UP elections: Rajnath reaches out to Jats, says they cannot stay annoyed with BJP

Union minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday called former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh his “role model”, and said that the Jat community cannot remain annoyed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The defence minister was speaking at Ghaziabad’s Modi Nagar, an assembly segment with a sizeable population of Jats, in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. The community backed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, 2017, and 2019, but grew distant from it over the farm protests.

The contentious agricultural laws, which were passed in September 2020, were rolled back by the Centre in November last year.

“I am also the son of a farmer, and farmers are not separate from us. It is the sensitivity of our Prime Minister that he immediately took the decision to roll back the three farm laws. Since the time I entered politics, former prime minister late Chaudhary Charan Singh has been a role model for us. I know Jats very well, and am close to them from my heart. They are not in any way annoyed with us. I am assured that we will get more seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2022 than what we got in 2017,” Singh said.

On BJP MP Pravesh Sahib Singh Verma’s remarks that the party’s doors are always open for Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary, who is the grandson of Charan Singh, the minister said: “I do not wish to comment on any specific person but I wish to tell that the BJP and its alliance will win more seats than what they won in 2017.”

The minister also said that his party does not believe in caste-based politics. “We only believe in justice-based politics. During the past seven years, our Prime Minister has worked and lifted the image of the country across the world and it is appreciated everywhere. People have trust in BJP,” he said.

“The Jats have decided to side with RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary. I would like to ask why the meeting by the Union home minister (Amit Shah on Sunday with Jat leaders) was held in Delhi. Instead, they should come here in western UP and hold meetings,” Trilok Tyagi, RLD national general secretary, said.

Experts agreed with the minister’s remarks that the Jats have been close to the BJP.

“The [farm] agitation has ended and at present, it seems that the Jats are undecided due to various factors. For instance, they are in a fix on seats where the Samajwadi Party-RLD combine has fielded Muslim candidates. In such a case, many think that they should go to the BJP instead. So, Rajnath Singh is more or less correct when he says that Jats are close to BJP. The voting by Jats it seems will be circumstantial,” KK Sharma, associate professor (history) at MM College, Modinagar, said.

“The timely roll-back of the three farm laws will also help the BJP,” he added.