Polarising political ambiance in Alwar-Bharatpur takes a toll on BJP's performance in region

Rajendra Sharma

Infamous for cow vigilantism-related violence since 2014, the Alwar-Bharatpur region in Rajasthan chose to vote out the Bharatiya Janata Party from most of the constituencies that fall under the two major districts.

Out of the 11 Assembly seats in Alwar, BJP managed to win only two. The saffron party’s performance was worse in Bharatpur district where it lost on all seven seats. This is in contrast to the previous elections in which BJP had won 11 seats in Alwar and six in Bharatpur.

While BJP secured a win in Alwar Urban and Mundawar by a huge margin, Congress won four seats including Alwar Rural, Rajgarh-Laxmangarh, Kathumar, and Bansur.

In Alwar district, which has about six lakh SC voters, close to two lakh ST voters and about 3.5 lakh Muslim voters, the caste-religion factor is a crucial one. Several reasons alienated Dalit and Muslim voters leading to BJP’s decimation in these two districts.

Post the April 2 Bharat Bandh during which Dalits and other minority groups protested the Supreme Court ruling on SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, hundreds of Dalits and Muslims in the Alwar and Bharatpur regions were arrested and cases of arson and rioting were filed against them. In most cases, the youths failed to get bail and languished behind bars for months.

The dismal performance could also be attributed to other factors like the distribution of tickets and the presence of rebel candidates. After facing a huge loss during the bypolls in January this year, BJP shied away from giving tickets to several sitting and former MLAs who had been long expecting. Former BJP leader from Alwar, Gyan Dev Ahuja and sitting MLA Banwari Lal Singhal, who had made several anti-Muslim and pro-Hindutva comments during their last term, were among the leaders who were denied tickets by the BJP in an effort to pose that the party did not support hate speech and communal flare up, only symbolically.

Yogi's Hanuman lore goes in vain

Presence of new faces also caused a disconnect between the new candidates and the Dalits and Meo Muslims. While BJP struggled to build a bridge, the Bahujan Samaj Party encashed on the disenchantment and its hold in these two districts landed the party four seats out of the 18.

BSP focused on SC, Jat, and Gujjar voters in Kishangarh Bas while concentrating on Yadav and SC vote banks in Tijara. Similarly, in Bharatpur the attention was towards SC and Meo Muslims and on SC and Gujjars in Nadbai.

In an attempt to draw in more voters, the BJP also asked UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to campaign in these region and the latter conducted five rallies in Alwar and Bharatpur districts covering constituencies Alwar Rural, Ramgarh, Thanagazi, Tijara, and conducted one rally in Bharatpur. The UP CM also tried to woo Dalit voters by branding the Hindu deity Hanuman as a Dalit. These measures, however, failed to translate into winning voters for BJP.

"Party is now analysing the reasons for the big loss. BJP doesn't believe in caste-based politics. We had asked for votes from people belonging to all castes and religions. The party accepts the decision of the public," Sanjay Naruka, BJP’s Alwar District head said.

Talking about cow smugglers and those involved in mob lynching, he added that those involved in wrong doings will be published by law. "BJP had changed the Supreme Court decision to protect the benefits extended towards Dalits. We will try to assess why some people are upset with the party. The party will win with a big margin in Lok Sabha elections," Naruka said.

'Lok Sabha outcome will be worse'

According to the police sources, in Alwar district, about 664 cases of cow smuggling were registered in the last four years under the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter & Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995. The police have taken action against 803 alleged cow smugglers till now and recovered more than 2500 allegedly smuggled cows in three years.

In Bharatpur district, 243 cases of cow smuggling had been registered in the last four years, and 196 cow smugglers were arrested.

The presence of dairy farmers in Alwar and Bharatpur, which are close to Haryana, has caused a rise in suspicions of rampant cow smuggling. The action of the self-styled gau rakshaks and the inaction of the authorities made national headlines after Mewat dairy farmer Pehlu Khan was lynched by a group of cow vigilantes in 2017. This was followed by a similar incident earlier this year when Rakbar Khan was lynched by an angry mob after he was suspected of being a cow smuggler.

Working president of the Alwar Congress committee Yogesh Sharma said, "Communal harmony was under threat during the BJP rule and related crimes were on the rise. The public anger against their polarising policies has led to their defeat. Their loss in the Lok Sabha polls will be worse."