Ranipur, a village that voted for Mayawati in 2007

Ranipur, Gonda, Uttar Pradesh: Right outside the Shaheed-e-Aazam Sardar Bhagat Singh College grounds in Gonda, where Mayawati delivered her sixth campaign speech in the run up to UP 2012, is Prahlad Kumar’s shop where for the last 25 years he has been selling puffed rice and roasted peanuts to passers by. Gonda is among the 10 districts that will go to polls in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections on 8 February. Mayawati’s rally seems to have brought Prahlad some brisk business. Asked why he didn’t go to the rally he says, “We are daily labourers. If we don’t earn, we don’t eat. I considered going, but then when customers started pouring in, I realised it was better not to go. But I have gone to many rallies before. Had it been somewhere else, I would have gone. We are usually informed that there is such and such a rally and that we all have to go. And so we go.” On 2 February, two days before Mayawati’s rally, Congress president Sonia Gandhi kicked off her election campaign from the same district, which is incidentally Lok Sabha MP Beni Prasad Verma’s constituency.[caption id=“attachment_203632” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Prahlad with his family at his two-room mud-brick house at Ranipur village in Gonda. Naresh Sharma/Firstpost”]  [/caption] Auguring badly for the Congress, Beni Prasad, the Congress’s chief election strategist who has had the last word on ticket distribution in the region - was given a black reception when he showed up with Sonia Gandhi. Booed by the crowd, he wasn’t even allowed to speak at the rally. The Gonda assembly seat—the district has seven assembly seats—was won by the BSP in the last election replacing an SP MLA in the Vidhan Sabha. The story of Gonda in many ways is the story of Uttar Pradesh. The district is among the 43 in the UP that is receiving grants under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) and has changed little—in terms of civic amenities—in the last decade or so that political parties of different hues have come and gone. It has however, made some strides in literacy and improved sex ratio since 2001. According to the 2011 census, the average literacy rate of Gonda is 61.16 percent compared to 42.59 percent in 2001. The sex ratio that stood at 906 females per 1000 males in 2001 improved to 922 in 2011. The average national sex ratio in India is 940 as per the latest reports of Census 2011 directorate. In the upcoming election, Prahlad who is a regular voter is rooting for the BSP. “I vote both in the state and Central elections. But seems as though politicians think that is all we are good for - voting. Very few politicians come back after the election. Only those who have the time can run after the MLA to get their work done.” Prahlad shows us the half-constructed approach road to his village Ranipur, which is about kilometre from city. “For the first time in my lifetime this road has been paved. And that too, only half-way. It was made four months go.” In time for the elections, it seems. The sitting MLA Mohammed Jaleel Khan hasn’t been given a ticket this time. It is a strategy Mayawati has employed widely in the state to fight the anti-incumbency. The trick seems to have worked with the people of Ranipur, who seem to be willing to give the BSP a second chance with new candidate. “I had gone Jaleel bhai’s election rally last time. Now Mohammad Sageer Usmani is standing on the BSP ticket. I hear he is a good candidate. Jaleel didn’t deliver and he hasn’t been given a ticket. Sageer Usmani will do a good job. So, I will give him a chance," says Prahlad. Similarly inclined is Manju Yadav, who runs a stationery shop with her husband in village. “We are thinking of giving BSP another go. If our plight remains unchanged, we might have to give up voting once and for all,” she says. “The main problem in our village is that we don’t have streets. I am an ASHA (Accredited Social Health Worker) worker and when there is a medical emergency we have to go round the village, wasting at least half an hour, to reach the district hospital. If only they would make a road directly linking us to the hospital, it would take us not more than five minutes to reach the hospital,” says Manju Yadav. What about the MLA before Jaleel Khan, did he develop the village in any way? “He was from Samajwadi Party, Vinod Kumar. Then too, our plight was the same,” says Manju, laughing. Power supply is a problem in Ranipur. A 100 watt bulb burns less dimly than a 60 watt bulb. The village has no streetlighting. “This village is on the border of the city. And yet, this is our plight. You can only imagine the condition of villages situated in the interiors.” The primary school, she says, is running well. “But the children have no playground. It has been taken up by the encroachers.” Pavan Kumar Yadav, an advocate who belongs to the neighbouring gram sabha Paska, talks about the problem of flooding in his village. “My village is 40 km from the city. The living conditions are much worse than here. The village roads are unpaved and being close to the Sarayu river, it is prone to flooding. The mid-day meal scheme is also not running properly,” he says. As Prahlad walks us to his house located right at the edge of Yadav basti, bordering with the Muslim neighbourhood, he talks about the government in power. “I think Mayawati’s government has done some good. It is my bad luck that I didn’t get a house in the government colonies that were built. But many other people have got houses.” Continued on the next page He lives in a two room brick and mud house with his wife and school going son. Prahlad earns between Rs 500-1000 a month. There is electricity and a hand pump for water fitted inside his house. He has a small colour TV which, he says, he bought a couple of months ago. “I’ve voted in five elections. And I will continue to vote. The candidate who has to win, will win. It will depend on how hard he works. But we have to vote for one or the other candidate. I think voting is a big and important job. Our future—dhandha, paani—depends on it. That is why I go before everyone else to cast my vote,” says Prahlad. The monthly rations, says Prahlad, are coming on time now. “Previously, we would get rations once in three months, but now it is alright. There is now a new lady official who is working well.” Asked about the law and order situation, which under the SP government had come to described as the ‘goonda or the mafia’ raj, Prahlad said, “All that has ended. There is no trouble now.” Ranipur village has a large Dalit-population and a sizeable Muslim and Yadav community. “This village has highest dalit population among the villages in this gram sabha,” says Manju Yadav. The communities live in geographically-segregated neighbourhoods in the village. Rambali Kumar, a student at Gonda’s Lal Bahadur Shashtri PG Government College, lives in the Dalit basti. Above the door to his house is pasted a BSP party sticker featuring Mayawati. Rambali says he attended Mayawati’s rally. “It was next to my college, so I went. I have seen Mayawati four or five times. I liked her speech.” Rambali is a final year BA student and is a preparing for the IAS (Indian Administrative Service). Asked what development he would like to see in his village, he says, “The sharab shop should be shut down. It causes a lot of disturbance to students who are studying. Also, the voltage is very low here. It is difficult for us students to study here,” says Rambali, who will be casting his vote for the second time. Did he go Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s rally in Gonda? “I don’t go much to rallies. Our focus should be on studies.” Gopi Chand is a labourer who also lives in the Dalit basti. “Nothing remarkable has happened in our village in all these years. Politicians have not even built us proper streets and drainage systems. Employment is a big problem.” He then volunteers, “It doesn’t seem like the Congress has much of chance here. I saw the crowd at the Sonia Gandhi’s rally. The Mayawati rally had more than double the crowd.” Member of the village Panchayat Jagram Yadav says, “Eighty percent of residents of the village are workers. Unemployment is a huge problem.” Asked whether the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is not being implemented, he says, “NREGA work is not happening here. No one in the village has a job card. No one in this village has got a job card yet. It will be useful if some industries come up here, it will be good for our youth.” On 8 February, Prahlad and rest of the village will vote along with hundreds of village in 10 districts. Last time, BSP won 30 of the 55 seats. On 6 March, when the results are announced, will reveal whether Mayawati continues to reign supreme in UP’s Awadh region.