSS pracharaks and VHP volunteers, the outsider charge is a little shaky. BJP supporters allegedly manhandled the Trinamool candidate and got into altercations with AAP supporters. “BJP is not a bad party but can Modi control its workers?” wonders Haji Mohammmad Sohail. “If AAP didn’t have its outside volunteers its local workers would be beaten up even more,” says Salim Sivalari. The road rallies are also meant to reassure the people watching that this was indeed not a ”krantikari andolan” entirely imported from Delhi. “I think only 5 percent seemed to from outside,” says barber Dil Mohammad who watched the rally go by. But what is true is that AAP style Gandhian politics feels a little alien in a part of the world where mafia bosses often call the shots. “Mafia grew when the state’s delivery mechanism failed and the musclemen multiplied and now mafia has a strong infrastructure,” says Dipak Malik. “I don’t know if Kejriwal can change that. He has very simplistic solutions to everything.” Will other parties rally around Kejriwal? If Kejriwal is to be a giant-killer he needs a coalition of the willing. There are already rumours that the BSP is helping with the prachaar. The Congress dialed down its campaign before Rahul Gandhi came to town but it’s still very much in the race. SP councillors like Shiv Kumar Singh have been seen on stage with Kejriwal says Salim Sivalari though AAP those are individual well-wishers not representatives of their parties. Also Kejriwal got the supporters of members of the local group Apna Dal says Malik. The influential Kurmi community who used to be very Communist joined the Apna Dal after Communists hit a rough patch. “They needed someone to support and Kejriwal was able to get that,” says Malik. On the other side, Modi supporters hope none of this will matter because Modi’s mantra of development will just cut across the usual caste lines. “We are hoping turnout will be 70 percent,” says Puri. In the end, if there’s anyone undecided on Monday, what will be key is who looks like a winner. That’s who people want to support. So both parties are confidently claiming victory. “It will be one-sided, a margin of two lakhs for Modi,” says Puri. “Narendra Modi, aap ki haar pakki,” says Kejriwal at his rally. The truth is more complicated perhaps best exemplified by the AAP office in Mehmoorganj. On Saturday as the campaigning ended Kailash Panda who works as a cook and caterer, squatted on his haunches looking at the bustling AAP office across the street as volunteers milled around the driveway. He pointed to the house next door which he said is owned by the landlord of the house AAP is using as its office. A BJP flag flew discreetly on it. “See, he supports Bhajpa but rents his house to the jhadoowallas,” chuckled Panda. In the most mahatyapurna constituency of Lok Sabha 2014, some people were planning to be on the winning side’s good books, one way or another.