Ground report: Why Jat discontent over Lok Dal-BJP alliance might not have electoral impact
From allegiance to the first family of the Rashtriya Lok Dal to anti-Muslim sentiment, several factors act as a buffer against a backlash.
Over lunch at his farm in Daha village in western Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district, 45-year-old Rashtriya Lok Dal worker Vinesh Rana proudly recounted that former Prime Minister Charan Singh, had enjoyed several meals in his home.
Ompal Rana, in his sixties, had an even richer stock of anecdotes about the “aatmik sambandh” – close relations – that Jats shared with Singh, who represented Baghpat in the Lok Sabha for three terms starting from 1977. Both men said that in the upcoming general elections, they will vote for the candidate that Singh’s grandson, Jayant Chaudhary nominates on the Rashtriya Lok Dal ticket from Baghpat.
The two, however, differ on Chaudhary’s advances to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Though an alliance between the BJP and the Lok Dal has not yet been formally announced, the deal is all but sealed. Baghpat is widely expected to be one of the seats that the Lok Dal will contest.
Vinesh Rana feels that Chaudhary’s decision is justified as the Samajwadi Party – the Lok Dal’s ally since 2019 – unfairly favours Muslims. The Samajwadi Party had also been undermining the Lok Dal’s interests in the alliance, he said.
But Ompal Rana insists that even if that is the case, Chaudhary should not join hands...
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