BJP Worried As Jats Set To Make A Ghar Wapsi In Western UP 

“Ajit Singh ko Beizzat Kia Hai Har Party Ne, Jat Samaj Is se Aahat Hai” (Jats are pained by the humiliation of Ajit Singh by all the political parties) - a remark by a group of Jats at Iglas village in Aligarh-is the running sentiment informing Jats across poll bound western Uttar Pradesh.

The community that witnessed its economic and political ascendency since 1960s on account of dividends reaped from land reforms and green revolution’, which was

coterminous with the political rise of Charan Singh, had always felt comfortable with latter’s leadership and legacy, so much so, that even Ajit Singh’s political opportunisms and oscillating image was politically tolerated and electorally endorsed.

However, things came to an abrupt end in post-Muzaffarnagar 2013 ‘Jat-Muslim’ riots when the Jats deserted Ajit Singh and RLD for maintaining silence and acquiring political neutrality rather than supporting them against Muslims. They retaliated by shifting en masse to BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha election and ensured a humiliating defeat to Ajit Singh, his son Jayant Chaudhary and other RLD candidates as a whole.

Back then, Ram Kumar, a Jat and Pradhan in riot-affected Fugana village in Muzaffarnagar district justified their decision to desert Ajit Singh and support BJP by opining, “Humne Charan Singh keNaam pe RLD ko Aankh Mundke Support Kia, Par usne Dange me Humara Saath Nahi Dia, Dangoke case me Humaare Bachche aajbhi Jail me hain, Humara saath keval BJP ne Dia aur Ab Humara Neta Sanjeev Baliyan hai” (In the name of Charan Singh we supported Ajit Singh blindly but he deserted us during riots. Still our boys are behind the bars in cases related to riots. Only BJP came to our support and now BJP leader Sanjeev Baliyan is our leader). That was Ajit Singh’s first humiliation at the hands of his own community members.

However, the saga of humiliation has come full circle for Jats in UP- from humiliating Ajit Singh in 2014 to feeling humiliated by his political negligence in 2017- making them nostalgic about the past when they acquired political centrality in the region till recently.

A tour across the western UP, comprising the ‘Braj and Upper Doab’ sub-regions including districts like Agra, Mathura, Aligarh, Bulandshahar, Meerut, Baghpat, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, particularly in their rural parts, throws a clear pattern of Jats articulating their case for RLD quite enthusiastically. The enthusiasm informs elders and youths alike.

Suddenly, in a qualitative shift delineating their conception of ‘self’ as compared to 2014 and 2015, when they privileged their Hinduness over trademark peasant identity and started flirting with the saffron party, the peasantness is coming again to the fore, which in turn, is making them hostile not only to the SP-Congress alliance but equally against BJP. In fact, a group of Jat respondents at Lilon village in riot-affected Shamli district took exception upon comparing Sanjeev Baliyan, a Jat and the new Hindutva face of BJP, with Ajit Singh and asserted latter’s unchallenged leadership on account of representing the legacy of Charan

Singh. Their enchantment with Narendra Modi has significantly dissipated and they are brutal in blaming BJP for selling them false dreams. The return of their caste based peasant identity over religious one is revealed in the clichéd remark by a father-son duo at Timakhiya village, falling under Shival Assembly constituency in Meerut district, “BJP Kisaan Virodhi hai kyunki ye Baniyoki Party Hai” (BJP primarily is anti-farmer for being the party of Baniyas).

Compounding their sense of alienation from BJP and other parties is the feeling of relative deprivation, leading to the emergence of ‘reservation’ demand quite significantly. Jats, who are already OBC in the state of Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh desires to be included into the central OBC list and have been launching constant agitation under the banner of ‘Akhil Bharatiya Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti” led by its national president Yashpal Malik, who has unfolded a vicious anti-BJP campaign in the region and has reportedly employed around 125 teams to mobilise Jats against BJP in the ensuing election.

Ironically, the humiliation of Ajit Singh at the hands of SP-Congress alliance by not taking him into their fold is hurting BJP the most as the community is being considered as its confirmed voter. Their shift to RLD in significant numbers would have a negative bearing upon the electoral prospect of the saffron party as the core support base of later is already narrow, making a repeat of 2014 like massive Jat support indispensable.

This seemingly sudden shift of Jats from BJP to RLD on the eve of election and the corresponding internal bickering among the BJP support base is quite evident in the response of a Baniya respondent at Muzaffarnagar who opined, “Jat BJP me mazboori me aaye the kynuki dango me BJP ke alawe kisi party ne inkasathnahidia, inpe BJP ko kabhi bharosha nahi karna chahiyetha, 2016 February ki Muzaffarnagar upchunav ke samay hi ye apna rang dikhane wale the lekin tab Sanjeev Baliyan ne kisi tarah party me apni izzat ka vasta deke inhe manayatha. Jat keval apna fayda dekhta hai”, (Jat came to BJP fold out of compulsion rather than love for the same as no other party supported them in riot related cases. They were about to show their true colour by deserting BJP in February 2016 Muzaffarnagar by-election itself, but back then, Sanjeev Baliyan somehow persuaded them by pleading for his image in the party. Jats by nature seek their own benefit).

Thus, the occurrence of communal riots in Muzaffarnagar prior to 2014 Lok Sabha election, causing the religious identity taking primacy among Jats in western UP, leading to their tremendous mobilization in favour of BJP wherein, as the table shows, its vote share increased from 7 per cent in 2012 to 77 per cent in 2014, seem to taking a reverse swing in favour of RLD and the emerging Jat narrative is forthrightly unambiguous that Ajit Singh, rather than Sanjeev Baliyan and others, is their unparalleled leader and every party would have to take him seriously. One Jat respondent wittingly remarked, “Jatoki Ghar Wapsi ho Rahi Hai”, (Comingback to RLD is Gharwapsi of Jats)- a worrying electoral scenario for BJP.