‘Given the atmosphere of hate, we cannot side with the BJP again’
With the Rashtriya Lok Dal joining the broad Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party front against the Bharatiya Janata Party and putting up a joint candidate in Kairana, its leader Jayant Chaudhary is back in the reckoning. He spoke to and
about the upcoming bypoll and the
2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Kumar Uttam Prashant Jha What motivated you to join the SPBSP front in Kairana?
BJP is running a campaign at a very subconscious level that even if the government has underperformed, there is no alternative to Modi. It is important for the opposition parties to work together, form a coherent alternate and say that it is not a case of one individual personality versus the others. It is the case of ideological differences.
So you place yourself firmly in the antiBJP pole?
Yes. We are against.
And will you stay against?
It has been nine years since we worked with them. The BJP has set off a very dangerous trend. There is mass hysteria... every holiday is now an occasion to deride a community or create fear. Given the atmosphere of hate, we cannot side with those people.
Sharp communal division led your voters away. What makes you so confident this time?
It is a natural and organic process of reconciliation. It has happened not because of some top-down effort.
Is Kairana a test of whether this reconciliation will work?
Muslims and farmers were our vote bank. They could protect each other as they voted together. Mandal politics, then (Ram) mandir wave and Muzaffarnagar crisis created stresses we were unaware of. Kairana is a challenge whether we can get them to vote together and break this line of religious identity.
Have you taken a big risk by putting up a Muslim candidate?
Chaudhary Charan Singh sent a lot of Muslims to Parliament. MLAs used to be Jats, Tyagis and different farming communities. That social and political equation worked very well. We have tried to go back to that. This is the only way we can break this ‘chakravyuh‘. The BJP is obviously going to try and use this against us. Look at the planned AMU crisis.
But Jats voted for BJP in last two elections. Will they return?
We were out of the (SP-Congress) alliance the last time. We didn’t have time to really organise ourselves. We couldn’t communicate clearly. But look at the number of votes we got.
The SPCongress alliance failed. How is SPBSPRLD alliance different?
Organisations with great problems working with each other have come together. Vote banks of all these parties are quite highly committed, it is a transferable vote. Then the floating vote will come.
But you have internal contradictions. Will
Dalits and Jats vote together?
There are tensions among people living together in villages. That is a natural emotion and we will overcome it. Even Dalits are feeling alienated.
So what has brought you together is a common enemy?
Perhaps, you can say that
Will Congress be part of this alliance?
There is no reason for the Congress to not be a part of it... New leaders are coming up, and equations between them are also good.
Can you name the new leaders?
You have Tejashwi Yadav, a young man with a great personality. Then you have Akhilesh ji. It is an impressive achievement to be CM at such a young age. Then, Rahul in Congress is trying to change its culture. So there is a baton-handing process.
Are you friends?
Well, we are innocent enough to believe that there are friends in politics.
And you share ideological convictions?
Ideology is a big word. We share ideas.
Will your alliance with SP and BSP continue in 2019, irrespective of the Kairana outcome?
I believe so. I had a good conversation with Akhilesh ji recently. I have not sat down with Mayawati ji. It has not been an organised discussion with three stakeholders or even four, including Congress. But the equation is good.
So for you, the larger importance of the election lies in whether it will revive JatMuslim alliance?
Jat-Muslim unity will revive through political process of voting together, standing together and working together.