Why Rajnath Singh is sweating in Lucknow despite the ‘wave’

Lucknow: For Rajnath Singh, it is perhaps the toughest challenge in his political career so far. Heading a party that is widely perceived as having an edge in the race for power in New Delhi, he has been forced to resort to every trick in the trade to ensure that he not only wins the Lok Sabha election from Lucknow, but does it with elan.

Rajnath faces the dual dilemma of facing the discontent among BJP cadre in Lucknow and not being a mass leader himself. Unlike Modi, Rajnath was not the demand of the BJP cadre in Lucknow, and indeed, the party’s top leadership took its time in deciding Rajnath’s name from Lucknow. The incumbent Lalji Tandon has been a household name in Lucknow and his appeal extends beyond BJP’s core voters. But ever since his son lost the 2012 Assembly election from Lucknow Tandon’s stock had gone down, and it was a foregone conclusion that he might miss the party nomination this time. The name of Lucknow mayor Dinesh Sharma had done the rounds but then Rajnath finally had his say.

There were initial reports that Tandon’s supporters were upset over the party’s decision and for a couple of days the BJP campaign appeared paralysed. However, Rajnath pacified
Tandon by making him in charge of the election campaign. But the popular support for Modi has not made Rajnath’s task any easier.

Rajnath had not been able to win the 1993 assembly election from Mahona in Lucknow, exposing his inability to connect to the masses and could win a by-election from Haidergarh in Barabanki in 2002 after he became the state’s chief minister. Known for his tough mannerisms and aloofness from party workers, “Rajnath does not enjoy much support among Brahmins, Muslims and Dalits,” according to a city BJP leader who wishes to remain unnamed.

However, this time Rajnath is doing everything a desperate politician does – meeting leaders of all religions, professionals’ groups and sections of society in a bid to seek their support. He recently met Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad who not only praised Rajnath, but also compared him to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying “Muslims are scared of Narendra Modi, but I see an image of Atalji in Rajnath Singh.” Rajnath also met Maulana Kalbe Sadiq and Maulana Khalid Rasheed. He went to a dargah wearing a skull cap – a pattern Modi has refused to follow.

Muslims number about 19-20 percent in Lucknow, and the arrival of actor Jaaved Jaferi as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate threatens to take away at least a small section of the community.

Rajnath also visited the major Gurdwara in Lucknow and met the priests and prominent Sikh leaders. He paid a visit to the prominent St Joseph’s Cathedral and sought blessings from the priest. He has met groups of doctors, CAs, teachers, lawyers, wholesale traders and small businessmen at different places to seek their support. The switching of loyalty towards Rajnath by a former Congress leader Dr Neeraj Bora, also a former president of Indian medical Association (IMA) Lucknow, has come as a shot in the arm for the BJP leader.

“The contest in Lucknow is no cakewalk for Rajnath. He is not familiar with the city or the local BJP set-up, and the other candidates are working much harder than him in their campaign,” says Sanjay Sahu, a trader who has been a BJP supporter but appears apprehensive this time. “He is no match to Vajpayee,” he adds.

That Rajnath would like to get the same support as Vajpayee did, was obvious on day one of his campaigning when he introduced Vajpayee’s trusted aide Shiv Kumar as his election manager and started his campaign with Vajpayee’s angvastra to complete the picture of being in the shadow of Vajpayee’s image.

But many Muslims point out that Vajpayee, a four-time MP from Lucknow, was loved for his personality and his ease with people, lacking greatly in Rajnath. “His inaccessibility to people and party workers has also gone against him,” says Syed Abbas Rizvi. On the other hand his opponents in Lucknow Abhishek Mishra and Rita Bahuguna Joshi are sitting MLAs from Lucknow North and Cantonment, respectively, and have the advantage of the connect established during the 2012 assembly election campaign. Even Nakul Dube of the Bahujan Samaj Party has been an MLA from Mahona (Lucknow) and was a minister in former BSP government.

Incidentally, all the three candidates are Brahmins and Rajnath’s supporters hope that the resultant division of Brahmin votes in Lucknow might help Rajnath. That he would not like to appear to be ignoring Brahmins was obvious from his Saturday (26 April) meeting with Congress veteran ND Tiwari when Singh not only touched Tiwari’s feet but sought his blessings, which Tiwari most readily gave, patting Singh’s cheeks with affection. The meeting surprised Congress leaders since Tiwari had publicly expressed his support for SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Brahmins are upset with BJP as they feel they have been ignored and marginalized in the party because of Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh and Amit Shah. They are being assiduously wooed by the SP through caste sammelans while the BSP already has a well-known Brahmin, Satish Chandra Mishra as her close confidant.

Rita Bahuguna has been conducting a door-to-door campaign and has been through by-lanes in her Assembly constituency area. Abhishek Mishra too has the advantage of being a familiar figure in Lucknow North Assembly constituency, while Rajnath does not have this connect.

“His inclination to portray himself as a national leader also does not count as a wise step as people expect their MP to be locally available,” says Dr R. Roychoudhury, a retired professor of Lucknow University.

A political party leader said on a condition of anonymity that “many BJP supporters are spreading the word of Modi jitao, Rajnath harao as they think Rajnath could create hurdles in Modi’s way to become the Prime Minister.” This feeling, he says, is common among the people as well.

However, BJP leaders exude confidence that Lucknow will elect Rajnath with a huge margin.

“The party campaign for Rajnath Singh is going strong and we have been promised support by many communities,” says a BJP spokesman. “A senior Kurmi leader will announce his community’s support for Singh in a day or two and Lalji Tandon is leaving nothing to chance to achieve a big victory for the BJP,” says he.

With electioneering scheduled to close on Monday evening (28 April), all candidates are giving the final push to their campaign and wait for the famous “last-minute wave” to swing the polling in their favour.