Will Teach BJP A Lesson, Say Angry Jats In Western UP

Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh: In less than a month, voting in Uttar Pradesh will begin with the western part of the state, and it is here, in Muzaffarnagar, that Jat leaders held a huge meeting over a week ago to discuss who they will support. It will not be the BJP, their leaders announced, to an audience of thousands who had gathered from six different states including Haryana and Punjab.

In this part of Uttar Pradesh, Jats amount to a formidable 17% of the population. Traditionally, the caste has been loyal to Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal or RLD. But in the general election of 2014 it moved to the BJP, which collected an incredible 72 of the state's 80 parliamentary seats.

But now, Jats say, the BJP has failed them on an essential demand - to guarantee them jobs and college seats as part of reservation policies -and therefore, it must pay.

"Each Vidhan Sabha committee is ready. From 25th January onward, Jats from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will participate in these committees. We will campaign door-to-door and will explain to people that you don't have to vote for the BJP," said Pramod Ahlawat, a prominent Jat leader from Muzaffarnagar and a senior leader of the All India Jat Reservation Struggle Community.

Nearly a year ago, Haryana erupted in riots that left 19 people dead and saw shops, businesses and buses set on fire as the Jats, a rural community, vented their anger about not being included in reservation policies. For decades, the Jats, engaged largely in agriculture, were relatively well-off but they are thinly represented in the workforce of the modern economy.  Farmers have also complained of being hit by the government's sudden demonetisation drive, which sucked out cash and forced farmers to drop the prices of their produce by substantial amounts.
 "In Western Uttar Pradesh, Jats are really unhappy with the BJP and the reason is that 18 people were shot at in Haryana (during the Jat reservation protests)," said Yashpal Malik, another senior leader of the community who is campaigning for reservation. He also claimed that during the Haryana riots, the PM met with Jat leaders and assured them of quotas. "Modi ji made a false promise about reservation... because of these two reasons, there is disappointment."

But Kapil Dev Aggarwal, the incumbent legislator who is running again from Muzaffarnagar says Jats have not lost faith in the party. "I am confident that they will all support us and also vote for us," he said.

After the rally was held on January 8, the BJP has been negotiating with the Jat leaders and the talks seem to have made some impact: some Jat khap (community) leaders told NDTV that they are still undecided where their vote will go.

But the alliance that's being finalized between the ruling Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the Ajit Singh's RLD is attractive to the community, and presents a big challenge to the BJP in Western Uttar Pradesh that begins voting on February 11.