Opinion

Is the poll campaign scenario in UP getting murkier?

A video which has SP candidate Adil Chaudhury talk of revenge makes the BJP sense foul as UP poll battle rages

Hate is what runs this election season in Uttar Pradesh. Religious hatred and caste hatred take pole position when political outfits fight to win seats. It makes no difference whether it is the BJP or the Samajwadi Party. The Hindu-Muslim plank takes over everything else, and leaders just shout their lungs out when it comes to holding hate for others’ beliefs high.

The latest comes in the form of a video that has gone viral already. The visuals have Samajwadi Party candidate Adil Chaudhary stating that no one will be spared when the party is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh. Social media has taken this up and people are inferring that Chaudhary is calming down another person in the video with the words that the SP would form the government this time and not a single person will be spared. “The way they are committing crimes against us, we will take revenge, and they will think 100 times before doing anything again,” Chaudhary is heard saying in the video.

Adil video goes viral; BJP sees hate

The video, obviously, has the BJP’s attention. After all, it is the election season, and no party would want to let go off any chance of degrading rival parties and are looking for stuff they could use to the maximum. Reacting to the video, BJP national spokesperson Amit Malviya has charged the Samajwadi Party candidate with threatening Hindus. Though the video doesn’t mention any name, BJP wants to think that the SP leader is speaking against the Hindus and that the tone is threatening.

Adil Chaudhary has, however, not clarified anything about the video though, except that the BJP is playing foul by doctoring the video and publicising it. What keeps the SP candidate from Meerut South stop short of saying that he hasn’t done what the BJP accuses him of doing, is still unclear.

UP poll scene needs a check

BJP, in the meanwhile, is making the most of the video, rebuking and criticising the Samajwadi Party for fielding candidates who it believes are “anti-Hindu goons”.

All said, the Meerut City Police have begun a probe into Adil Chaudhury’s video and are looking into whether the SP candidate was issuing threats. Post-analysis of the video, if the police find that the video statements made are in violation of the Election Commission’s Moral Code of Conduct, a case is expected to be registered.

Faith, is of course, a major plank this election season in Uttar Pradesh. Caste is another. Considering that the poll process is part of a secular democratic process, such divide could push the state, and the country back by a good number of years. The question remains as to why the Election Commission waits for a police enquiry to initiate action when faith and caste are the topics that power what is supposed to be a free and fair election.

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Sanjeev Ramachandran

A journalist with 23 years of experience, Sanjeev has worked with reputed media houses such as Business Standard, The Ne More »
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