In Baghpat, NDA turns non- family ticket into a plus

Rajkumar Sangwan, a grass- roots RLD worker and aide to Charan Singh, is being held up as counter to dynastic politics

FOR THE first time since 1977, the Baghpat Lok Sabha seat does not have a candidate from Chaudhary Charan Singh’s family. But, contrary to expectations, it is turning out to be advantageous for the Rashtriya Lok Dal ( RLD).

RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, who lost from Baghpat in 2019 and was expected to contest again, fielded instead Rajkumar Sangwan, 66. The retired professor was an inspired choice, having been a close associate of Charan Singh since the start of the former PM’S political journey, who had never got an RLD ticket. The BJP, the RLD’S new ally, built on it to draw a comparison with the Opposition’s “dynasty politics”.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held two rallies in Baghpat, on April 19 and 23, where he stressed this point, to attack both the Congress and SP. “This is the difference between the SP, Congress and RLD. When the SP chief ( Akhilesh Yadav) was distributing tickets for the general elections, he fielded his entire family from different Lok Sabha constituencies. The Congress is no different. But I want to congratulate Jayant ji that he has fielded an avowed party worker from where his grandfather Chaudhary Saheb and his father Ajit Singh used to win.”

Despite Baghpat being Charan Singh’s turf, the RLD suffered defeat at the hands of the BJP last two times. With the BJP and RLD now allied, the going seems easy for Sangwan, who says, “I will live and die for the RLD.”

Recounting his journey in the party, from a grass- roots worker

to RLD national general secretary and now its Baghpat candidate, he says: “In 1977, I distributed pamphlets and badges in the first election Chaudhary Saheb contested from Baghpat. Time went by and I sought support for Ajit Singh and then for Jayant in 2019.”

Rampal Dhama, the RLD’S Baghpat unit chief, says the ticket

to Sangwan left them all surprised. “We were expecting that either Jayant ji or his wife Charu Chaudhary will contest from Baghpat. We are pleased that someone from among us is our candidate for the prestigious seat.”

Located at the heart of the JatMuslim belt in west UP, the Baghpat seat was won by Charan

Singh in the post- Emergency 1977 polls as a candidate of the Bharatiya Lok Dal ( BLD), a party founded by him that was in the anti- Congress front. He won again in 1980 and 1984, despite the Congress wave in those polls after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

From 1989 onwards, Ajit Singh won from Baghpat six times, with the exception being 1998 when the BJP’S Sompal Shastri defeated him. The run of Ajit Singh, who dabbled with both the Congress and BJP and held posts at the Centre, ended finally with the Modi wave in 2014, when former Mumbai police chief and BJP candidate Satya Pal Singh won. In 2019, Singh beat Jayant.

The SP has fielded Amarpal Sharma in alliance with the Congress this time, while the BSP has fielded Praveen Bainsla, a Jat like the RLD candidate.

While Bainsla may take away some Jat vote, Dhama says: “With the RLD and BJP together, the Baghpat results will be spectacular.” He adds that they don’t fear losing the Muslim vote – around 25% in the seat – as the community has always voted for the party of Charan Singh. The Jats, the RLD’S primary vote bank, dominate Baghpat at 70% of the voters.

While the RLD- BJP tie- up saw some disquiet in the west UP seats that voted in the first phase, and where the farmer agitation drew support, in Baghpat – the home ground of one of India’s foremost farmer leaders – there are no such concerns. Sahukinder Tomar of the SP, however, insists Jats are angry with the RLD for joining hands with the BJP, “the party my community opposed because of its anti- farmer policies and false promises”.