BJP’s ‘Bhaijaan Model’ reaches Kundarki
After Rampur in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP seems to be successful in making the ‘lotus’ bloom in the Muslim-dominated Kundarki seat. BJP candidate Thakur Ramveer Singh’s decision to campaign on the ‘Bhaijaan’ model in the Kundarki Assembly seat, which has 65 per cent Muslim population, has been a success and the SP is seen winning the Kundarki seat with a large majority. In this way, the BJP has flourished in the Kundarki seat after 31 years.
Due to the presence of around 65 per cent Muslim voters in Kundarki, the SP was confident of its victory here. Due to the political equation of Muslim votes, the SP has managed to get its MLA from the Kundarki seat four times. In its political history, the BJP had only managed to win the Kundarki seat in the 1993 by-election. Due to the Muslim equation, it seemed the most difficult seat for the BJP, but Thakur Ramveer Singh’s campaign style in the ‘Model Bhaijaan’ pleased the Muslims and all the SP’s hopes were dashed.
Who is in the electoral race in Kundarki?
BJP had fielded Ramveer Singh and SP had fielded former MLA Haji Rizwan from the Kundarki seat. BSP’s Rafatullah and AIMIM’s Mohd Warish participated in the elections. Thus, among the 12 candidates for the Kundarki seat, all except Thakur Ramveer Singh are Muslims. Since it is a Muslim-dominated seat, winning Kundarki was a tough task for the BJP. The situation was similar for the BJP in Rampur too, where 55 per cent of the voters were Muslims. The BJP fielded Akash Saxena in the Rampur by-election and managed to get a large vote bank of Muslims. In the same vein, the BJP has also woven the fabric of victory in Kundarki, so BJP candidate Ramveer Singh is seen in Muslim colours.
It is used to stop speeches during Azaan.
BJP candidate Ramveer Singh Sir decided to campaign in ‘Bhaijaan’ style, wearing a round mesh Namaji cap and a Saudi-style sheet around his neck. In the Muslim areas of Ramveer, the BJP did not limit itself to just campaigning but used to start its speech by reciting verses from the Quran. Ramveer Singh, composed in Islamic style, stops delivering his speech as soon as he hears the Azaan and becomes silent. Once the Azaan is over, he begins his speech again.
Kunwar Basit Ali behind BJP’s victory
While Ramveer Singh may have managed to become MLA in Kundarki, the real story of BJP’s victory was written by Minority Front state president Kunwar Basit Ali. From the beginning it had focused especially on Muslim areas. Basit Ali was fulfilling his promise to vote for the BJP by making Muslims swear on Allah in the Kundarki seat. Basit had given the motto in the Muslim village: “Ton doori hai, na khai hai, Thakur Ramveer is our brother.” Not only this, the BJP also tried to get votes from Turkish Muslims versus Rajput Muslims.
Muslims strongly supported Ramveer
Haji Rizwan, who was contesting from the SP, was a Turk, against whom a move was made to woo the Rajput Muslims, in which Basit Ali played the role. Basit Ali is a Muslim Rajput and made inroads among the Muslim votes by calling Thakur Ramveer Singh his brother. Mundhapande village in Kundarki assembly constituency is dominated by Muslims. Ramveer Singh had come here to deliver a speech at a street meeting. People from the Muslim community had loaded Ramveer Singh with money. Ramveer Thakur expressed his gratitude towards the people by putting the money on his forehead. The Muslims of the village had told Ramveer Singh that we would break the myth that Muslims do not vote for the BJP. We will also vote for Ramveer and give notes to contest the elections. Muslims have voted heavily for the BJP in Kundarki, which is also clear from the results.
Muslim voters play a decisive role in the Kundarki assembly seat. Muslim voters are 62 per cent, which is around 1.5 lakh. There are around 40 thousand Turkish Muslims in Kundarki, while there are around 1 lakh 10 thousand other Muslim castes. Apart from this, around 18 per cent are Dalits and the rest are Hindu voters. Thakur has the highest number of Hindu votes followed by the people of the Saini community. The SP and BSP have recorded victories here only because of Muslim votes. The biggest challenge for the BJP is to achieve victory, which is not possible without Muslim votes.
Dominion of Turkish Muslims in the Kundarki seat
Muslim politics in Kundarki has been dominated by Turkish Muslims. In these elections too, the SP, BSP and Owaisi have chosen Turkish Muslims as their candidates, in response to which the BJP is busy wooing Rajput Muslims. BJP candidate Ramveer Singh Thakur has used all possible means to break into the Muslim Rajput community. Ramveer, who was continually trying his luck from this seat, tried to gain trust by claiming that he was a Thakur. Ramveer Singh continued to call himself a Muslim sympathizer, as a result of which the Muslim community overwhelmingly voted in his favor.
The BJP knows that the Kundarki seat cannot be won with Hindu votes. That is why the focus was on Muslim votes. After 19 rounds of vote counting, SP candidate Hathi Rizwan got 12,937 votes, BJP candidate Ramveer Singh got 111,470 votes. Azad Samaj Party’s Chand Babu got 6,020 votes. Thus, BJP candidate Ramveer Singh is leading with around one lakh votes. In total 32 rounds of vote counting will be held in Kundarki. The way BJP’s Ramveer Singh is leading, victory is considered certain. In such a situation, it is clear that Muslims have voted in large numbers for the BJP in the Kundarki seat, so the lotus seems to be blooming.
BJP got victory after 1993.
The BJP had last won a seat in Kundarki in the year 1993. At that time BJP leader Chandravijay Singh had won. Since then, the BJP could never win this seat. In such a situation, this time BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary had taken the lead to win the Kundarki seat. The political couple of Kunwar Basil Ali and Ramveer Singh has been a success. Haji Rizwan’s lack of strong support among Muslims was also favorable for the BJP. Not only this, due to their belonging to the Muslim Turkish caste, other Muslim communities have come out in favor of the BJP. In such a situation, the BJP managed to spread lotus among 65 percent of Muslims.
