‘BJP is running an overtly communal campaign in UP’

Pushed to the margins in the last Lok Sabha elections without a single seat in Parliament, western Uttar Pradesh-based Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) seemed in terminal decline. Its core voter, the Jat, switched over to the BJP in the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, and the Muslims deserted it because of communal polarisation. But there has been a sudden revival in the RLD’s fortunes, with the return of Jat support. The development signals the resurrection of the more traditional electioneering, with issues of political economy — sugarcane pricing and note ban — taking centre stage. RLD’s star campaigner, party chief Ajit Singh’s son and former MP Jayant Chowdhary , tells BusinessLine why the BJP is still running a communal campaign and why the SP and the Congress were wrong in not including RLD in UP’s grand alliance. Excerpts:

Are we witnessing the revival of political economy issues with farm distress becoming the core issue in western UP?

You are right that the primary cause of the Jats shifting [away from the BJP] is farm distress. Prices of every important crop – be it paddy, wheat or sugarcane – have been falling. They have not got a good price for three years running now. There is disillusionment among the Jats, who are essentially farmers.

They were at the forefront of Narendra Modi’s campaign during the Lok Sabha elections. They were very excited. But now that they are disappointed, it is a big fall for the BJP. Modi’s rhetoric and subsequent failure to deliver on multiple fronts are contrasting realities and we, as a community, have understood it clearly. Farm distress was the most tangible reality of the promise and the failure to deliver. Then there is notebandi. It has affected the farming cycle and allied industries, and also the construction business.

But that does not mean communal issues are not being raised…

The BJP polarised western Uttar Pradesh on communal lines during the Lok Sabha elections. Even in the current elections, they are trying to create the same atmosphere. Look at what has happened in Bijnor, where the BJP has given their ticket to the wife of a person accused of murdering Muslims in Peda village. And just before the elections, violence recurred. The entire campaign is being pushed towards communal lines. Their candidates – Suresh Rana, Sangeet Som, Chetan Chauhan – all of them have been campaigning on communal issues. Yogi Adityanath was brought here to polarise the voters on Hindu-Muslim lines.

And about the campaign that has been run by the SP, they spoke about pension, laptops and unemployment. But this time, manifestos were very late in coming. There was the feud in the first family. Where were the real political economy issues? It is a very personality-based campaign. From the BJP’s end, it is a communal campaign designed to polarise. The BSP doesn’t really need to talk about issues. Only recently has Mayawati begun talking about local issues but really, you never hear her talk about education, health or political economy. She probably doesn’t need to I, suppose.

We have spoken about real issues in our manifestos, and my father and I talk about farm distress, sugarcane prices. But our reach is limited. Traditional media hardly give us any space.

The BJP is meeting Jat leaders and wooing them back. There was talk of your party trying to align with them and the SP-Congress later. But you have ended up alone. What happened?

Neither I nor my father has had any contact with the BJP in the last three years. We would have done better in the short term to have aligned with the BJP. But that would have been an easier route. But we have realised that it is not feasible for us, given the tone and tenor of their campaign.

Regarding the grand alliance [of the Congress and SP], there was never really any concrete discussions with us on seats. Initially, we were in talks. Mulayam Singh ji reached out and my father went to meet the people concerned. But it never reached any logical conclusion. But this line that we didn’t get together because the Muslims would not have voted for the Jat candidates and vice versa is not true. Muslims traditionally vote for us. That was disrupted in the last elections but it has revived again. So it was a mistake (on the SP’s part) to think that these communities will not vote for each other.