Ramesh Chand Sharma, sitting in his makeshift kiosk near the railway crossing at Raya, has neither seen nor heard of the BJP’s controversial CD denigrating Muslims. But he makes it clear that the BJP’s harangue against ‘Muslim appeasement’ or promises of Ram Rajya have ceased to hold any significant meaning for him.

“During the Ram lehar in the 1990s, all Brahmins of our area voted repeatedly for the BJP. But the party makes promises it does not keep. This time, the real fight here is between Raj Kumar Rawat (BSP) and Nawab Singh (RLD) and we are with the BSP,” he admits.

Standing alongside, Moti Ram Sharma adds: “Is baar Brahman log tan, man, dhan se Baspa ko support kar rahe hain (this time the Brahmins are fully backing the BSP).”

Raya falls in the Gokul Assembly constituency, celebrated in legend and song as the land where Lord Krishna lived. In caste terms, though, Jats dominate this region spanning the assembly seats of Gokul, Goverdhan, Maat, Iglas, Barauli and Khair.

And the Brahmins are flocking to the BSP to counter the RLD that is regarded as the quintessential Jat party. Since the BJP, Congress, and Samajwadi Party have also fielded Jats, Brahmins calculate that a division in Jat votes and a combination of Brahmin and Dalit votes will ensure the BSP’s victory. That Mayawati cleverly fielded a Brahmin in a Jat-dominated seat helps.

It’s the same story in neighbouring Iglas. Radha Rani, an unlettered but feisty Brahmin woman from Hastpur village, tells us in her rustic dialect that she will vote for “Mukul bhai.”

... contd.