The BJP is making an all out effort to reach out to the Jat community in Western UP, where they are in good numbers, to maximise its tally in the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections to be held in the region on 11 February in the first phase.
The party has also deployed its prominent Jat leaders of the region — Sanjeev Baliyan (Union Minister), Satyapal Sharma, Bhartendu Singh and Babulal — to counter the misinformation campaign launched by some Jat outfits.
These organisations, like the Akhil Bhartiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, have announced a boycott of BJP this elections. They are alleging that the BJP government in Haryana denied them reservation and also cracked down on their agitation.
However, the BJP’s Jat leaders are explaining to the people how the Haryana government did its best to provide reservations to the community. The BJP leaders are also telling them that it was during Ram Prakash Gupta’s tenure in UP in 2000 that reservation was given to the Jats in state government jobs and so their party was the real well-wisher of the community. At that time, Gupta was heading a BJP-led coalition government. It’s only in Rajasthan that Jats have been given reservations in Central government jobs. They have been given reservations in state government jobs under the OBC quota in UP, Haryana and Punjab. According to a BJP source, the party has given tickets to 12 from the Jat community so far. In Baghpat, which was once the stronghold of Jat leader and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh, the BJP has given tickets to five Jat candidates. The party has so far released the names of 149 candidates.
“We will remind them who were with the Jats when Kairana and Muzaffarnagar happened. It was BJP, which always stood with the Jats during those days when unpleasant things happened. Jats have already deserted Ajit Singh and that was the reason why he and his son Jayant Chaudhry got defeated from Baghpat and Mathura Lok Sabha constituencies in 2014,” the BJP source told The Sunday Guardian.
He said that the BJP played the role of “sanrakshak” (patron) during those troubled phase. “In any case, they are unhappy with the SP as the Akhilesh Yadav government handled Kairana and Muzaffarnagar incidents very badly. Ajit Singh, who claims to be a champion of the Jats, never spoke about the Jats at the time. In this situation, they have no option but to support the BJP,” he said.
In Western UP, also called Harit Pradesh, Jats and Muslims together constitute around 58% of the population. As many as 45 Assembly constituencies are there in this region.