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In BJP’s citadel bordering Delhi, which elected General VK Singh by a margin of a whopping over five lakh votes in 2019, the party’s core support base among the Rajputs is shaking. That this is happening under the watch of the Thakur icon, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, is even more worrisome for the party.
The BJP has been winning this seat with high margins of over five lakhs in 2019 and 2014. This time, Ghaziabad has turned out to be an irritant after its two-time MP, Gen Singh, was replaced by Atul Garg — an MLA from Ghaziabad assembly seat, leading to a swell of discontent from the Rajputs who populate a large cluster of 144 villages, popularly ascribed as “Satha-Chaurasi”.
The anger of the influential community, that started getting traction after BJP candidate from Rajkot and former Union Minister Parshottam Rupala, stoked a controversy with his anti-Rajput comments in March. This spread to Rajasthan on claims that their representation in the party and government is getting diminished. This is getting magnified with the perception that the denial of a ticket to the former Army Chief is ultimately designed to weaken CM Yogi Adityanath.
“Sanjeev Balyan (Union Minister and BJP candidate from neighbouring Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat) was fielded again by BJP though he won by merely 5,000 votes in the last elections. But why was VK Singh denied a ticket from Ghaziabad even though he won by over five lakh votes,” Shivam Rana, 26, a BJP worker and head of the BJP booth committee in Sapnawat village, Ghaziabad, asks. He claimed that BJP’s booth committee heads have decided not to support the party this time in Sapnawat, which is the biggest Rajput village in Ghaziabad.
Rana does not care if the BJP sacks him for anti-party activities. He believes that there is a conspiracy against Adityanath, a Thakur icon, and that he will be removed after the general elections, an apprehension he shares with others in Satha-Chauarasi.
Dinesh Nagar, who resides a few kilometres away in Pawla village, said, “If they can remove a popular and long serving Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, then they can do that with Yogi as well.”
PM Narendra Modi did a roadshow on April 6 in Ghaziabad with Yogi and VK Singh, apparently to send a message that there is no disconnect between the Rajput community and the BJP. At a rally in Aligarh on Monday, Modi profusely praised Yogi for restoring law and order and catapulting UP on the development path.
Still, Rajputs organised a mahapanchayat in Dhaulana on April 17 to take a pledge that they will not vote for the BJP.
Such is the simmering undercurrent of Rajput angst that Atul Garg has not ventured into Thakur villages. Instead, the party is using Rajput leaders like Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, his son Pankaj Singh, an MLA from Gautam Budh Nagar, and Yogi Adityanath to garner support of the community. Small groups of BJP workers are also going around doing door to door campaigning for Garg in these area, with electioneering coming to an end on Wednesday evening.
However, not all Rajputs will boycott the BJP. Some believe they do not have any option but to vote for the saffron party. “What can we do? At least we are safe with the BJP in power,” Kapil Rajput, a 27-year-old owner of a ration shop in Karimpur-Bhaipur, Milakh village, told this reporter.
Bhupender Rana, employed in a construction company, and Sushil Kumar, a farmer, too, said they will vote for Modi. Vijay Tomar said the community is also discussing abstaining from voting or use NOTA.
Nagesh Tomar, who has previously worked with the BJP’s Kisan Morcha, said that BSP chief Mayawati, in tacit understanding has fielded a Rajput, Nand Kishor Pundhir, from Ghaziabad, to ensure that the anger of the community gets split and does not consolidate in favour of Congress’s Dolly Sharma.
Pundhir told businessline that he initially tried to get a ticket from the BJP but switched over to the BSP when he felt had no chance with the BJP.
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