Mass Migration, Poor Health Facilities, Unpaved Roads: Key Electoral Issues in Budaun

The political battlefield is set in Uttar Pradesh’s Budaun as debutant Aditya Yadav from the Samajwadi Party (SP) takes on Bharatiya Jananta Party (BJP) leader Durvijay Singh Shakya in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Budaun which had been a stronghold of veteran leader Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SP, was breached in 2019 after 23 years when the BJP’s OBC leader Sanghamitra Maurya beat Dharmendra Yadav by a small margin in the Lok Sabha elections.

Shivpal Yadav’s son Aditya Yadav who is looking to make his Lok Sabha debut says he is confident the party will regain its historic constituency and win by a big margin this time. “The trust that I’m getting from the public, I’m moving forward with it and I am very confident that the Samajwadi Party will win in Budaun by a big margin” Yadav says. “People of all communities, not just Yadavs and Muslims who are considered the core voters for the SP, but also other communities like Kshatriya, Thakur, Kurmi are supporting me in large numbers and this will help us win this time,” the young SP leader adds.

Situated by the Ganga, Budaun has a sizeable Muslim and Yadav population, followed by Mauryas and Scheduled Castes. In Sahaswan, one of the most underdeveloped and backward regions out of the five legislative constituencies, voters are clear about their demands: they want a leader who can lead the district towards economic prosperity. The absence of any industry in Sahaswan, and in Budaun at large, has forced lakhs of workers to migrate to bigger cities in search of earning their livelihood. Among the less financially stable, it is almost impossible to find a household where the men have not moved out for work.

In the Nawada area of Sahaswan, Mohammad Arif stands with his bags packed by the door. After a two-day visit home, following two months in Delhi, he's getting ready to make the journey back. “I’ve been working as a labourer in Delhi and Jaipur for over two decades, it is now becoming increasingly hard to put food on the table,” he says. “I am the sole earner in a family of seven and the little I earn is spent on my living expenses. The rest I send to my family. Everything is expensive nowadays. This time I’m taking my 15-year-old son with me. He’s also going to work with me,” the 45-year-old adds.

Arif says his family will vote for the candidate who can guarantee a change in their circumstances, “We don’t care if it’s Yogi or Modi, all we want is ‘vikas’ and ‘rozgaar’”.

Local reporter and social activist Anwar Khan who has been covering the district for over 15 years says Sahaswan used to be a centre for trade during the British Raj. “When the British ruled over India, Sahaswan used to be a district located in the centre,” says Khan. “Geographically Sahaswan is in the centre and Budaun, Bisauli, Islamnagar and Kasganj are around it. Its financial condition was also better than what it is now.”

Cultivation of flowers, Anwar Khan says, was done on a large scaled in Sahaswan and the flowers were used to make ittar. “It used to be exported. Sahaswan was known as ittar ki nagri.

But when India became independent, Budaun became the district and Sahaswan a tehsil, and was overlooked in terms of development. Sahaswan also had a lot of potential but it was not treated justly,” he adds.

A few kilometres away, in Bela Beswara, a cluster of villages housing about 60,000 people, residents tread the unpaved dusty roads across the terrain. These villages, located on one side of the Ganga, remain disconnected from the rest of Sahaswan. During the rainy season, the villages, which are situated below the water level, get flooded, essentially turning into islands. Due to the flooding, locals rely on a limited number of boats to travel.

“So many governments have come and gone but none have been able to build proper roads here,” Ismailpur resident Roshan Bi says pointing to the kaccha roads overlooking her half-built house. “Every day some accident happens, sometimes autos or e-rickshaws overturn. People have had severe injuries because these roads are unmotorable.”

When the river floods, residents of Bela Beswara can't go to their workplaces and children can’t go to school. In case of a medical emergency, locals can only hope that the sickness doesn't claim their lives.

“Even our polling station is 1 km away and we have to walk there but that is something we will all do. We may have to walk under the scorching sun and on the dusty roads, but we will all go and vote since this is all we can do to improve the conditions here,” Roshan says.

On Wednesday afternoon, as SP candidate Yadav heads to Nasirpur Gausu village for a jansabha, the roads play an unwelcome host. Three cars in the SP leader’s convoy get stuck on the narrow tracks, delaying the event. “If I become the MP, the first thing I will focus on is development,” Yadav told Outlook later that day. Another issue he will try to resolve would be the improvement of health facilities in the whole of Budaun, the deterioration of which has recently come under the scanner.

“Today it is in very bad condition (Budaun medical college). There are no doctors and there is a shortage of staff. The machines which are installed are not working properly and people are not able to be treated. If a patient goes there, they get referred. If a letter comes from there, then it’s only a letter of referral,” he said. Establishing a direct train line to Delhi is also on Yadav’s list.

The BJP candidate Shakya, who is the regional president for Braj, has stated that he does not consider this to be a political fight with Aditya Yadav. “Shivpal Yadav has fielded his son who is a ‘rajkumar’ type…,” he said in an interview. “Their party is a parivarwadi party—five Yadavs are contesting in UP, all from their family. We will win. When the SP and the BSP together contested in 2019, the BJP thrashed them, now the two are contesting separately.”

Responding to allegations of parivarwaad, Aditya Yadav said, “Show us one state in which no member of any family has been fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or been made a minister. In a democracy, people are paramount. If they give me their support and elect me I will lead them.”

The Lok Sabha constituency of Budaun goes to polls on 7 May.