Uttar Pradesh voters gears up for verdict 2019

Rumi Darwaza, a historical monument in Lucknow (Image Credit: Wikipedia)

By: Sayed Adi Shah Ashraf

The air is getting warm in UP despite the prolonged winter spell as all major parties prepping up their pre-poll games in the state for the imminent Lok Sabha elections. Expected to be slated in April – May this year, the elections will find UP with its sizeable LS seat share, playing a major role in deciding who will rule in Delhi. Tea shop discussions are already on about the possible outcome.

"Public is now educated and sincere and they will vote for those who will work for the future of the country, " says Sanjay Tripathi, a businessman from Lucknow. He adds that the election should be held on the ground of development rather than caste or religion.

Moizuddin Ansari, a cycle mechanic who has been living in Lucknow for the last 35 years is that the SP-BSP alliance has better chances this time. “Akhilesh Yadav has worked for UP and I will definitely vote for him,” says Ansari.  SP and BSP have formed an alliance this time. Both parties have decided to contest 38 seats each seats and will leave 2 seats for smaller allies. Though a staunch supporter of Akhilesh, Anzari says he is unsatisfied with SP and BSP alliance. “This alliance is formed just to oppose NDA. It must work for the state and county, instead”, he says.  However, this is not reflected by many SP supporters. For instance, Ram Yadav, a shopkeeper from Lucknow has only one slogan, " no one else than Akhilesh Yadav.” He told that he has been voting SP all his life and he will continue to do so.

Ritesh Kumar lives in Gomti Nagar and is an employee of a private firm. He think this time BJP should be winning the fray. "I used to vote for BSP, but now on seeing the larger picture, I think I will vote for BJP," says he.

INC has decided to fight in UP alone this time. Nitish Dubey, a journalism student with the Lucknow University showed a different picture for the election. According to him, voters are very much confused with the alliances and it will definitely have an effect in the upcoming election. Being a ground level worker for Congress, he is confident that his party will make good this time in UP.

It is not difficult to spot Modi fan boys, especially among young voters. Suraj, an engineering student from Babu Banarasi Das University says he is going to vote for BJP mainly because of Modi. “For me the major concern is development and better opportunities and Modi, I believe, is working in the exact direction," he says.

However, UP is turning out to be a tough nut to crack for major parties. The exit polls point out that the SP-BSP alliance can actually play spoilsport by dampening the hopes of INC and BJP in UP. During the last general elections in 2014, BJP along with its ally Apna Dal bagged 73 out of the 80 seats leaving SP with five seats and INC with two seats.

Suraj's music tales: Me, my guitar and the Israeli friends

Suraj (second from left) with his friends

By: Sayed Adi Shah Ashraf

With stoopy shoulders and a child-like grin, Suraj Thapa is like any other vendor in Mcleodganj who sells curios to tourists. He owns a small music store here and in the day to day grind of running a store, would sing in the free time. What makes him a tad different from other vendors are his dreams. He wants to buy an electric guitar and become a singer.

Suraj is naturally shy. He pauses for a second when he talks about his dream. He mentions he would have to help out his family regardless of whether he likes it or not. "Guitar or no guitar, I love my family and they love me and I want them to share what I can earn from this small shop ", he says.  “But someday, I will become a singer and will lead my music band. That’s for sure”, tells Suraj as he prepares to close down the shop for the day.

Pursuing the dream full time is not an option affordable to him. Suraj who is the only earning member in the family presently runs the musical store which was earlier owned by his father. His father passed away when Suraj was around 6 years old. So he had to look after his family.
His electric guitar dream stayed a dream until he happened to cross paths with a couple of music loving Israelites. On Off-days, Suraj also juggles the hat of the local tourist guide, especially for foreign tourists interested in exploring Dharamkot. Being a local boy from Dharamkot, he knows the hillocks around like his palm. That’s how he met Yaniv, Julia, and Gilhi hailing from Tel Aviv,spending their vacation in Dharamkot.

Yaniv performing music for the event

During the sight-seeing trips, Yaniv learned about Suraj’s ‘electric guitar situation’. Though an engineer by profession, Yaniv occasionally writes songs and sings them for an audience. The group then decided to organize shows to raise funds for Suraj.

Days passed and then they held their first fundraising performance, ‘Once in a Nature’ at a cafe in Dharamkot. Suraj joined as the guitarist, Yugive from Israel as the drummer, Buzzy and Rifca also from Isreal as singers, accompanied by Frankie from Chandigarh. Around 100 people attended the show and Yaniv and Suraj managed to collect Rs 3000.

“We were so much inspired by the response to ‘Once in a Nature’. However, we needed to hold more performances to meet our target”, says Yaniv. The price range for an electronic guitar starts from around Rs 10000 in the Indian market.

After 3 days, they managed their second show, ‘Jungle Calling’. But it was not a cakewalk. Only 40 people attended the show. The event failed to raise even Rs 1000. But they didn't lose their hope and started to prepare for a third show.

In a week, they again held a third show but this time tried their luck with Welcome Cafe in upper Bhagsu. Some 200 people including locals and foreign tourists attended the show. “Most of my audience has been Israelis in the past. Dharamkot is a kind of hub for Israelis, so we obviously expected them as audience. But even local people joined the show. That was inspiring”, says Yaniv. So they performed special Hindi songs for the local audience.

The third event was a success and the group was able to raise Rs 5000 from the audience. Yaniv collected the funds and with his mates, bought an electric guitar for Suraj.

Suraj is in high spirits with his guitar now. He believes that it was music that cut across the geographical and cultural barriers to help him find a friend like Yaniv and to fulfill his guitar dream too.