Political pygmies to challenge stalwarts in UP

By Amita Verma

Lucknow, April 6 (IANS) Chandra Shekhar 'Azad and Amit Jani are relatively unknown entities in Uttar Pradesh politics.

They have hit headlines occasionally with their fledgling outfits but now they are ready to make news with their electoral debuts.

Chandra Shekhar Azad who heads the Bhim Army, a Dalit outfit, is contesting elections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi.

Amit Jani, who heads the Nav Nirman Sena, has announced he will contest against Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav from Azamgarh.

Chandra Shekhar became famous in 2017 when his name came up in the Thakur-Dalit caste riots in Saharanpur. He heads the Bhim Army, which started out as an organisation providing primary schooling to mostly Dalit kids but has now grown into a formidable political force in western Uttar Pradesh.

Chandra Shekhar spent over a year in jail where he was booked under the National Security Act and his popularity seems to have risen with his stint behind the bars.

When he was recently hospitalised after being arrested for alleged violation of prohibitory orders, Congress General Secretary in charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited him in a Meerut hospital, which pointed to his growing political clout.

Initially seen as a possible ally of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Bhim Army is now striking out independently and also posing a threat to Mayawati's party.

Chandra Shekhar has held a road show in Varanasi and his team is already working in Varanasi trying to enlist the support of Dalit youth, boatmen and other marginalised communities. He wants the Samajwadi Party, BSP and the Congress not to field candidates but support him instead.

Amit Jani, on the other hand, started out as a Samajwadi Party (SP) youth leader and made headlines in 2012 when he vandalised a statue of BSP supremo Mayawati in Lucknow.

The then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav promptly disowned Amit Jani, a Meerut-based businessman, who then formed his Nav Nirman Sena.

He has been jailed on a number of occasions for announcing training camps for Hindus to fight terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. He claimed that he wanted to nurture a new generation of "Hindutva warriors" to fight terror outfits.

"Uttar Pradesh needs a Balasaheb Thackeray and that is why I am here," he said rather pompously.

About his decision to pit himself against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, he said: "Akhilesh has wronged his father Mulayam Singh and his uncle Shivpal Yadav and is not what a youth leader should be. That is why I am challenging him."

Jani also has a group of young men who are enthusiastically working for him and he plans to reach Azamgarh next week to "challenge Akhilesh Yadav".

Though even a political novice can see that both Chandra Shekhar and Amit Jani stand no chance against the political stalwarts they claim to be challenging but their presence in the electoral area will undoubtedly give ample fodder to the media.