One-kilo packets of ghee, salt and black gram along with the 5kg rice or wheat provided free against ration cards. Mixed with a generous portion of the Karnataka hijab controversy.

That’s the cocktail the BJP is serving in Uttar Pradesh to arrest the dent in its vote bank.

“The Yogi Adityanath government has added salt, ghee and gram to the 5kg free rations of late. It has been distributing the food grains twice a month now among below-poverty-line families through the public distribution system,” Havendra Pal Singh Gangwar said at Agras.

“This apart, there’s the Rs 6,000 annual cash dole the Centre is paying in three instalments to (small and marginalised) farmers.”

Agras, a village of 5,700 voters, is in Meerganj Assembly constituency, one of the 55 in western Uttar Pradesh that will vote in the second phase on February 14.

Nine of these seats lie in Ruhelkhand, whose principal town Bareilly is known for its jhumkas (bell-shaped earrings) — an association immortalised by Asha Bhosle’s song “Jhumka gira re, Bareilly ke bazaar mein” in the 1966 film Mera Saaya.

Agras presents a microcosm of the demography of Ruhelkhand, where the BJP won from all the nine Assembly constituencies in 2017, bolstered by support from across the Dalit and OBC communities.

Meerganj is part of the Bareilly Lok Sabha constituency, represented by former Union minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar who has won the seat eight times since 1989.

“The Adityanath government is spending huge money on the voters which the BJP’s opponents — mainly the Samajwadi Party — can’t even think of matching. But the BJP will be extremely lucky to retain even four of the nine seats,” said Havendra, who had unsuccessfully contested for panchayat pradhan last year.

Many other villagers agreed, claiming a heavy dent in the BJP’s OBC vote bank.

“The Adityanath government violated the job quota norms while recruiting 65,000 employees through the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission,” said schoolteacher Manoj Singh, 30.

“Adityanath recruited mostly Thakurs and Brahmins. The educated OBC youths who had voted in hordes chanting ‘Har har Modi, ghar ghar Modi’ through successive elections since 2014 are feeling cheated now.”

Manoj too is a Gangwar, a variant of the Kurmi-Patel clan within the OBC community that has been a mainstay of the BJP over the years.

“Unemployment has surged, but the OBC youths are beaten by police when they demand jobs. Yogi-Modi is a no-no for them,” Manoj added.

However, the dole of ghee, salt, gram and cash is likely to work with some segments of voters, particularly among the lower-rung OBCs and Scheduled Castes such as Prajapatis, Barhais, Palis, Dhunas, Kumhars, Shakyas, Balmikis, Jatavs and Dhobis.

Besides, salt carries an emotional appeal. “Yogi ka namak khaya hai, chukaungee (I have eaten Yogi’s salt, I will repay the debt),” said a Pali woman as she grazed her goats in a field.

But the aspirational youths and upper-rung OBCs such as Gangwars, Patels and Yadavs, who dominate the discourse and had voted for the BJP collectively and successively, have shifted to the Samajwadi Party.

Akhilesh Yadav has promised employment, a check on the skyrocketing prices of essentials, and bhaichara (social amity).

The Samajwadis have fielded Sultan Baig, a Muslim, against sitting MLA and BJP candidate D.C. Verma from Meerganj.

“We don’t mind Baig belonging to the Muslim community. We will vote in the name of Akhilesh the way we voted in the name of Modi,” said Lalbabu Gangwar, an elderly villager.

The split in the ruling party’s OBC vote bank is palpable. Munnalal Gangwar of Anwala, visiting a relative in Agras, tried to provide an assessment of how much it would affect the BJP’s prospects.

“The BJP has already lost the Nawabganj, Baheri and Bhojipura seats — the results at these seats are a foregone conclusion. And Bithri-Chainpur, Anwala and Meerganj are too close to call,” Munnalal said.

“The only seat the BJP can be sure of is Bareilly city, home to business communities and upper castes in sizeable numbers.”

Ten houses from Havendra’s stands that of Ramniwas Sharma, 45, a Brahmin.

“See how a Muslim girl student in burqa shouted ‘Allah hu Akbar’ at a college in Karnataka. You must have seen that in TV. It’s necessary to vote for the BJP to thwart the threat to our culture from Muslims,” Ramniwas said.

He was referring to Muskan Khan who was heckled by a mob chanting “Jai Shri Ram” as she was entering her college in Karnataka — where several colleges have banned the hijab (veil) — in a burqa this week. She had shouted back “Allah hu Akbar” and “hijab is my right” and walked on.

Ramni is a friend of an RSS volunteer who runs a school in the village and engages people in discussions of the Karnataka hijab row.

The RSS volunteer refused to talk to this correspondent. “Aap se baat karna bekar hai (Talking to you is useless),” he said and walked away.

Villagers said the RSS volunteer was “linking” the Karnataka hijab controversy with the Uttar Pradesh elections, but had no takers except for “some Brahmins”.

Three houses and a turn in the road away was the entrance to the Muslim mohalla (neighbourhood).

“Let’s talk about how I have served the village for 30 years. I have organised as many as 18 camps to vaccinate people against Covid free of cost,” said Mushtaq Hussein, a popular medical practitioner at the village, smiling and offering a cup of hot tea on a wintry day.

“I have treated Panditji (Ramniwas) too and many others. We live in affection and amity in the village, which has never seen a communal conflict.”

Hussein was surrounded by many patients from diverse castes and religions.

Samajwadi candidate Baig faces a threat from Congress candidate Mohammad Ilyas, a popular figure among Ansari Muslims.

“We have nothing but goodwill for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the Congress. But we will vote for Sultan Baig as he is in a position to defeat Verma,” said Akil Ahmad. Still, the Congress nominee might corner some Muslim votes.

Devidas Sagar, 75, a local Jatav leader who admitted to working for Union minister Santosh Gangwar in successive elections, said the Dalit vote could split between Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadis this time.

“We are Jatav and will vote for Behenji. But many other Dalit castes — Balmikis, Dhobis and Khatiks — could vote for the Samajwadis,” said Devidas, whose home is in the village’s southern corner from where the Dalit colony begins.