Caste dynamics remains a major factor in UP’s farming belt

The Rashtriya Lok Dal hoardings calling for farmers’ agitation against the central government continue to dot the Meerut-Muzaffarnagar highway. Put up last winter, they serve as a perspicuous reminder of the ephemeral nature of heartland politics.

It is another matter that RLD leader Jayant Choudhary has since joined the BJP-led NDA after the Modi government conferred the Bharat Ratna on his grandfather, farmer leader Charan Singh.

This altered political dynamics, triggered by recent realignments, is rolling into villages alongside the cavalcades of candidates making one last-ditch attempt to woo voters before the polling.

It is writ large on the vehicles accompanying Union Minister and Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan, who is being facilitated at Sathedi village on the Meerut-Karnal highway. RLD’s green-and-white flags flutter alongside BJP’s saffron buntings.

Sitting beside Balyan on the stage is Umesh Malik, the BJP leader who was defeated by the RLD candidate from the Budhana Assembly segment in 2022 when Akhilesh and Jayant contested the elections in alliance.

In their speeches, BJP leaders underscore that Balyan is an NDA candidate supported by RLD.

“Alliance with RLD will help us consolidate our position,” says Balyan, who in the 2019 polls defeated Ajit Singh, Jayant’s father and son of the tallest and undisputed farmer leader in this region, Chaudhury Charan Singh. Ajit Singh, who passed away due to Covid complications, lost the election despite having the support of both the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party. The two parties together would have added a substantial chunk of Muslim and Dalit votes to Singh’s tally.

Singh’s defeat and Jayant’s recent return to the BJP fold are symptomatic of the kaleidoscopic nature of Jat politics in UP’s sugarcane belt, characterized by intra-caste affiliations and identities entwined with competing political narratives.

“Ajit Singh lost because Balyan Khap has a substantial presence in 82 villages in this LS seat, whereas Charan Singh belongs to the Teotia gotra from an adjoining district,” explains Ashok Choudhary, former chairman of the Thana Bhawan Sugar Mill Society.

Muzaffarnagar, a politically active district, is also home to the Tikaits of Sisaluli. In the late 80s, after Charan Singh’s death, Mahendra Singh Tikait, the farmer union leader, brought many governments in UP to their knees. His son Naresh has been one of the conspicuous faces of the farmers’ agitation led by various factions of the Bhartiya Kisan Union since 2020.

Interestingly, when it comes to electoral politics, the farmers in West UP are guided by entirely different preferences. Whenever Naresh Tikait has sought to contest direct elections, even in seats with a substantial Jat population, he could not even save a security deposit.

The farmers of western UP have sought to delineate political and trade union leadership. While they expect and empower trade unions to mobilize support on farmers’ issues, when it comes to elections, an entirely different set of considerations and identities define their voting preferences. While casting a vote, the voter is not just a farmer but also a Jat, a Rajput, a Gujjar, a Muslim, a Yadav, or a Saini.

Limited impact

This, to some extent, also explains why the impact of farmers’ agitation in electoral politics has been limited in this region. The cogent political identity of Kisaan is often subsumed by kinship commitments.

By aligning with RLD, the BJP has tried to consolidate an influential land-owning community. In 2019, the ruling party lost four seats in the region due to anti-BJP mobilization and managed to win an equal number of seats by a wafer-thin margin.