LONDON-EDUCATED KAIRANA KI BETI TAKES ON BJP IN WEST UP SEAT

Kairana in Western Uttar Pradesh is a hot seat. It has always been for decades with two prominent families slugging it out. The Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013 and claims of the exodus of Hindu families have added another dimension to the electoral battle.

Kairana is among the eight seats of the region that are casting their votes on Friday in the first phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. 

And, it's a 27-year-old beti (daughter) who is leading the fight for the INDIA block against the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in Kairana, a seat comprising assembly segments from Saharanpur and Shamli districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Iqra Hasan is the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate against BJP's Pradeep Chaudhary in the seat.

KAIRANA'S IQRA HASAN AND HER FAMILY LAEGCY

Iqra Hasan is the daughter of Munawwar Hasan and Tabassum Hasan, who were both MPs from Kairana.

Iqra's grandfather, Akhtar Hasan, too held the seat for a term in the 1980s.

An alumnus of the London School of Oriental and African Studies, Iqra Hasan took a plunge into politics after her mother, Tabassum Hasan, and brother Nahid Hasan, a three-time MLA, were booked by the Uttar Pradesh Police.

When Nahid fought the 2021 UP assembly polls from jail, Iqra was the one managing his campaign in the towns and villages.

Nahid defeated Hukum Singh's daughter on the Kairana assembly seat, and Iqra came to the forefront.

The Hasan family described Nahid's arrest under the stringent Gangsters Act a political vendetta by the UP government, at the behest of BJP stalwart Hukum Singh's family, to finish them politically.

TWO FAMILIES AND A BATTLE IN KAIRANA

The Kairana election story isn't complete unless we talk about the two families -- the Hasans and the Singhs. It is a story of decades of enmity when a branch of the Gujjar family converted to Islam.

The descendants of the Singh and Hasan family took on each other in the elections in the 90s.

Hukum Singh was a BJP candidate, while Chaudhary Munawwar Hasan contested for the Samajwadi Party.

It was the continuation of that battle that saw Hukum Singh's daughter, Mriganka Singh, pitted against Munawwar Hasan's son, Nahid Hasan.

The Kairana battle is now being taken forward by Naheed's sister, Iqra Hasan, but there is no candidate from Hukum Singh's family this time.   

Hukum Singh, was elected to the Lower House in 2014, after the 2013 communal violence, by a 2.6 lakh vote margin. After his demise, it was Pradeep Chaudhary who retained the seat for the BJP.

It is Pradeep Chaudhary who Iqra Hasan is taking on in this Lok Sabha election.   

WHAT MIGHT WORK IN FAVOUR OF IQRA HASAN

A seat dominated by Muslims, Dalits, Jaats and Gujjars, this year is a two-way contest between the BJP and the SP, unlike the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which the SP and Congress fought separately.

This time around, both the parties, part of the INDIA bloc, have joined hands.

As a result, Iqra Hasan is seemingly giving the sitting BJP MP Pradeep Chaudhary a tough time on the ground. What also might go against BJP's Pradeep Chaudhary is that he is being seen as inaccessible to Kairana's electorate.

Iqra Hasan, with her secular outlook and presence among the Jats and Gujjars, is said to have an edge on a seat that the BJP had associated with an alleged 'palayan' (exodus) of Hindu families.

"Today no one dares scare away anyone from Kairana and Kandhla", wrote UP CM Yogi Adityanath on X, before the 2018 bye-election in the seat, which was alleged to be "facing exodus of Hindus" after the communal riots.

CM Adityanath had just announced the establishment of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) camp and firing range in Kairana, which many said was "symbolic".

Western Uttar Pradesh, which has had its fair share of resentment towards the ruling BJP after the controversial farm laws were enacted and denial of tickets to some party heavyweights, might be Iqra Hasan's trump card in the Kairana seat.

Landowning communities, Jats and Gujjars, who protested against the farm laws, hold a considerable sway in the region and the constituency of Kairana.

Discontent sugarcane farmers are another bloc that could sway the polls in favour of Iqra.

London-educated Iqra Hasan is countering the BJP's attempt at polarisation by focusing on economic freedom for women and emphasising that holding one community responsible for crimes is communalising a problem.

Electricity, education and employment are the major poll planks of Iqra Hasan.

She also rejected the Kairana exodus as "the BJP's narrative".

Iqra is also said to draw support from the extremely backward classes and the Dalits over BSP candidate, Shripal Rana.

Iqra Hasan, receiving the support of several biradaris (caste groups), along with the 5.5 lakh Muslims (40%) comprising Kairana, it would be interesting to see if the 29-year-old London-educated 'beti' gets what she is seeking in the otherwise male-dominated seat.

2024-04-19T10:05:52Z dg43tfdfdgfd