Decade after Bill Clinton's visit, Saharanpur waits for change

SAHARANPUR: It's 13 years since Bill Clinton drove down to Rampur Maniharan in western UP to open a women's polytechnic funded by a prominent NRI. The Bill Clinton School stands bright and shiny on the same campus among low-slung buildings that house labs, libraries and classrooms. "We have 565 students under CBSE, of whom 234 are girls," says the enthusiastic school president, Rajkamal Saxena. Most educated and affluent families across the social spectrum — "thakurs, Gujjars and Muslims" — want to send their children here.

The 66-km road from Shamli to Saharanpur is dusty and battered, but dotted with educational institutions that promise to unlock exciting career options, especially for the landed class. Silver Bells School, Spring Bells School, Mount Litera, several with trendy names, have sprung up in the years since the 42nd US president came calling. Sitting amidst sugarcane fields and mango orchards, they present a picture of a society strapped for resources, yet straining to change.

But if the Clinton visit was a transformational moment, there is little evidence of UP's chief ministers — five since 2001 — making the most of it. Here, the dream of an all-weather road remains a dream, steady power supply is unthinkable and traditional industries are in decline. Problems of governance cast a long shadow over the poll discourse even if the talk is all about communal tension.

"People are looking for a change," says Shah Nawaz, HR offi cer at the Clinton school, "when they vote, they won't settle for a compromise." The Saharanpur youth who studied in Delhi but returned to work in his hometown believes the real contenders are BJP and Congress though SP and BSP are also in the fray. The vote, he says, has been polarized by the Muzaffarnagar riots and inflammatory speeches by candidates, but feels development overrides other concerns.

For Saharanpur's semiagrarian middle class, UP's own parties do not seem part of the discourse on options for the next central government. BSP and SP have alternately ruled the state for over a decade and BSP MPs represented the belt in the last Lok Sabha, but there have been no tangible improvements in their way of life.

Ashok Kumar, who belongs to the Aggarwal community and runs a printing business in the town, says, "People are tired of Mulayam and Maya... funds get embezzled. For eight years they haven't repaired the road to Muzaffarnagar." Not that he's a fan of the BJP candidate either — "he didn't pay my bills last time after I printed his campaign material," — but he's willing to overlook the man's personal failings to give Modi a shot at setting things right.