BJP's Big Paschim Test

On paper, the BJP-RLD tie-up is a winner for the NDA in west UP, though the INDIA bloc thinks otherwise. The BSP's entry with mixed candidates can unsettle both alliances

- PRASHANT SRIVASTAVA

The reverberations of the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 were felt far beyond the general election of 2014, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won big in western Uttar Pradesh in 2019 as well. The years of attempted rapprochement between the dominant Jats and the Muslims, spearheaded by Opposition parties, seemed to have borne some fruit at the social level but never quite reached the critical mass it required to supplant the deep saffron sympathies among large swathes of the former in electoral contests.

This time, though, the psephologists are not so sure - the 16 seats here, which go to the polls in the first two phases, are too close to call. Alliance partners have changed, and the BJP must be feeling confident about roping in Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) at the last moment. It's a crucial piece in the 'Jatland' that is western UP, where the community makes up close to 16 per cent of the population, and are the RLD's core voters. But Dalits (18-20 per cent) and Muslims (28-30 per cent) play an equally key role in poll outcomes in the state's 'sugar belt'. Both the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have opted for candidate profiles corresponding to these affiliations. However, the entry of Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) as a standalone third pole in the contest could queer the pitch for both the main alliances in specific seats, say analysts.