Could an appeal to Jat solidarity check the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rise in Haryana? That's what Rashritya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh is hoping to do, as he attempts to turn an eviction notice into an electoral rallying point.
In June, Singh was served a notice that to move out of his Lutyens’ Delhi bungalow, the same home that had once been occupied by his father, former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. Since then, Singh has attempted to paint the notice as an insult to Jat pride, and has demanded that the bungalow be converted into a memorial to his father. Singh vacated the premises on Friday, after water and electricity were cut off by the urban development ministry.
Farmer identity
To press his demand for the memorial, Singh plans to organise a large RLD rally in Meerut on October 12. But coming three days before Harayana goes to the polls to elect a new assembly, the kisaan swabhimaan rally – an appeal to farmer identity and unity – is actually aimed at consolidating the state's Jat vote. Members of the Jat community form about a quarter of Haryana's population and have dominated the state's politics since it was formed in 1966.
“Jats, like many other sections of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, voted on the basis of emotive issues in the Lok Sabha elections, and this benefited the BJP,” Rakesh Tikait, the leader of the Jat-dominated Bharatiya Kisan Union, told Scroll. “Now the task is to free them from emotive issues, and this can happen only by bringing Jats and other agricultural communities back to their farmer identity.”
The BKU, formed by Rakesh’s father, Mahendra Singh Tikait in 1986, is an important farmers’ collective in western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief minister of Haryana, is looking to jump on the bandwagon too. Hooda, who is also a Jat, is all but certain to be voted out of power, a result of the strong anti-incumbency sentiment in the state. The majority of the Jat vote this time looks like it will be claimed by the Indian National Lok Dal’s Om Prakash Chautala.
Hooda was one of the first people to write to Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu, showing support to his fellow Jat leader Ajit Singh in the matter of the eviction notice.
“I have come to know that the Centre has issued ex-parte eviction order in respect of bungalow allotted to RLD leader and former Union Minister Ajit Singh and disconnected its electricity supply, causing him unwarranted hardship," Hooda said. "I feel this is an unceremonious and discourteous act, more so because the sacred memories of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the former Prime Minister, are associated with this house, in which he moved in 1978.”
Broader social coalition
Ajit Singh, Tikait and Hooda, the principal political figures associated with the October 12 rally, hope to use the occasion to revive the broad social coalition built by Chaudhary Charan Singh in the 1980s. The RLD’s Uttar Pradesh president, Munna Singh Chauha, said that invitations have been sent to Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal-Secular leader HD Deve Gowda.
Charan’s Singh social coalition, anchored by Jats and Muslims, and including Yadavs, Gujjars and Rajputs, was once the telling political combination of the Jatland. But last year’s riots in the Muzzaffarnagar area of Uttar Pradesh saw the evisceration of that long peaceful association, a fact that worked to the benefit of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
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In June, Singh was served a notice that to move out of his Lutyens’ Delhi bungalow, the same home that had once been occupied by his father, former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. Since then, Singh has attempted to paint the notice as an insult to Jat pride, and has demanded that the bungalow be converted into a memorial to his father. Singh vacated the premises on Friday, after water and electricity were cut off by the urban development ministry.
Farmer identity
To press his demand for the memorial, Singh plans to organise a large RLD rally in Meerut on October 12. But coming three days before Harayana goes to the polls to elect a new assembly, the kisaan swabhimaan rally – an appeal to farmer identity and unity – is actually aimed at consolidating the state's Jat vote. Members of the Jat community form about a quarter of Haryana's population and have dominated the state's politics since it was formed in 1966.
“Jats, like many other sections of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, voted on the basis of emotive issues in the Lok Sabha elections, and this benefited the BJP,” Rakesh Tikait, the leader of the Jat-dominated Bharatiya Kisan Union, told Scroll. “Now the task is to free them from emotive issues, and this can happen only by bringing Jats and other agricultural communities back to their farmer identity.”
The BKU, formed by Rakesh’s father, Mahendra Singh Tikait in 1986, is an important farmers’ collective in western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Bhupinder Singh Hooda, chief minister of Haryana, is looking to jump on the bandwagon too. Hooda, who is also a Jat, is all but certain to be voted out of power, a result of the strong anti-incumbency sentiment in the state. The majority of the Jat vote this time looks like it will be claimed by the Indian National Lok Dal’s Om Prakash Chautala.
Hooda was one of the first people to write to Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu, showing support to his fellow Jat leader Ajit Singh in the matter of the eviction notice.
“I have come to know that the Centre has issued ex-parte eviction order in respect of bungalow allotted to RLD leader and former Union Minister Ajit Singh and disconnected its electricity supply, causing him unwarranted hardship," Hooda said. "I feel this is an unceremonious and discourteous act, more so because the sacred memories of Chaudhary Charan Singh, the former Prime Minister, are associated with this house, in which he moved in 1978.”
Broader social coalition
Ajit Singh, Tikait and Hooda, the principal political figures associated with the October 12 rally, hope to use the occasion to revive the broad social coalition built by Chaudhary Charan Singh in the 1980s. The RLD’s Uttar Pradesh president, Munna Singh Chauha, said that invitations have been sent to Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh Yadav, Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal-Secular leader HD Deve Gowda.
Charan’s Singh social coalition, anchored by Jats and Muslims, and including Yadavs, Gujjars and Rajputs, was once the telling political combination of the Jatland. But last year’s riots in the Muzzaffarnagar area of Uttar Pradesh saw the evisceration of that long peaceful association, a fact that worked to the benefit of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.