JAIS (AMETHI): Congress worker Nadeem Ashraf Jaisi, 52, and his team are out in the field every morning in Jaisi town of Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi, abundantly quoting from epic poem Padmavat written in the 16th century here.“Vraksh ek laagi dui daara...maata ke rakt pita ke bindu, upne do Turk aur Hindu (A tree has two branches and a child is attached to both his mother and father. Similarly, Jais is made up of Hindus and Muslims,” Nadeem’s colleague quotes from Padmavat.These men are reading the verses in their poll speeches aloud at every Congress nukkad meeting in Amethi in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.The author of Padmavat, Malik Muhammad Jaisi, was born in Jais and taught by Nadeem’s forefathers, a fact not many even in UP Congress office or Amethi know about Nadeem’s family.“My ancestor Syed Shah Mubarak Ashraf was the guru of Malik Muhammad Jaisi in the 16th century. I am proud to have kept Jaisi’s saab’s literature on Rani Padmavati’s heroics in my home. We readily use his verses and quotes form the book in our poll campaigns,” says Nadeem, who served as UP Youth Congress chief and now nurtures Amethi for his party chief Rahul Gandhi. While stories of Padmavati’s valour are on the lips of every resident, the controversy on the film has no takers.“Syed Ashraf pir pyara dehi mohi pant jagat ujiyara (Malik saab enlightened many people here during that era),” says another of Nadeem’s colleague about the legendary author.“The incident about Khilji seeing Padmavati in a reflection is fiction. It is just a story. The controversy was pointless,” says Mushtaq, a local.While the Congress accuses the BJP of polarising elections here, a significant section of Muslims in Jais are all praise for the Prime Minister Awas Yojana scheme by PM Narendra Modi “I believe PM Narendra Modi will return to power. We are thankful to BJP that we got a home under his scheme here,” says Salman Husain, who lives 50 metres from Jaisi’s birthplace.“Amethi and Rae Bareli generally elect old guard but I think overall, the PM has not done anything wrong here or in India,” says Munnu, a 67-year-old disabled man, pointing towards his lit-up new home.Near Jaisi’s place of birth, a plaque and a park have been maintained by residents for several centuries.The plaque reads, “A student of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya... His poems are centred around God, spiritualism, humanity and harmony.”

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