The fifth generation of Mangal Pandey, the sepoy whose rebellion triggered the 1857 war of independence, has come out in support of the BJP. As reported by Times of India, Santosh Kumar Pandey and Prabhu Nath Pandey, the fifth generation descendants of Mangal Pandey are rooting for Narendra Modi to return for a second term.

In a tiny corner of Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia, I @timesofindia hunt down 5th generation of 1857 mutiny ‘s first soldier Mangal Pandey – who inspired the 2005 movie Family says they have decided to back @BJP4India & PM @narendramodi for

1.Nationalistic stand

2.Ujjwala,roads,bijli pic.twitter.com/BTUptmU2U6 — Rohan Dua (@rohanduaTOI) May 16, 2019

Currently living in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, the brothers say that only the BJP will come to power. “The BJP has done such work. Like the Ujjwala Yojana, he got us electricity, gave everyone homes, provided facilities to farmers and carried out surgical strikes where they entered Pakistan and killed those who killed our soldiers. If we are sitting safely today in free India it is because the trust we have in Narendra Modi government. They even gave respect to the freedom fighters,” Pandey said.

Santosh Pandey, who currently works as a school teacher, said that the family had stood against Indira Gandhi when she has imposed the Emergency in 1975. He adds that they love that the Modi government is trying to promote the Hindi language.

On comparing Narendra Modi to Congress President Rahul Gandhi who aspires to be the prime minister, Pandey said, “There is a huge difference between them.” Another relative of Mangal Pandey explained how earlier they used to get power supply of 3-4 hours a day which has now gone up to a minimum 18 hours a day power supply. “Conditions were very poor. The condition of roads, railways, everything is good now. Image of Ballia was totally different and was very untidy from every aspect. But now there is a clean and neat image of Ballia which is far better than what it was earlier,” he said.

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Ballia, one of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, will vote on the last day of polling, May 19. The counting will take place on May 23.