Lotus blooms in Jatland, Ajit’s revival hopes shattered again
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s big win in the Jat belt has shattered Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)chief Ajit Singh’s hopes of reviving his political fortunes in western UP where he tried to woo his traditional Jat voters by raising emotive issues.
Barring the RLD’s bastion Chaprauli in Baghpat district, the party trailed in other constituencies of western UP.
The BJP was ahead in 52 out of 71 seats of region, the Samajwadi Party (SP) was leading in 15, the Congress in two, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the RLD in one each.
In 2012, the SP bagged 26, the BSP 22, the BJP 12, the Congress seven and the RLD three seats in the region.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the RLD failed to win even a single seat. After failing to sew up an alliance with the SP and the Congress this year, Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Choudhary decided to go it alone and fielded candidates almost in all constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh.
The RLD’s strategy was to win over the Jats and Muslims but it failed. Rashtriya Lok Dal general secretary Trilok Tyagi claimed the BJP once again polarised voters “as it did in the 2014 general election”.
He said, “Urban Jat voters came under the influence of the RSS, but the Jats supported the RLD in the rural areas. Others, including Muslims, didn’t vote for the party.”
While the RLD raised issues concerning farmers, the BJP spoke about Hindu exodus and surgical strikes. Tyagi said such issues eventually led to polarisation.
Chaudhary Subhash Baliyan, secretary of the sarv khap panchayat chaupal, said: “Jats voted for the BJP because many youths, who were named accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots, are still in jail.”
He said there were many issues more significant than Jat pride and reservation.