From left: Ram Shankar Katheria, Jitendra Dohre
Credit: PTI/ MyNeta
Considered to be a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Etawah, the native district of the SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and often dubbed as the ‘Yadav land’’, is all set to witness a fierce electoral battle between the SP and the BJP.
Etawah, which became a reserved constituency in 2009, has around 27 per cent dalit electorate. It has been a bastion of the SP, which had won the seat three times in succession from 1999 to 2009. The BJP wrested the seat from the SP in 2014 and retained it in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
BSP founder Kanshiram had also won from here in 1991 but after that the BSP had not been able to make its presence felt in the constituency.
Besides the SP leader Raghuraj Singh Shakya, who had won the seat twice in 1999 and then again in 2004, no other candidate was elected twice from this seat. Since BJP has re-nominated its sitting MP Ram Shankar Katheria, it will be interesting to see if he is able to break the jinx this time.
The SP has fielded Jitendra Dohre, who was earlier the district president of the BSP and is said to wield a considerable influence over the dalit community here queering the electoral pitch for the BJP nominee. Interestingly the ‘Doheres’ formed the biggest bloc within the dalit community.
The SP nominee is banking on the support of the ‘Yadav’s, who number around two lakh, and the Muslims, who number around one lakh in the constituency. Jitendra Dohre also expects a large section—of around four lakh dalits—to support him.
On the other hand the BJP candidate hopes to get the support of the ‘Brahmins’ and Thakurs, who number around 2.5 lakh and 1.5 lakh respectively.
Given the caste equations on the seat, it appears that the support of the dalits, and ‘shakya’ community, an OBC, could prove to be decisive here. While the ‘Dohres’ appeared to be solidly behind the SP candidate, the ‘Katehrias’ were backing the saffron party candidate.
The ‘shakya’ community appeared to be divided with a section rooting for the SP nominee.
‘’The condition of the roads in the constituency is very bad…..nothing was done to repair the roads under the BJP regime…the SP government had done a lot for the area,’’ says Sunil Kumar Shakya, a resident of Basrehar under the constituency.
There is some resentment among the people over demolition of their houses to widen the road. ‘’This is what they (BJP) call development….my house was demolished to widen the road…how can I support such a party?,’’ said a woman in Datawali.
‘’One has to make sacrifices for development,’’ countered Ajay Kumar Katheria reflecting the sharp division among the caste lines.
BSP has fielded Sarika Singh Baghel, who hopes to get the support of her community along with some others but it appears that she is struggling to make her presence felt.
Growing unemployment among the youths is a popular refrain, especially among the youngsters. ‘’Though there is a Lion Safari in Etawah, there is no employment here….we have to migrate to the big cities for jobs,’’ said Ankit Singh.
Of the five assembly seats in this Lok Sabha Constituency, the SP had won Dibiyapur and Bharthana in 2022 assembly polls. BJP had won the remaining three seats Etawah Sadar, Auraiya Sadar and Sikandra.
Prime minister Narendra Modi had addressed an election rally in Etawah a few days back. UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had also addressed several election meetings in different parts of the Constituency. SP president Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle and party general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav too had campaigned extensively here.
Polling will be held here in the fourth phase of elections on May 13.