Home to the revered shrine of Sufi saint Salim Chishti and the imposing red sandstone fortress built by Emperor Akbar, Fatehpur Sikri stands as a testament to the grandeur of the Mughal era. In the upcoming elections, the Fatehpur Sikri seat finds itself delicately poised, with both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress party setting their sights on clinching victory. The Congress, contesting 17 seats in Uttar Pradesh as part of its alliance with the Samajwadi Party under the INDIA bloc, has fielded Ramnath Sikarwar, popularly known as 'Fauji Baba,' to take on the BJP's sitting MP, Rajkumar Chahar. Chahar, who had secured a resounding victory in 2019 by defeating Raj Babbar, the then-state Congress president, with a margin of five lakh votes, faces twin challenges this time around. Not only is he grappling with internal party conflicts over his candidature, but he also finds himself confronted with significant anti-incumbency sentiment.
Pankaj Mishra, Imran Shah and Rajender Bhandari visited Fatehpur Sikri report.
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Pankaj Mishra, Imran Shah and Rajender Bhandari visited Fatehpur Sikri report.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:14 Even in this heated political activity, the Fatehpur Sikri, the interior remains calm, serene,
00:24 pristine and business goes as usual. There you see the Dargah of Muslim scholar Salim Trishti,
00:33 who had blessed Akbar with a son for which he had come here. Now 1600 was when Akbar got his
00:44 blessings and then made this whole architecture that you see around here. The red stone mixed
00:53 with marble and all of them, the beautiful structure here now which is a mosque and
01:01 is frequented by the more than 18 to 20 lakh people who reside here in Fatehpur Sikri. This
01:12 particular Luxmar constituency as we just discussed is also undergoing polling on May the 7th.
01:20 But the beauty of it, the tranquility, the peace factor here at times makes you feel that the
01:27 political heat, no matter what is happening outside of here, the faith, the kind of belief
01:33 that people have put in from all walks of life, from all irrespective of their caste, creed and
01:38 religion, come here, pay their obeisance at the Salim Trishti Dargah and once again it tells us
01:46 the story of resilience, the Ganga-Jamuni-Tehzeeb of India, the cultural diversity that India is
01:53 known for, that is known about and also the very fact that the biggest democracy in the world,
01:59 a thriving one, chooses its leader with patience, with a belief that this social fabric remains
02:08 intact as the days, years and decades pass by. The election fever is gearing and whether Rajkumar
02:17 Chahar, the sitting MP of the BJP, manages to get the support of the voters, this time around
02:23 remains to be seen. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress BSP too have filed their candidates,
02:29 remains to be seen whether BJP is able to retain the seat or not. Let's go and find out from the
02:35 people who live here, what is their opinion. Brother, please tell us with your name,
02:40 what kind of atmosphere is there here in the elections?
02:42 My name is Muhammad Abid and in the elections, this time around, we are trying to change the
02:49 government. Rajkumar Chahar is a candidate of the BJP, we like him a lot, personally,
02:58 but we don't like his party at all. Because he has been doing Hindu-Muslim politics for 10 years
03:05 and this time, we are trying to change that politics by bringing together both Hindus and Muslims.
03:12 So, it will be our complete support that we win the 5th from here.
03:16 We win the 5th this time.
03:18 See, this is a Muslim-dominated area. There are many pockets in Agra where there is a Muslim-dominated area,
03:24 but the Lok Sabha seat is in general a win-win situation. Still, the candidates here,
03:27 Rajkumar Chahar, Ramnath Shikarwar, Ramnivas Sharma, and BJP's son, who is an independent
03:37 candidate, are all Hindu representatives. Is the party not able to choose such people?
03:46 Or is it a representation through a Muslim leader?
03:49 A Muslim leader will not win from here. The party wants to win the candidate.
03:56 How will a Muslim leader win? Because people vote for their community.
04:02 There is not much Muslim population here. There is a total of about 1 lakh votes.
04:08 This is the reason. No party will want to vote for a Muslim. We have no objection to that.
04:13 I am a Muslim. It doesn't matter to me that my candidate is from my community.
04:18 But I would not want a Hindu candidate to come and recommend that you are a Muslim.
04:25 That is why we will not support you. The law should be followed according to the law.
04:30 BJP is not following the law at all. It discriminates against people.
04:34 That is why we are 100% against BJP. We would like people to not vote for them.
04:40 There is a personal theory that after something happens, it is known as a loss.
04:47 Corona was gone. There was no hunger during the Corona.
04:51 But after Corona, people realized that their bank balance is no longer there.
04:56 It has been 10 years. In the next year, people will know that because of the Modi government,
05:04 inflation has reached a new level. People will realize now.
05:09 People will realize what gold is running for. How inflation is increasing.
05:14 It would be better if Modi loses and BJP government leaves.
05:18 Gandhi family is educated. They will run the country well.
05:26 Thank you for your simple words. Uncle, what do you think about this?
05:35 You are doing a survey. You have full knowledge.
05:43 The government keeps coming and going. But you still have to take people's opinion.
05:50 You have to ask people. This is a topic of discussion in the Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha.
05:55 But in the present, Rajkumar Chahar, the PM, the way the atmosphere is in the whole of India,
06:05 he is still in the present in the BJP's parliament.
06:12 It is his fate.
06:14 He has already been elected.
06:16 The question is, all the religious people who live here,
06:20 like BJP, MPs, MLAs, who do this, they have not commented on this.
06:30 That is why I am happy with them.
06:33 You did not ask my name. I am Nazruddin Qureshi, a resident of the Fatehpur Sikri Lok Sabha.
06:45 I have been living here for many generations.
06:47 That is why I like them.
06:57 It is the public's choice. They can come to the Lok Sabha as they wish.
07:05 But the ticket they got, the first victory was around 5 lakhs.
07:13 It was in 1992.
07:15 In 2019, it was around 4 lakhs, but they accepted it as 5 lakhs.
07:21 That is why they got the ticket.
07:25 Now, if they get the ticket, it is a good thing.
07:29 But the public wants it to be peaceful, whether it is the government or not.
07:37 The person does not have any discrimination.
07:39 He respects everyone.
07:41 He listens to everyone.
07:43 And I cannot say anything more than this.
07:45 So, in a way, there is no flaw in the candidate, as you are saying.
07:49 BJP's Rajkumar Chahar is quite a dynamic representative also.
07:55 But as we talked to people, we understood how to vote for them.
08:01 Often we used to see that any politician used to vote only in the name of Modi ji or BJP.
08:09 This time, because of the name of BJP, a candidate like the one seen in Fatehpur Sikri,
08:15 is getting a little bit of a doubt.
08:21 I think this is it from us at Fatehpur Sikri.
08:27 Once again, this high door, how high it keeps the party that they bring back to Fatehpur Sikri,
08:34 this will be a matter to be seen, no doubt.
08:37 And as history, tradition and the daily life mingle with each other here at Fatehpur Sikri,
08:43 we anxiously wait for May 7th when the people of Fatehpur Sikri come out and vote,
08:48 along with nine other Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
08:52 All important seats, definitely.
08:54 Uttar Pradesh holds a lot of significance as far as Indian polity is concerned,
08:59 Indian elections are concerned.
09:00 We'll be bringing you all the latest.
09:02 This is, as of now, Pankaj Mishra reporting from Fatehpur Sikri,
09:05 with camera person Imran for One India.