Could Yogi's waning cow slogan undercut BJP's hopes in UP?

Basti, Gonda : As you head eastward in UP where elections are underway, you are more likely to see more cows. Most of them are stray cattle becoming a potent issue, according to Indian Express, causing the discomfiture to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

With yogi regime's strict ban on cattle slaughter, cows are seen pell-mell around here. Stray cows were non-existent five years ago, said Ramchandra Tripathi, a farmer from Basevarai in Harraiya tehsil of Basti district.

"Today, we have 50-60 saand (bulls)," says the 57-year-old.

About a dozen animals reportedly gorged on standing mustard in a field, which bespeaks the ground realities. "They have destroyed my wheat in 3 out of 5 bighas," complains mustard farmer Shiv Prasad Verma.

Aversion to BJP's effete slogan of stop cow slaughter is evident in the words of wheat farmer Sudhir Kumar Tiwari "Five years ago, we all chanted gau hatya band karo (stop cow slaughter) and voted for BJP both in 2017 (UP Assembly elections) and 2019 (for Lok Sabha). But this time, we are fully behind Triyambak Nath Pathak (Samajwadi Party candidate from Harraiya). The only reason is awara pashu."

Stray cattle eating away crops wasn't an issue in the pre-Yogi period. Because, according to the report, the ban on slaughter was largely on paper. Over time, the number of stray animals--let loose by farmer themselves, including bulls, male calves, non-dairy cows—multiplied. Cows straying into crops could have political implications in the eastern wards of UP, according to the report.

An indicator of that was Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP rally speech at Unnao on Sunday, in which he promised a new policy to address "chutta jaanvaron se pareshani (stray animal trouble)" after March 10, when the results of the ongoing polls are out, the report said.

The problem is not so much from cows eating crops as from putting up costly barbed wire fences around fields.

Farmers now feel the heat as they have to shell out Rs 80-90 per kg for 100 kg steel wire alongside RCC poles costing Rs 200-250 per pole—this is for single bigha (0.2 acres). The cost, according to Jagnarayan Verma, pradhan (president) of Basevarai panchayat, comes to over Rs 16,000.

The problem is close to home for many farmers in neighbouring districts of Basti as well. Standing guard over his wheat and mustard fields in Durauni village in Gonda district's Colonelganj tehsil, farmer Ram Sundar Yadav said "Without awara pashu, (stray cows) my wheat yields would be 4 quintals per bigha. But now I'll be happy to even harvest 2 quintals."

Choosing not to vote BJP this time unlike as he had done in the last two polls, he and another farmer from the village Pankaj Yadav are supporting SP's Yogesh Pratap Singh— because" "Baila hi mudda hai (bull is the only issue)".

To overcome the menace of stray cattle, Yogi Government plans to open more gaushalas (cow shelters). But farmers have different things to say.

"If I take my animal there, they will straightaway demand Rs 2,000 from me. They also loot the government by taking money and not properly feeding the animals," said Shesh Narayan Paswan, a wheat and mustard grower from Shree Jot village of Colonelganj.

Rearing cattle at cow shelters is way costly, and the government is spending Rs 30 a day for every animal housed in them. The Gau Ashray Kendra at Maijapur in Colonelganj, opened in August 2020, has 57 female and 45 male cattle.

Even an unproductive animal gets about 5 kg of bhusa (wheat straw) and 1 kg of either whole flour, cattlefeed, rice polish or mustard oilcake with wheat straw at the cost of Rs 16/kg and Rs 22 for flour, Rs 40-42 for oilcake, according to the report. According to Surya Prasad Shukla, a progressive farmer and nursery owner from Maijapur, the government shouldn't "waste money" in gaushalas.

He would rather want the government to build schools, hospitals and village roads than cow shelters.