Experts dissecting the outcome of the Kairana Lok Sabha seat are of the opinion that Bheem Army contributed greatly to the victory of RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan as she got maximum votes from Nakud and Gangoh assembly constituencies of Saharanpur district, where the outfit has a hold on Dalits.
Out of five assembly constituencies of Kairana Lok Sabha segment, Shamli, Thanabhawan and Kairana assemblies lies in Shamli district, while Nakud and Gangoh constituencies are in adjoining Saharanpur district, which now is known as Bheem Army base.
In the two constituencies of Saharanpur, Muslim, Dalit and Gujar communities have maximum vote share and in Nakud, Dalits are decisive. RLD candidate Tabassum bagged maximum margin from Nakud and Gangoh over BJP’s Mriganka Singh. Hasan had support of SP, Congress, BSP, AAP, Peace Party and Bheem Army.
BSP too has a Dalit vote bank here but dalit youths are now inclined more towards Bheem Army here. In Nakud, where Dalits have over one lakh votes, Hasan was polled 1,14,341 votes against Mrigankas’ 86,224. Tabassum’s lead of 18,117 votes from Nakud was maximum in all five assembly constituencies under the Kairana Lok Sabha seat.
Bheem Army’s district president Kamal Walia said it was how people expressed their anger against the excesses of BJP on Dalits. He said that margin of victory in Nakud could have been more, but it was reduced due to malfunctioning of the EVMs.
He said the result shows people are unhappy with the government and the local MLA Dharam Singh Saini , who is a minister in the Yogi government.
Bheem Army’s leader jailed Chandrashekher was booked in connection with the Saharanpur riots last year and late NSA was imposed on him. Bheem Army’s differences with the BJP widened with the clash between Rajputs and Dalits in Shabbirpur village over processions on the occasion of Maharana Pratap Jayanti last year.
Walia said Dalits will vote against the BJP in 2019 polls and Kairana was a beginning in this direction.