Iqra Hasan, 27, is among the youngest candidates in these Lok Sabha elections. Four years ago, she completed her master’s course from SOAS, London, and enrolled for a PhD degree there. But life had other plans for her and she is now making her political debut in the heat and dust of Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, aiming to create an upset as the Samajwadi Party candidate.
Kairana became infamous for the purported exodus of Hindu families some years back due to Muslim dominance. The seat has nearly 40 per cent Muslim voters. “There was never any palayan (exodus) from Kairana. What had happened was there were a few families which had shifted to bigger cities as their businesses grew. That is a natural process and it happens everywhere, not just in Kairana,” Iqra told News18 amidst her hectic campaign on Wednesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, she said, made it out to be a big issue in trying to garner votes. “It was a propaganda issue and the people of Kairana rejected it in 2017 and 2022. Now the local media has also stopped asking it as it was a non-issue and it has died,” Iqra told News18.
Both in the 2017 and 2022 assembly elections, Iqra’s brother Nahid Hasan won the Kairana seat. In 2022, Nahid won from jail despite a spirited BJP campaign, as Iqra took charge.
London to Kairana
After completing her graduation from LSR College in Delhi, Iqra went to London to pursue her master’s degree in International Politics and Law. She was born into an illustrious political family as her grandfather, father Munnawar Hasan, and mother Tabassum have been MPs. But Iqra told News18 that her entry into politics was most unexpected. “I had other plans. I did my master’s in London and got myself enrolled into PhD in 2020. But because of Covid, I came back home for a bit and since then I have been here,” she said.
In 2021, both Iqra’s brother Nahid (Kairana MLA) and her mother were jailed. “The situation at home was precarious…My mother and brother were implicated in false cases. Nahid’s election was then right around the corner so I had to stay back and help with that as he was in jail. That is how it began. And since then, it took one year to get him out of prison. So for one year, I had to take care of all his work as an MLA. In doing that, I formed a connection with the people and I liked doing it eventually, and now I am contesting and hopefully winning,” Iqra told News18.
2022 saw Iqra in the field
Iqra said the 2022 victory was special as the BJP had used its top campaigners in Kairana including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath while her brother was in jail. “I then took charge of the campaign but did not know the workings here. People really helped me in how to do the campaign. I was just the face of it, it was the people of Kairana who helped us win,” said Iqra.
She admitted that she has a lot of privilege because of her family. “This is a big responsibility as I have a lot of privilege and I got this platform because of that privilege. Mine is a political family. But I don’t take that privilege for granted any day and I work through dust and sweat every day…I cover 10-12 villages daily in my campaign,” Iqra told News18.
Key issues of Kairana
The Kairana Lok Sabha seat had about 18 lakh voters and nearly 40 per cent are Muslims. The BJP has fielded its area MP Pradip Chaudhary. The lack of development in Kairana and sugarcane crop dues of 2023 from the Shamli Mill are major issues. “Sugarcane dues is a big issue…there was a dharna for three months which was happening in Shamli. We still have not got the money, and the government has not given any commitment on this issue,” Iqra told News18. Chaudhary is promising a quick resolution of this issue which has the farmers upset.
“My personal request is that we should vote for change…if we let the politicians think that they cannot be changed and that they can pull some strings and always be elected, they will not work for us. So we are hoping that people will realise that giving us a chance after 10 years of ‘double engine government’ our constituency has not got anything which it should have since 2019,” Iqra told News18.
Kairana is a new district that was carved out of Muzaffarnagar. “But all the institutions are in Muzaffarnagar and our district is vacant. A lot of development work is required in villages. There is a lack of educational and health facilities. There is no Hindu-Muslim issue though…today I am campaigning in a Rajput village, yesterday I was in a Saini village. People still remember what my family has done for them,” Iqra said. Locals say a foreign-educated person may be able to bring change.
BJP leaders, however, say Iqra would not be able to match the ruling party’s machinery and Yogi Adityanath’s upcoming rally in Kairana could well determine the course of the election here. Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary also campaigned for BJP’s Pradip Chaudhary on Tuesday in Kairana.
In 2019, Pradip Chaudhary defeated Iqra’s mother Tabassum by around 90,000 votes. Can Iqra stage the biggest upset of them all this time? Kairana votes on April 19, in the first round of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections.
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