UP Elections 2017: How BJP is striving hard to make Banaras role model for growth

What Ayodhya did for LK Advani, Lucknow for Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Varanasi seems to be doing the same for Narendra Modi. It’s from here that the BJP hopes to radiate the Modi effect across some 150 assembly segments in Eastern UP. The target is to spread the ‘Varanasi Model’ of development that can overlay the complex caste equations that fascinate the political tapestry of one of the most politically aware parts in India.

When ET traveled across what is being loosely called “country ka sabse bada VVIP constituency”, spoke to local BJP leaders, workers and the administration, it was clear that the entire effort is geared towards creating a Varanasi Model. But in 2017, as the state prepares for assembly polls, this is still very much work in progress. “Par hamare liye 2019 key liye achcha check ho jayega,” a BJP leader involved in Modi’s turnaround plan for Varanasi told ET.

While the Kyoto look and feel may still be a long way away, Banaras, the historical identity of the city, offers immediate political gains with some quick-fixes to the education, health and business, primarily tourism and textiles, infrastructure. On the political front, the BJP is already in talks with caste-based political outfits like Bhartiya Samaj Party, Bhartiya Janwadi Party and Pragatisheel Manav Samaj to create some kind of a BJP-led umbrella coalition in Purvanchal. The idea, BJP leader Rupesh Pandey said, is to give Modi’s vision a local political platform.

The real work, of course, is in the hands of Centre’s various ministries. Railways, Roads, Urban Development, Power, Shipping, are all present and very busy in different parts of the constituency. But the standout department has to be the textiles ministry, which went to Smriti Irani in the recent reshuffle. Reason: the well-networked weaving economy of the region, which encompasses a whole range of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled lower-caste workers with a robust trading community.

A very important part of this are the Muslims, who unlike in Western UP, are more deeply integrated with this economic matrix. They have also found their own political voices. Mulayam in Azamgarh, Mukhtar Ansari in Mau and Samad Ansari in Varanasi. The Modi brigade, following BJP’s fantastic performance in 2014, is looking to play the role of a transformative agent and help improve technology, market access and offer specialised training centres and facilities. In short, manage a turnaround from the weaving economy.

ET sought to map this effort:

WEAVING A GROWTH PLAN
The National Institute of Fashion Technology campus in Sonia Gandhi’s Raebareli constituency was tasked to open an extension centre in Varanasi. The centre opened up four months ago ans is up and running with a flashy new board dominating the entrance to the old Indian Institute of Handloom Technology at Varanasi’s Chowkaghat area. Eligibility criteria is Class X pass for a certificate course that includes computeraided design. The idea is to target weaver’s children.

“It was beyond my imagination that the weaver card, which all my family members possess, would one day enable me to pursue a course at NIFT,” Danish, who has started dreaming big after getting enrolled in one course at extension centre, told ET. In Lalpura locality, about 750 labourers are busy working on the textile ministry’s most ambitious project—a Rs 213 crore Trade Facilitation Centre & Crafts Museum (TFC & CM) spread across 8 acres.

The purpose is make it one-stop place for trade, showcasing Brand India handlooms and handicrafts and supply chain linkages to foreign buyers. Modi laid the foundation stone on November 7, 2015 and already more than half the work is complete. Common Facilitation Centres (CFC) in nine villages: CFCs house and provide raw material like yarn and silk thread. Even dyer is made available to weaver at these centres. The CFCs also aims at providing training to run a loom.

“If a weaver wants loan (MUDRA) from a bank, he can submit his application to this centre and we will talk to bank,” an employee of union handloom department, who is posted at Lohta CFC, told ET. In the meantime, Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIHT), Varanasi, has now started offering courses like “Certificate Course on Handloom Entrepreneurs”, again with minimum eligibility of Class X.

A VAJPAYEE CONNECT THROUGH ROADS
Here, Modi’s team seems to have taken a leaf out of Vajpayee’s Amar Shaheed Path project in Lucknow, a 23-km stretch that gave the city a loop road which decongested heavy highway traffic from the city. “ People of Lucknow remember Vajpayeeji for that till now. This also helped Rajnathji, who as road minister implemented the project, in his election. Jo bi kaho, sadak dikhti hai (whatever you say a road is visible),” a senior BJP leader told ET. Modi’s Shaheed Path is a 16.5-km ring road that connects three arterial roads heading into Varanasi from different directions – Azamgarh, Ghazipur and Jaunpur.

Essentially, cross traffic will not have to enter the city, leading to major decongestion of the heritage city. The problem, however, is with land acquistion. And despite the push from the top, progress has been just about average: 26% progress until now though distrct administration is still holding out the target date of May 2017. Broadly, the NHAI has planned over Rs 4,000 crore worth projects for highway upgradation in and around Varanasi. This includes two major bridge sections on the Ghaghra river.

DECONGESTING THROUGH RAILWAYS
Decongestion again is the first mantra here. “You see Varanasi has always been well connected by rail since it is a major junction of the old north & east railway networks. The issue is congestion. The city needs two stations. One can be a junction, the other a terminal like Manduadih. All trains terminating at Varanasi should go to Manduadih after renovation,” explained a Railway official. Just like in the case of weavers, the other focus is on ensuring better facilities for trade in perishables. The Railways is setting up perishable cargo depot in Ghazipur which shares boundaries with Varanasi and is represented by minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha.

“The aim is to give a boost to vegetable farming that can be quite lucrative here with the right facility,” said an official. Besides this, Varanasi has the power ministry working overtime to lay underground cables while different projects are on under the Swachh Bharat initiative to ‘de-filth’ the holy city, especially the ghats. One of them — Rajendra Prasad Ghat — also has free wifi now. Even if results are a distance away, the BJP is already working hard at sending out the message that PM has changed the pace of change in Kashi. There’s a cabinet minister at the party’s Varanasi office every week.

The likes of Manoj Sinha and Mahesh Sharma are there every second week. Another frequent face is Mahendranath Pandey, the party’s face in Varanasi for two decades and Chandauli MP. He has been diligent in executing local responsibilities on behalf of the PM. The hard work also landed him a ministerial berth in the last reshuffle. In many ways, the mix for the development narrative is falling in place, but the keyword on Kashi’s sharp political tongues is “transfer” – ie will it transfer to votes once again for Modi.