Death-Zone in Varanasi

Saba Naqvi

Namo Ghat at high noon. | Photo by Saba Naqvi ©️

---

On the hottest day in 140 years in Varanasi, I fainted on the ghats in the night. I thought that I was dying and lay down on the hot steps and my eyes closed. I was dragged to a car, the AC blasted, water splashed, ORS drunk and yet for some minutes I faded to another realm and then I returned to the living. 

I was told later by a doctor that I had a classic heat stroke as I am otherwise in good health. I am used to being out in the field so this was an exception---but the temperatures this year have broken all records and can have serious consequence. I had also spent the afternoon and late morning reporting from the neighbouring seat of Chandauli and that was a furnace while the evening on the ghats and the river was like being in a high temperature sauna. 

But I was sweating it out in order to pick up trends from Purvanchal and Varanasi. And for what it’s worth in my short trip this is what I found. 

*  The euphoria around Narendra Modi is missing and you do not find people all over the city, as in 2014, (chronicled in my book Saffron Storm: From Vajpayee to Modi, Penguin, 2024) shouting Har Har Modi. It’s not an emotional election in the PM’s constituency and his margin of victory could come down. At the same time many people believe that Modi could sail through also because the Opposition has not given them a good candidate. Some Varanasi residents said their vote would still go to BJP for want of an alternative. 

But voices of dissent in the city are increasing and gathering and former BJP voters are disenchanted because of their economic condition. 

There is a core Hindu BJP voter that is still intact but they are not enthusiastic participants and are just going with the party because of the larger ideological framework. 

Counter intuitively, the anti-Muslim rhetoric in the election has not gone down well even among some BJP voters. They say it is not appropriate for a PM to speak as he has. 

*Yet there is no clear trend even among caste groups. For instance, near Sarnath, that falls under Varanasi constituency, in a Dalit basti where they refer to themselves as Chamar (Jatav in other parts) and Harijan, there is a vote for Modi because it’s Varanasi but there is also some going to BSP and a very small number headed to the I.N.D.I.A alliance. It was as with most things in this election, a mixed bag.  

Chandauli in baking 47⁰ Celsius | Image by Saba Naqvi©️

---

In Chandauli, there is a fierce fight between the sitting BJP MP Mahendra Nath Pandey who had 47.7 per cent of the vote in 2019. This time the SP candidate is a strongman Virendra Singh and it’s a real contest.

Since everything operates on caste in the face of the missing wave, here’s one sample I took of voters in the constituency. A paan seller, belonging to the Kurmi community looked weary in the heat and said “wo to avatar hain; unko kaun harayega” (He is an avatar, who can defeat him) adding that as of now he will repeat his vote although life is hard. Just to clarify, he was joking and did not intend to worship the PM. 

But a quick sample from the notebook: A Chauhan, rice miller in another part of constituency is voting SP, a Sonkar fruit seller BJP, a Dalit worker in a shop SP because BJP is a dangerous force, another Dalit in another township also SP for no clear reason, a Baniya shopkeeper BJP, a Dalit driver BJP because they will win anyway and we get some ration, but his chacha is definitely BSP because regardless of anything BSP is the only party for the SCs. 

Repeated this in cluster after cluster and there is no clear trend to be spotted here.

Meanwhile, I have realized that politicians move around in high temperatures with ORS and a full regimen for hydration. The doctor says that it’s not enough to just drink water as the salts go missing in such abnormal temperatures. So, if you insist on being out in the heat, carry ORS or have salted numbu paani. Water is not enough. 

Would I ever do this again, set out to travel the countryside in a record heatwave? In a heart-beat yes but with ORS. 

I learnt a little more about the election, the people of Purvanchal, and the fascinating city of Varanasi. And there is a certain symbolism to collapsing and coming to life on the ghats of Banaras.