AGRA: Lal mirch, haldi, dhaniya. These are the three ingredients Kusum Nigam mostly uses in her sparse kitchen that’s carved out of the one-room house in which she lives with her husband and three daughters. At the end of a gruelling week working leather into pretty shapes that will eventually cover someone’s feet, when her husband brings home his wages, they sometimes decide to get a little meat.
That’s when her daughter runs to Bhusan Lal’s shop nearby to get a pinch of garam masala. It costs her Rs 10.
“We have no use for unnecessary condiments,” Nigam, a Jatav, laughed self-deprecatingly. “Food is to fill tummies.” Sitting in a clearing beside a drain that runs parallel to the railway line in Lohamandi, a colony of
Dalits
in Agra, she said that’s how they have been eating ever since she can remember. “Change comes slow in our parts. And had it not been for Behenji, we wouldn’t even have this much.” That’s why she is upset that
Mayawati
,
BSP
supremo and her “only leader”, hasn’t been seen much in these elections or the one before. “It’s not good for us.”
As Nigam speaks, a few other women join her. Some of them bring along the patches of leather they have been stitching. Pushpa Jatav, who says she gives finishing touches to about eight pairs of shoes per day, earning “Rs 6-7” for each, worries that with Mayawati receding into the background, their lives will take longer to improve. “We will give her our vote this time, too, but it’ll be futile,” she added. The small gathering agrees without debate.
In Agra, the so-called Dalit capital of UP, with 25-30% of the population made up of various SC groups, many are unapologetic in their longing for Behenji, her strong, unabashed avatar. It breaks their heart and morale to see the dimming super star. They will all vote for her on May 7, they say, but concede it may not amount to much.
“Koi margdarshak nahi hai aaj Dalit ka,” said social activist Naresh Paras in Nagala Ajeeta. “There’s no one to lead the community today. Our icons and identity, we are in search of both,” he added.
Ahead of Lohamandi, in a house with bricks jutting out of a thin paste of cement grudgingly applied, the family’s faith in Mayawati comes with an edge of accusation. “Who will take care of us,” asked Mukesh, who doesn’t use a second name. “Ghamand mein rehti hai (she’s prideful). She should have allowed Chandrasekhar (of Azad Samaj Party) to join BSP. We don’t have a leader.”
Mukesh’s wife said most political parties skip the ghettos after elections. “They think we have all voted for the elephant (BSP’s poll symbol). So, they don’t come. And no one from Behenji’s party comes either. We are at a terrible crossroads.”
Aware of a diminished BSP, whose vote share dipped to 12.9% in the 2022 assembly polls in UP, BJP leaders are ready to go for the kill and have been panning an aggressive Jatav outreach. But it won’t be easy to break the Dalit citadel. Out of the 20 lakh voters in the Agra reserved constituency, almost one-third are SCs, with Jatavs around 3 lakh and Valmikis hovering close to the 1 lakh mark. Other sub-castes make up the rest.
Arun Rajoriya, a Valmiki who lives in Tota Ka Taal and graduated from SR Degree College two years ago, said his folks supported Mayawati in 2019. Peppering his sentences with English words – “of course”, “yes”, “possible” – he said he doesn’t believe a majority of Valmikis have gone with BJP yet. “Bahut meaning rakhti hai humare liye abhi bhi (Mayawati is still important to us),” he said. “She’s tired. Her party should welcome new faces like Azad.” He believes Mayawati’s political heir Akash Anand can achieve something but “it’s a long way off”.
At Buddha Vihar, Bhante Anand, president of Akhil Bharatiya Bhikkhu Mahasangh, is angry at the current crop of Dalit leaders. “I don’t see a single one who has national stature,” he said. “Time has come for Dalits to think hard about who’s really working for them.”
As Agra votes in the next few days, BJP isn’t losing sleep over Dalits missing a messiah. In 2019, Union minister SP Singh Baghel, who left BSP in 2014, won by 2 lakh votes. And though this time he is up against an SP candidate from Jatav community – with BSP picking Puja Amrohi, also a Jatav – Baghel has reiterated that 2024 will be easier. “There is no competition on the ground,” he said. The Muslim vote, at about 2 lakh, will play a role but BJP leaders are confident Vaishyas, Brahmins, non-Yadav OBCs and a “large section of Dalits” will come good for them.
Jawahar Singh Jatav can live with that. “Let my vote drown in water,” he said pointing to a squalid pool. “I’m still with Behenji. I’m sure we will have a new Dalit leader in 2029.”
