News Analysis India

Tag: Jayant Chaudhury

  • 2022 UP polls: RLD seeking to cash in on Jats’ ‘annoyance’ with BJP over farm laws

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), headed by Jayant Chaudhury, is seeking to revive its fortunes in the upcoming 2022 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, especially, in Jat land of western UP.

    Chaudhury is the son of former Union Minister late Chaudhury Ajit Singh and great-grandson of popular farmers leader and former Prime Minister Charan Singh,

    RLD, believed to enjoy its clout mostly among the Jats, is looking to capitalise on the alleged annoyance of Jats with the ruling BJP over farm laws. Jats constitute around 6-7% of the total population of Uttar Pradesh and make a considerable 15% of the western UP population. The community has sway on 130 seats across 26 districts under six divisions of western UP. In the last three elections — in 2014, 2017, 2019 — Jats had voted for the BJP overwhelmingly.

    The six division of western UP with Jat dominance include Meerut, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Agra, and Aligarh.

    Jayant Chaudhury, also a Jat, showed his clout at the ‘pagadi’ ritual of his father Chaudhury Ajit Singh who died in May, this year.

    The convergence of various khaps not only dominated by Jats but also others to transfer the legacy of Chaudhury to Jayant at the Pagadi ritual, has not only given strength to Chaudhury scion but also the confidence of the revival of his party which stands decimated in its stronghold now.

    As per the informed RLD sources, Jayant is nurturing Chhaprauli, considered to be the bastion of Chaudhurys, to contest the upcoming assembly elections.

    ALSO READ | 2022 UP polls: BJP, Nishad party join hands as state sees realignment of political forces

    Chhaprauli, in Bhagpat district, has been known as the ‘Karmbhoomi’ of Chaudhury Charan Singh.

    Even after the communal flare-up of Muzaffarnagar in 2013, when the Jats and Muslim votes had split like never before, Chaudhurys managed to garner a respectable chunk of votes (over 19%) in Baghpat despite the defeat of Ajit Singh.

    The party retained only one seat of Chhaprauli under the saffron wave in 2017 assembly elections. However, in the following year, the only RLD MLA Sahender Singh Ramala from the seat switched sides and joined the BJP.

    Currently, RLD has no presence either in UP Assembly or Lok Sabha. The party had drawn a blank in the 2019 Lok Sabha election when it fielded candidates on three seats– Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, and Mathura.

    While Chadhury Ajit Singh lost Muzaffarnagar, Jayant was defeated by the BJP candidate in Baghpat, and Bollywood actor Hema Malini won the Mathura seat by defeating Kunwar Narendra Singh of RLD.

    RLD had contested 2017 in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Jat party had contested as part of the SP-BSP grand alliance.

    In the upcoming battle for UP, RLD, which has been mobilising the farmers of eastern UP against the three contentious farm laws in a big way, is banking upon not only the farmers’ unrest but also on the coming together of Jats and Muslims amid the protest.

    “The party which had suffered drubbings in 2014, 2017, and 2019 polls, is hopeful of doing well in 2022 as the social equations are undergoing a change in the wake of farmers’ protest in western UP,” said a senior RLD leader.

    The RLD leadership thinks that if it is a hung assembly in 2022, then the party will play a big role in government formation. “So it is of utmost importance to win a good number of seats which doesn’t seem impossible,” said the RLD leader.

  • Farmers defy govt order, gather in thousands for Mahapanchayat in UP’s Shamli 

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Despite the denial of permission to hold a Mahapanchayat, thousands of farmers on Friday converged in the Shamli district of western UP to be a part of the planned event against the three newly-enacted farm laws.

    The congregation took place at Swami Kalyan Dev Kanya Gurukul at Bhainswal village. As songs of protests were blaring out of mics, one of them implored Prime Minister Narendra Modi to listen to the voice of farmers. The event was organised by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Samajwadi Party (SP).

    The district administration in Shamli had cited a Covid-spurred restriction on large gatherings until April and reports of possible unruly behaviour, vandalism and violence by the farmers while denying permission. However, the organisers remained adamant and went ahead with their initial plans.

    Addressing the crowd, RLD vice president and Mahapanchayat chief guest Jayant Chaudhury trained the gun at the Centre and accused the ruling party of hatching the conspiracy of Republic Day violence on the roads of Delhi.

    “The Delhi Police chose to remain a mute spectator to the acts of vandalism by the rowdy elements on January 26 in Delhi,” said Chaudhury, while exhorting the farmers to vote against the BJP in the next elections if it failed to address the issues plaguing the farmers.

    Rakesh Tikait, the national spokesman of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), opted to remain away from the Mahapanchayat saying his outfit had nothing to do with the Shamli meet. But his brother Narendra Tikait attended it in his personal capacity.

    ALSO READ | Farmers denied nod to hold mahapanchayat in UP’s Shamli on Friday

    Jayant Chaudhury also accused the Central government of treading the path of rigidity and arrogance. He advised the Modi government not to make it an issue of prestige and repeal the laws keeping the farmers’ sentiment in mind.

    With an eye on 2022 UP Assembly elections, Chaudhury used the occasion to strike a political chord with the gathering saying that in the House, the representatives of farmers had become lesser in number. “More farmer representatives will have to be sent to the Assembly and for this more farmer leaders would have to be voted for,” he said.

    Chaudhury, in fact, considers his party (RLD) as the messiah of farmers in western UP. However, in the last 2017 assembly elections, the RLD could win just one seat of 131 it had contested getting just 1.8% votes.

    Ironically, the lone RLD MLA Sahendra Singh Chauhan Ramala, who had won from Chhaprauli in Bhaghpat, the bastion of Chaudhurys, also joined the ruling BJP in 2018. At present, RLD has no presence in UP Assembly.

    There was a huge deployment of the police force at the Mahapanchayat. SP Sukirti Madhav said the heavy bandobust was done to avert any untoward incident.  Besides several columns of PAC, senior police officials of the division and the district were present on the site.

    The senior district administration officials including ADM Arvind Kumar Singh, SDM Shamli Sandeep Kumar Aurav, ASP Rajesh Srivastava, and CO, Thana Bhawan, Amit Saxena too stayed put at the venue.

    Groups of farmers defiantly headed to Shamli on Friday morning and many were seen driving towards the grounds on their tractors with chants of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’.·