AZAMGARH: Despite the palpable anger of Muslims against the ruling Samajwadi Party in Azamgarh district, the constituency represented by Mulayam Singh Yadav in the Lok Sabha, weavers of the famous Banarasi sarees in Mubarkapur, majority of them belonging to the minority community, are appreciative of the developmental works undertaken by Akhilesh Yadav in the area and also his strong anti-demonetisation stand, which has hurt them badly.The village, which is famous for manufacturing Banarasi sarees, has about 25,000 weavers, who work on daily wages. Their livelihood has taken a hit, ever since demonetisation, as there has been an almost 40 per cent decline in production.In 2012 polls the Samajwadi party had made a near clean sweep in Azamgarh, winning 9 out of the 10 seats falling in this parliamentary segment, Mubarkapur was the only one that they lost to the BSP. Though various Muslim organizations have this time announced support to the BSP, local weavers are openly speaking in favour of Akhilesh and are unlikely to follow the dictates of the ulemas.Talking to TOI, Hazi Iftaar Ahmad, a local businessman who has a large number of weavers working for him in Mubarakpur, said the daily wagers had been particularly hit hard with demonetisation. He said the city used to annually do a business of about Rs 50 crores, which had seen a decline of almost 40 per cent after Nov 8."While we didn't have cash to pay to the weavers, unavailability of funds made procurement of raw material impossible for us, hitting our business adversely", said Iftaar adding that he had to lay off majority of his workers.Hussain Ahmad (38), a resident of Purani Basti, Lal chowk, who has been weaving sarees for a long time, said, "I only know this work and I have been rendered jobless by "notebandi". A resident of Mubarakpur Mohalla, Ahmad said his entire family depends on his earning and making ends meet has been difficult since Nov 8.Admitting that things have improved slightly since then, Ahmad appreciated the anti-demonetisation stand taken by Akhilesh and said, "no rich man has been suffered by notebandi. Its only poor like us who have suffered." He said besides Akhilesh had undertaken several developmental projects, including construction of a bus depot, that had made their lives easier.Zakia Jainab, a 17-year-old girl who has been weaving sarees for long, too said that most of the weavers were badly hit by demonetisation. Her 23-year-old sister-in-law, Farhana said, "aapko pata nahi notebandi me hum jaise logo ke sath kya hua? (Don't you know what happened with us due to demonetisation)." She said life had become "hell" for them and they survived only due to help from other family members.38 year old, Razia Khan, another weaver, said it takes a minimum of 3 days to weave a Banarasi saree and they generally are paid Rs 1000 to Rs 1400 for it. With a fall in production, their earnings have gone down considerably, making it difficult for them to survive.Akhtar Hussain, a 32-year-old weaver, said, "instead of doing something to boost our business and earnings, the BJP led government at the centre introduced 'notebandi' and made our lives tougher." He said even though the SP had lost from this constituency in the last polls, Akhilesh had not discriminated against them and even gave them a "Vipanan kendra" (marketing centre) where allotment of shops to weavers is underway.The SP has fielded Akhilesh Yadav, a CM namesake, from this constituency. He's pittied against BSP's Shah Alam alais Guddu Jamail, who is one of the 10 richest candidates of Mayawati's party and BJP's, Laxman Maurya.

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