For over a year, Jats have stuck to the BJP, snapping almost all their past loyalties with parties like Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal. But the tie – even before it could develop roots – has now come under strain in the wake of Tuesday’s Supreme Court verdict, quashing reservation for Jats in jobs and educational institutions.
A fresh churning that the verdict may start among the 8.2 crore-member strong community – which carries significant political weight in Haryaya, Rajasthan, western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi – threatens to cause a wedge between Jat voters and the BJP once again, giving new opportunities to the parties it edged out so thoroughly in Lok Sabha elections last year.
Land issues
Mainly a land owning and farming section of north India, Jats have already been restive due to Narendra Modi government’s land ordinance. Khaps (the community panchayats of Jats) have repeatedly expressed their displeasure with the ordinance, alleging that it would take away all the benefits that had been ensured to the farmers by the United Progressive Alliance government’s Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. The community’s resentment over the land ordinance is also said to have played a major role in near complete annihilation of the saffron party in recent Delhi elections.
In the national capital, Jats account for over 10 per cent of the total population. Of the total 364 villages in Delhi, around 225 are dominated by this community, which also has a sizeable population in several of the city’s unauthorised colonies.
When the land ordinance was introduced, Delhi’s jats made it clear – by the way they voted in the recently held Assembly polls – that the BJP could not take the loyalty of the community for granted. Tuesday’s Supreme Court verdict may further unsettle the community’s recent shift to the BJP. Much of the BJP’s gains in Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi in last year’s Lok Sabha elections had come at the expense of Congress and the RLD of Ajit Singh – the two parties which may now use the reservation issue, along with the land ordinance, as a major tool to mobilise jat voters.
Impending elections
In Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due two years later, Jat voters hold the key in most of its western constituencies. Although they account for a little less than one-fifth of the population in western UP, they have a huge clout over the political landscape of the region. In Haryana, the community – if it remains united – can control eight out of the state’s 10 Lok Sabha seats. Here they account for over one-fourth of the total population and exercise considerable influence over lower castes.
In Rajasthan, too, Jats have a big say in politics, especially in the state’s north-western districts. In the Assembly elections of 2013 and the Lok Sabha polls of 2014, these voters simply dumped the Congress and switched over to the BJP. The apex court verdict, by stirring the reservation issue, may contribute significantly to destabilise the new social equations in the state.
Lengthening shadow
At the moment the BJP leaders are treading cautiously, acting as if nothing at all has happened. But the shadow of the Jat reservation issue has started lengthening over the saffron party and the government that it leads.
“The government should bring an ordinance to ensure that Jats get reservation,” Bharatiya Kisan Union president and a known Jat leader Rakesh Tikait told Scroll.in. “Narendra Modi government showed so much eagerness to dilute the land Act by bringing in an ordinance. Why can’t it bring another ordinance to upturn the court’s order? We are waiting to see what the government does on this issue,” he thundered.
That the reservation issue has started heating up became clear when, merely hours after the Supreme Court judgement, Yashpal Malik, the president of All India Jat Arakshan Samiti, issued a press statement asking the Centre to take the “just cause of Jat community” to a larger bench. “Very soon we will decide on our strategy to force the government to do so,” he said, while asking the youth of the community to maintain calm and peace. “Besides fighting a legal battle, we are also looking at various ways to launch an agitation for the just cause of the Jat community,” he said.
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A fresh churning that the verdict may start among the 8.2 crore-member strong community – which carries significant political weight in Haryaya, Rajasthan, western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi – threatens to cause a wedge between Jat voters and the BJP once again, giving new opportunities to the parties it edged out so thoroughly in Lok Sabha elections last year.
Land issues
Mainly a land owning and farming section of north India, Jats have already been restive due to Narendra Modi government’s land ordinance. Khaps (the community panchayats of Jats) have repeatedly expressed their displeasure with the ordinance, alleging that it would take away all the benefits that had been ensured to the farmers by the United Progressive Alliance government’s Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act. The community’s resentment over the land ordinance is also said to have played a major role in near complete annihilation of the saffron party in recent Delhi elections.
In the national capital, Jats account for over 10 per cent of the total population. Of the total 364 villages in Delhi, around 225 are dominated by this community, which also has a sizeable population in several of the city’s unauthorised colonies.
When the land ordinance was introduced, Delhi’s jats made it clear – by the way they voted in the recently held Assembly polls – that the BJP could not take the loyalty of the community for granted. Tuesday’s Supreme Court verdict may further unsettle the community’s recent shift to the BJP. Much of the BJP’s gains in Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi in last year’s Lok Sabha elections had come at the expense of Congress and the RLD of Ajit Singh – the two parties which may now use the reservation issue, along with the land ordinance, as a major tool to mobilise jat voters.
Impending elections
In Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due two years later, Jat voters hold the key in most of its western constituencies. Although they account for a little less than one-fifth of the population in western UP, they have a huge clout over the political landscape of the region. In Haryana, the community – if it remains united – can control eight out of the state’s 10 Lok Sabha seats. Here they account for over one-fourth of the total population and exercise considerable influence over lower castes.
In Rajasthan, too, Jats have a big say in politics, especially in the state’s north-western districts. In the Assembly elections of 2013 and the Lok Sabha polls of 2014, these voters simply dumped the Congress and switched over to the BJP. The apex court verdict, by stirring the reservation issue, may contribute significantly to destabilise the new social equations in the state.
Lengthening shadow
At the moment the BJP leaders are treading cautiously, acting as if nothing at all has happened. But the shadow of the Jat reservation issue has started lengthening over the saffron party and the government that it leads.
“The government should bring an ordinance to ensure that Jats get reservation,” Bharatiya Kisan Union president and a known Jat leader Rakesh Tikait told Scroll.in. “Narendra Modi government showed so much eagerness to dilute the land Act by bringing in an ordinance. Why can’t it bring another ordinance to upturn the court’s order? We are waiting to see what the government does on this issue,” he thundered.
That the reservation issue has started heating up became clear when, merely hours after the Supreme Court judgement, Yashpal Malik, the president of All India Jat Arakshan Samiti, issued a press statement asking the Centre to take the “just cause of Jat community” to a larger bench. “Very soon we will decide on our strategy to force the government to do so,” he said, while asking the youth of the community to maintain calm and peace. “Besides fighting a legal battle, we are also looking at various ways to launch an agitation for the just cause of the Jat community,” he said.