The Holy city of Kashi erupted with joy when BJP’s leadership officially decided to field its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi. It was close to mid-night when party spokesman made this announcement and immediately the city reverberated with the slogans like ` Har Har Modi- Ghar Ghar Modi’ taking the cue from `Har Har Mahadev’ the reverent chant made in the gullies of Varanasi to invoke Bhole Baba (lord Shiva).
The chant reflects the mindset of the BJP leaders of this politically sensitive state that hold key to country’s political fortune. Party is targeting to win at least 40-plus seats and with this aim leaders announced 53 candidates. The list was mix of backwards, women, sitting legislators and a few turncoats. The only factor party considered was winnability in selecting candidates and this was evident the way candidates were selected.
Sample this: Starting from east to west every 200 km will have a big leader in fray who can influence nearby constituencies. If Uma Bharati is BJP candidate in Jhansi, Murli Manohar Joshi will contest from Kanpur. In lucknow Rajnath Singh is in fray and in Varanasi Narendra Modi is party’s trump card. On the other extreme to Varanasi party has fielded Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur and in between is Deoria where Kalraj Mishra is in fray.
To achieve this combination party had to make permutation and combination and therefore fielded 10 sitting legislators. Theye are: Hukum Singh (Kairana),, Raghav Pal (Saharanpur), Sarvesh Singh ( Moradabad), Mahesh Sharma ( GB Nagar) , Uma Bharati (Jhansii). Ajay Mishra (Kheri), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur), Savitri Bai Phule (Bahraich), and Nepal Singh MlC-Rampur.
Besides some turn coats got tickets. These include: Daddan Mishra (Srawasti), Rajesh Verma (Sitapur), SPS Baghel ( Firozabad),, Dharmandra Kashyap ( Aonla), Ashok Dohre (Etawah), and Kaushal Kishore ( Mohanlal Ganj).
But there are few names who missed the bus including sitting former BSP MP Ram rattan Bind, and former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar’s son Pankaj Shekhar.But amid all these list the focus is on Modi and it is believed that his contesting election from Varanasi would for sure boost the party’s prospect in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi, the cultural and religious capital of Uttar Pradesh is the nerve centre of Hindutava agitation - which revolves around Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura - and has seen emergence of BJP in Ram Mandir agitation days.Modi’s candidature has drawn sharp reaction from opposition parties particularly Samajwadi Party.
"look what happened in Varanasi last night. People shouted slogans equating Modi with lord Shiva. This is reflection of things to come in future. BJP has fielded Modi from Varanasi with a design. The party wants to divide society on religious line and will use the issue of Kashi and Gyan Vapi Masque in its election campaign," Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhry said. Chaudhry said: "It is nervous time ahead for Varanasi. BJP can go to any extent to foment communal trouble in the state. The party is targeting is so it has a big game plan."