Chordiha (Uttar Pradesh): India will come to know about the victors and the vanquished in the general elections on June 4, 2024. However, the residents of Chordiha, the largest village of the Dalits under the Salempur parliamentary constituency of Uttar Pradesh, have uncovered the “secret” behind the strength of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). They are deciphering the “mechanism” to counter it.
“The Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are the secret of Modi’s [Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s] success. If we are given ballot papers to cast our votes, the game will change,” said Shriramniwas Prasad, a resident of Chordiha village. He was playing cards along with his fellow villagers near an under construction house at the eastern edge of the village.
When asked how do they know that the EVMs are manipulated, Manoj Ram said, “Visit our booths on the polling day. You won’t find any of us voting for the BJP. But it will be a totally opposite result.”
They further underline that complaining to the electoral officials won’t be of much help. “Sab uskaa aadmi hai (all are BJP men),” said Sitaram, without mincing words in between inspecting his playing cards.
Another Ramashray Prasad suggested a way out, “Cast your votes by 12 noon. There will be less chances of manipulation.”
“Yes, yes!!! We will do that this time,” the others said in a chorus.
Sitaram added: “Over with casting our votes by 12 noon we should ask the presiding officers to seal the EVMs and go, depositing it at the strong room. Why should they stay till the late evening when all the votes are cast? They might use the time to manipulate the EMVs.”
The villagers vowed to not leave the polling booths till the EVMs are “sealed and packed off”.
A two–kilometer single-lane stretch branching out from the main Mehrauna-Gorakhpur highway at Kundaulia under the Deoria district of Eastern Uttar Pradesh takes one to Chordiha, inhabited largely by the Harijans — equivalent of what is known as the Jatavs of Western Uttar Pradesh to which the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati belongs — apart from the Dusadhs, Dhobis and other sub-castes of the Dalit community. It is said to be the largest village in the district and the “powerhouse” of the Dalit politics in the region.
Reasons for anger
The Chordiha residents appeared to be angrier with Modi than the BJP at large and had their own logic for it.
When asked why they were angry with the prime minister even when he got the Ram temple built at Ayodhya and everyone in the village might be getting five kilograms of food-grains and money under various welfare schemes initiated by the Modi government.
They said: “It’s the problem of you people. You come from faraway lands during the poll time and start asking jhooth-mooth ka sawal (unreal questions).”
“A youth from our community from the neighbouring Patna village was a good folk-singer. He uploaded a song on YouTube. The policemen arrested him and put him in jail. Now, we get the policemen visiting us invariably and looking or those who sing folk songs,” they added.
On being told that the police are under the state government headed by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Kishun replied, “But Yogi is under Modi. Once Modi is finished Yogi will be gone. And it’s Lok Sabha elections… It’s time to think of Modi, not others.”
At present, the BJP has 62 Lok Sabha MPs from Uttar Pradesh while its alliance partner Apna Dal has two MPs from the state.
The villagers were aware of the electoral bonds controversy and the Supreme Court’s verdict about it. Shriramniwas said, “Yes, Chud saheb [D.Y. Chadrachud] is an honest and fair judge. He has exposed the farce. But it’s not the end of the problem. The eventual solution lies in removal of Modi from power.”
“He (PM) has captured the State Bank of India with his own men. He removed Raghuram saheb (Raghuram Rajan) and deployed his own men in the banks,” he added.
Sitaram underlined that they know about all these developments at the national level since they have “mobile phones”. He added that they “watch and listen to the news on YouTube and Facebook”. Further, Sitaram pointed out that they discuss political issues among themselves and many youths in the villages “who are educated but don’t have jobs” explain the matters to them.
If not the BJP, whom will they vote for? “We will vote for Behanji [Mayawati’s BSP],” the villagers mentioned. .
When informed that Mayawati is said to be ‘clandestinely’ supporting the BJP under the pressure from the central bureau of investigation and the Enforcement Directorate, Ramashray Prasad argued with an air of finality, “These are all lies circulated by the BJP supporters. Behanji will never support the BJP.”
The villagers also believe that Mayawati will join hands with the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance which currently looks like offering the main challenge to the BJP. “You don’t know!! There is still time left. Antatogatwa alliance hoga (eventually there will be an alliance),” said Shriramniwas, adding, “Our only source of anxiety are EVMs. Nothing else can stop from driving Modi out of power.”
Also read: For All the Bluster, Why BJP Needs a Maha-Alliance in Uttar Pradesh
Out of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, 17 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes. The state will vote in all the seven phases — April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
The Chordiha residents firmly believe that the BJP won’t be able to win over 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls unlike the claim of ‘400-paar (over 400 seats)’ made by Modi and the other BJP leaders.
“Just move out to other villages two kilometers away from the Kundauli and Laar bazaar on the north and south of the Mehrauna-Gorakhpur highway, you will understand….” argued Ramashray, showing a cluster of seven houses all belonging to the Brahmin families on the western outskirts of the village with his index finger and saying, “Only the members at those seven homes will vote for Modi”.
Despite their anger against the BJP and also their collective will to drive the Hindutva party out of power, what the Chordiha residents might not understand is that Mayawati might go her separate way and they in no way represent the microcosm of a society as diverse and vast as the state of Uttar Pradesh. And their sentiment might not translate into what they wish in their own world confined within the periphery of the nondescript Chordiha village.
Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, author, media educator and independent researcher in folklore.
