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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 000800 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI PINR KISL KDEM IN
SUBJECT: BHARAT BALLOT 09: BULANDSHAHR TAKE TWO 
 
REF: NEW DELHI 710 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: This is the second in a series of cables on 
Bulandshahr, a rural market-town of 175,000 two hours 
southeast of Delhi in the state of Uttar Pradesh (reftel).  A 
series of one-day visits have given us an opportunity to 
observe the election campaign from the ground up, and to 
gauge the political climate of a rural constituency, where 
the election will ultimately be decided.  On this trip, 
Poloffs held a roundtable of party activists and visited the 
district party headquarters of the Samajwadi Party (SP). 
Caste combinations dominated the roundtable discussions, as 
they have dominated the campaign for this "reserved" (for a 
low caste) parliamentary seat.  "Issues" emerged only as an 
afterthought.  Voting will take place on May 7, the fourth 
and penultimate round of polling in India's parliamentary 
elections.  End Summary. 
 
Close to Delhi, but Far Away 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The panorama of bucolic Bulandshahr seems a far cry 
from the urban hubbub of New Delhi. Bullock carts hauling 
used tires and chicken cages replace Delhi's SUV's and 
minivans.  Open-engine, three-wheel auto-rickshaws with 
rooftop passengers take the place of the city buses.  The day 
of this visit, a big-rig truck had barreled into the median 
strip of the narrow (and only) road from Delhi, blocking all 
traffic in one direction.  Adding to the gridlock, a sizeable 
crowd of local residents assembled alongside the truck to 
gawk at the scene, bringing nearly all traffic to a 
standstill. 
 
Identity Politics Rules 
----------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) At a roundtable with party activists, caste 
combinations and the sub-caste identity of the candidates 
dominated the discussion.  While the Bulandshahr seat is 
reserved for so-called Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates, the 
SC group comprises several distinct sub-communities.  None of 
the party activists mentioned "issues" or "policies" that 
would influence voters.  Forty minutes into the discussion, 
R.P. Tyagi, a Congress Party district leader, tried to make 
the case that rural voters would opt for the Congress Party 
because of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a 
United Progressive Alliance scheme of guaranteed work and pay 
for rural workers.  The other party activists waved him off; 
Tyagi did not put up much of a defense. 
 
¶4. (U) Poloff inquired whether international concerns such as 
relations with the U.S., or Pakistan or terrorism in general 
would play a role.  The general consensus indicated that 
international relations clearly did not influence voters. 
Terrorism, however, will at least receive air time during the 
campaign, particularly from the BJP.  After repeating the BJP 
mantra that the Congress Party was soft on terror, even BJP 
district leader Pratap Chaudhary, agreed that it was not a 
major concern among the local electorate.  Bulandshahr has 
not witnessed a terrorist incident nor is it of a size or 
importance to be a likely target. 
 
Muslim Vote Divided 
------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Muslims comprise roughly twenty percent of the 
Bulandshahr constituency.  Should they vote en block it would 
be a powerful force.  However, our interlocutors all agreed 
that the Muslim vote would be divided among the Congress 
Party, the SP and the Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). 
While the Congress Party represents the historic political 
home of Muslims, the religious minority swung to the SP in UP 
 
NEW DELHI 00000800  002 OF 002 
 
 
particularly after the 1992 demolition of the Barbri Mosque. 
But now that the SP has joined hands with Kalyan Singh, the 
BJP Chief Minister of the state in 1992, many Muslims voters 
may be looking for different options, most notably the BSP. 
Our contacts did not foresee a "wave" towards one of the 
three parties, and predicted that the split Muslim vote will 
help the BJP candidate Ashok Pradhan. 
 
A Meeting Behind a Motorcycle Repair Shop 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Poloffs met with the SP campaign manager for 
Bulandshahr, Kiran Pal Singh, and the party district 
president, Raghav Suman, at the party's local headquarters. 
It took us several minutes to find the venue because there 
were no flags or party emblems to identify the office. We 
kept missing the "headquarters" because it was tucked away 
behind an old makeshift motorcycle repair shop, and was, in 
reality, more of an outdoor courtyard than a conventional 
office. In the courtyard, a small congregation of SP party 
workers and leaders sat around a single rusted desk drinking 
tea and smoking cigarettes.  Posters with pictures of the 
party's leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, hung suspended from the 
trees with a few streamers with the party's bicycle logo 
attached.  Little indicated that this was any kind of 
election command center. 
 
¶7. (U) Poloff asked why the SP would win the Bulandshahr 
seat.  Singh argued that a combination of Other Backward 
Castes and Muslims would deliver the seat to the SP.  But 
when pressed why, he offered little regarding the SP's 
policies, political ideology or even campaign strategy.  He 
generally confined his comments to trashing the SP's 
archenemy, Mayawati's BSP, as corrupt and infested with 
criminals.  With a nod to a few Muslim workers he did add 
that the SP was "secular."  When pressed by Poloff, who 
observed that the BSP too was secular, he stated that 
Mayawati would align with the BJP after the elections. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Changing topics, Poloff asked for the group's view 
of SP General Secretary and money man Amar Singh.  A 
noticeably uncomfortable silence fell over the group, 
followed by half smirks.  "Well, he is our leader," one man 
in the back finally replied, "but only because Mulayam Singh 
Yadav has decided it best to make him so."  The others 
mumbled agreement and then further praised Mulayam. 
 
¶9. (U) Comment: The second trip to Bulandshahr lent further 
evidence to the currently held understanding of UP politics. 
National issues will play almost no role, and local issues 
will take a secondary role to identity politics.  Caste 
combinations seem to be the only game in town and are almost 
a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The more the political 
leadership class obsess over caste, the more political 
workers, and voters believe it to be the only concern.  End 
Comment. 
BURLEIGH