It was the farmers’ protests against the Narendra Modi government that tested Jayant’s claim of being pro farmers; and the young Chaudhary lived up to his word.
New Delhi: Whatever the outcome of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, these elections have seen the making of a leader—RLD chief Chaudhary Jayant Singh. Chaudhary Charan Singh’s grandson has been trying on his legacy for size over a decade, but it is only now that the 44-year-old has begun leaving some footprints in the Jat-land of Western Uttar Pradesh. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a major chunk of the votes in the first phase have gone to the RLD and its young chief.
It was the farmers’ protests against the Narendra Modi government that tested Jayant’s claim of being pro farmers; and the young Chaudhary lived up to his word. Throughout the year long agitation, he was there on ground but not in the forefront as the farmers did not want to politicize the protest. Despite being lathi charged by the Haryana cops, Jayant did not stay away. And when the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre happened, it was again Jayant who was the first politician to reach Ground Zero. Since UP Police was not allowing anyone to visit, he left his official car and trekked for nearly 13 hours with a gamchha wrapped around his face, cutting across fields and bylanes to reach the site.
This has earned him a lot of goodwill and also some recognition. Following Jayant’s cavalcade as he travelled along the Yamuna Expressway, groups of excited young men and wizened old men, eagerly pointed to the route that “Chaudhary Sahib ka kafila” had taken. There is also talk of giving a befitting response to the BJP for lathicharging their young leader. What the farmers remember is that when they had almost called off the protests following the 26 January incident last year, it was Jayant and his father the late Ajit Singh who stood by them. The electoral benefit of this should go to the SP-RLD alliance, though the BJP has tried its best to play spoiler by trying to create a divide between the Muslims and the Jats. Home Minister Amit Shah raised the ante recently when he invited Jayant Chaudhary over to the saffron side. However, Jayant was quick to scotch any speculation when he retorted that the BJP would do well to instead engage the families of the 700 farmers who lost their lives during the protests.
This exchange revealed two things—one that Jayant’s political profile has certainly been upgraded, with the Home Minister himself seeing him as a political threat. And two, Jayant is keen not to be just seen as a Jat leader but more as a farmers’ leader. He has often stated that he does not do politics of caste or religion. He has a precedent in mind. Chaudhary Charan Singh had united the Jats and the Muslims with his rainbow coalition of MAJGAR (Muslims, Ahirs, Jats, Gujjars and Rajputs) against the upper caste hegemony. But that was then.
In more recent times and specially after the 2013 Jat vs Muslim clashes in Muzaffarnagar, the Jat vote fled towards the BJP. So much so that during the 2017 state elections, the BJP won 53 of the 58 seats that went to the polls in the first phase of Western Uttar Pradesh. However, today this fervour for the BJP seems to be missing in Jatland, though there will be pockets where it will be able to capitalise on the Jat-Muslim divide. Interestingly, around two years ago, when I had interviewed Jayant Chaudhary for my book on Gen Next leaders (The Contenders, Who Will Lead India Tomorrow?), he had told me that as far as he was concerned, it was the 2013 riots that were the game changer. This is the one reason he says he will never do business with the BJP. As he told me then, “For me the turning point was the Muzaffarnagar riots [between Muslims and Jats]. I think what happened in 2013 affected my mental makeup and the way I judge the BJP.”
Both Akhilesh and Jayant are clear that they do not want to engage in the 80:20 brand of politics that Yogi Adityanath is espousing. In other words, they would rather fight this election on caste equations than on religious divides. Accordingly, Akhilesh has stitched up a caste-based coalition across Uttar Pradesh, while Jayant is reaching out to the farmers and the Jats. As he told me once, “pretending that caste does not exist is an elitist argument. Even Bar Association elections are fought on caste lines. Our (Western Uttar Pradesh) demography is Muslim-Jats. This fabric got badly affected by the trauma around the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots between the two communities; and the event was used by the BJP in the last elections to ensure that we don’t get their votes. To counter that I do speak against ‘dange ki rajneeti’ [politics of riots].”
Keeping this in mind he had sent an SMS to Akhilesh Yadav in 2018, suggesting that they fight the Kairana bypoll together so as to not divide the anti BJP vote. The SP candidate Tabassum Hasan was fielded on the RLD ticket; and they fought the election on a Gannah-not-Jinnah slogan. When the duo won Kairana, Jayant quipped that before this he was known as the boy whom Hema Malini had defeated (in the 2014 Lok Sabha). But now he was known as the man who won Kairana. Unlike the Congress-SP alliance, this one has stood the test of time. There have been allegations that the RLD has been short-changed in the seat sharing, but neither Jayant nor Akhilesh is getting into that conversation. Every candidate of the gathbandan is our candidate, says Jayant.
A BCom graduate from Delhi University he did his MSc from London School of Economics, followed by a stint with the asset management company Lazard before he joined politics. Explaining his decision he says, “I thought it would be difficult for me if I lead a normal urban life till my 40s and then quit to join politics. It’s not easy to make the transition so I knew, if I have to do it, then I should do the learning curve—and the tripping, while I was still young.”
He met his wife Charu when they were both studying in Delhi’s Sri Venkateswara College. Although politics wasn’t on his agenda when they met, she supported him when he quit his job. They have two daughters, Sahira and Ilesha. Jayant laughs when he recalls how his constituents were so worried that he did not have a son. They didn’t get it that he was very happy being the father of two girls. Older women kept giving Charu “advice” on how to have a son, while Jayant once got a call from a well-wisher who had gone to Vaishno Devi and had the head priest on the line to give him blessings for a son.
His campaigns are never boring—he can be seen waving a tube of Itch-Guard in the campaign field, asking Yogi Adityanath ko itni khujli kyon ho rahi hai (what is giving Yogi Adityanath such a rash?). His social media posts are also very tongue in cheek as he takes a dig at various BJP leaders, referring to the Prime Minister as One Who Must Not Be Named. And when BJP leaders were sporing the NaMo Again sweatshirt last elections, he got himself a “NaMo Never Again” hoodie.
His looks mirror his grandfather making him the new age face of an old legacy. This is also the first campaign he is leading after his father Ajit Singh’s demise. Jayant has had easy wins (he sailed through his first election in 2009) and he has also weathered heavy losses when the RLD was reduced to one MLA in 2017 and zero MPs (2019). But judging by the way the first phase has gone, Chaudhary Charan Singh’s grandson could well be on a comeback trail.