Jailed Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s shadow looms as Swami Sakshi Maharaj aims for a hat-trick

Four years after he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Delhi high court on charges of raping a minor, expelled BJP leader and former MLA from Bangarmau, Kuldeep Singh Sengar’s shadow continues to loom large over Unnao Lok Sabha constituency.
Cooling his heels in Delhi’s Tihar jail, more than 500km away, Sengar, in fact, lurks in the collective psyche of people in Unnao – thanks to the profound “influence” he wielded in the region for nearly 18 years as a lawmaker (between 2002 and 2020).

Having started his political career with the Congress in the early 1990s, Sengar switched over to the BSP and won the Unnao assembly seat in 2002. This was the first time the BSP won the seat. A few years later, Mayawati expelled him for alleged “anti-party” activities. Sengar then joined the Samajwadi Party and won from Bangarmau in 2007, the year when the BSP stormed to power with an absolute majority for the first time in UP.
He won again in 2012, this time from Bhagwantnagar assembly constituency. But just before the 2017 assembly elections, he switched over to the BJP and won from Bangarmau. However, Sengar’s career ended abruptly in 2018 when a 16-year-old girl accused him of rape.
He was subsequently arrested by the CBI and expelled by the BJP. In 2019, the Delhi high court convicted him on charges of rape, framing the rape survivor’s father in an illegal firearms case and his death in judicial custody, and conspiring with others in an accident case of the rape survivor. In Feb 2020, he lost his assembly membership. Sengar’s brother Atul Singh, who is also a local strongman, was jailed for his involvement in the case, too.

The Sengar brothers operated from their white palatial bungalow tucked deep in the quiet precincts of Makhi village in Unnao. The residence looks over a school-- Virendra Singh Shiksha Niketan Inter College, named after Sengar’s grandfather. The locality comes under the Safipur reserved assembly constituency, represented by BJP MLA Bamba Lal Diwakar.
The area also has the rape survivor’s small house, which is continuously guarded by armed security personnel on the directions of court. The survivor’s elder sister, Sonakshi (name changed), tells the visiting media persons: “He (Sengar) ruined us. We could not even perform the ‘terahvi’ (13th day ritual) of our father, who died in police custody.
Who is responsible for the situation which we are in? Sengar is in jail, but his ‘rasookh’ (influence) hasn’t died down.” The survivor and her mother shifted to New Delhi’s Nangloi locality after the incident. The locals, however, maintain that there has always been an element of “suspicion” in the entire controversy. “All we know is that ‘vidhayak ji’ had a ‘bhaukal’ (influence). But he always remained present among the people.
What happened is extremely unfortunate,” said Sonu Sharma, who runs a taxi service in Unnao. Nearly 50 km away in Bangarmau, people have their own sense of understanding vis-à-vis Sengar. “He had his own system, his own sets of contacts at the grassroots level.
He seemed not to rely much on any party organisation. He won elections on his own strength,” said Umesh Kumar, a tea seller. Not surprisingly, soon after BJP’s Unnao MP Swami Sachchidanand Hari Sakshi Maharaj, aka Sakshi Maharaj (68), got re-elected in 2019, he visited Sengar, who was then lodged in Sitapur jail, to “thank” him for “his support.” “This is like a tale of ‘Sadhu aur shaitan,” quipped a local in Kishori Kheda locality of the city. Maharaj, a Lodh OBC, is back in the fray and aims for a hattrick. Locals here often chart out a slogan, reportedly coined by Sakshi himself: “Dhai-lakh Lodhi, baaki saare Modi” (2.5 lakh Lodhs, the rest being supporters of Modi) -- signifying the electoral strength of Lodh and Modi’s popularity in the region.
The constituency has a sizable number of Dalits and OBCs, primarily Lodh and Nishad. Brahmin and Thakur, too, account for a good number of voters. Known for his closeness to former CM Kalyan Singh, Sakshi won his first Lok Sabha election from Mathura on a BJP ticket in 1991 and then from Farrukhabad in 1996 and 1998.
He was involved in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and is one of the accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case. In 1999, he switched over to the SP and the then party chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, sent him to the Rajya Sabha. He, however, returned to BJP in 2012. Around 10 kilometres away from the heart of the city, Sakshi’s residence-cumoffice in Gadan Kheda bustles with activity as people make a beeline to meet him. After a brief meeting, the Maharaj, who is always in saffron robes, hops on a waiting SUV and speeds off for campaigning. “He will return late at night and may meet people thereafter,” said one of his accomplices. BJP’s Unnao president Avdhesh Katiyar said the party is prepared in all polling booths. “It’s a onesided competition,” he claimed. Sakshi is up against former Unnao MP and SP candidate Annu Tandon, who was formerly with the Congress, and BSP’s Ashok Pandey, a Brahmin and journalistturned-politician.
Tandon enjoys a local connection with the people in the constituency. Her house in the Dhawan Road locality of the city, too, has been abuzz with activities for the past few days. “Unnao is something very close to my heart. I do feel and understand every pulse of the city, people, and their problems,” she told TOI just before leaving for a rally of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.