With the country entering the home stretch for the Lok Sabha elections by the summer of 2024, political parties have begun preparations in earnest. Polls to elect new governments in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh later this year would serve as the stepping stone.
All political parties are busy finalising plans for the showdown and major formations are getting down to brass tacks. These measures indicate the ability of putting the finger on soft spots and work to address the fallacies.
One aspect that needs to be watched., is the attitude of the Jats, an influential community, in several states including Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Now, a section of this community is upset with the Bharatiya Janata Party for a variety of reasons.
An interesting tussle is currently at play in Haryana where the BJP is leading a coalition government with support from the Jananayak Janata Party, an offshoot of the Indian National Lok Dal, a party that predominantly represents the community.
Also Read: Hard-nosed in Haryana: BJP Drafts Plan to Woo Jats & Vaishyas, Doesn't Want to Depend on JJP in 2024
In Haryana, which is scheduled to elect a new government after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the state party incharge Biplab Deb stirred the waters by suggesting a BJP candidate for Uchana Kalan, a constituency represented by current Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala of the JJP.
The BJP government led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar faces a dilemma as the party took support from JJP in 2019 to form a government for the second time in a row. Among other things, Khattar remains one of the few non-Jat leaders to have been at the helm for two terms in the state’s history.
Dushyant Chautala, is the great grandson of towering Jat leader Devi Lal and grandson of Om Prakash Chautala. During the farmers agitation, he survived a storm amid pressures to come out of the alliance. At present, the party is in an envious position as its support is no longer critical for the current Haryana regime amid pronouncements by either side that the BJP and the JJP would contest separately for the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
In the last assembly polls, Dushyant Chautala defeated Prem Lata, wife of former Union Minister Birender Singh. Their son Brijendra Singh is a BJP MP from Hisar Lok Sabha in which Uchana Kalan falls.
Birender Singh, who switched over to the BJP from the Congress, is the grandson of legendary Jat leader Sir Chhotu Ram and a close relative of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. According to political folklore the cousins get along famously, The Jat community, with some 20 plus percentage of vote share in the state, could face multiple choices which in turn could determine the final outcome. A division in Jat votes has the potential to alter the dynamics of state politics.
Besides the traditional intra-community tussle, among the factors that caused the community to draw distance from the BJP was the manner in which the wrestlers' protest was handled. The agitation was allowed to prolong for a considerable period of time on the grounds that parties opposed to the BJP were extending support.
Today, the issue appears to have settled but the cauldron remains stirred nonetheless. The protests saw the circle of support spreading beyond some sportspersons and drawn into the vortex were the farmers especially from Haryana and Western UP.
The manner in which the farmers dug in their heels on the three controversial farm laws forcing the government to retract its steps is too fresh to be recounted. For all the attacks on the protesting wrestlers, the farmers too felt offended for they were children whose connections with the roots cannot be scythed.
The problem in neighbouring Western UP is different. Here the Jats were traditionally aligned with one of the tallest leaders in Chaudhary Charan Singh, and continued to support his son Ajit Singh. With the departure of the latter, his son Jayant Chaudhary is struggling to inherit the mantle of leadership with the ability to transform support into electoral representation in either the assembly or Parliament.
In the last assembly elections in UP, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stamped his command. Yet, the BJP leadership knows it cannot afford to rest its oars as a section of the community, in Western UP and Haryana are sullen.
In Rajasthan, the Jats as a community like elsewhere is jostling for power with other dominant forward castes. With a vote share of upward of 15 per cent and hold in several regions that influence a fourth of 200-assembly seats, the tug-of-war for power is with the Rajputs. Even though the community members worked their way through the corridors of power, the struggle for the top political post in the state continues.
As is wont, the BJP is aware the party cannot afford to lose support from any dominant majority community and needs to iron out the wrinkles. It is in this direction that the overtures of the party and Union Government in reaching out to the community should be seen.
(Edited by : C H Unnikrishnan)
First Published: Jun 30, 2023 7:20 AM IST
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