Amit Shah meets Jat leaders as BJP extends olive branch to RLD

Facing farmers' backlash in the Jatlands of Uttar Pradesh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was successful in winning over angry Jat voters in 2019, made a strong outreach to the community, reminding them of how they had "fought against Mughals" while maintaining that the BJP's doors are open for RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary, even post-elections, on Wednesday.

Even the issue of reservation of the Jat community was briefly discussed in the meeting.

In the company of Jat leaders from Haryana and Western UP at the residence of BJP MP from West Delhi Parvesh Verma - son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, Shah made an effort to reach out to the community, reassuring them that the BJP cares about them. The Jat community has consistently voted for the BJP since 2014.

After the meeting, Verma said, "We wanted to welcome Jayant Chaudhary in our home but he has chosen another home. He chose the wrong path. People of the community will speak to him and will convince him. Possibilities are always open even after elections. There is never any delay for anyone coming to us."

Read | Hindu-Muslim narrative being kept, says Rakesh Tikait

Baghpat MP Satyapal Singh and former Union minister Sanjeev Balyan were also present at the meeting, who had a fortnight ago met the face of the farmers' agitation - Rakesh Tikait, in his village home Sisauli in Muzaffarnagar. Tikait, who had earlier appealed to vote for the RLD-SP alliance, but later withdrew it.

After the meeting, Balyan said, "for the most part, the Jat community has aligned themselves with the BJP. Some leaders from the community had visited and there has been good dialogue. Ours is a relationship of mutual love. The Home minister often interacts with our community. Even RLD workers do not want Akhilesh Yadav to become chief minister."

The RLD chief reacted on Twitter to the BJP's informal invite to join him post-poll, saying, "Do not invite me. Extend the invitation to the more than 700 farmer families, whose homes you destroyed." He was pointing to the claims that more than 700 farmers died during the year-long anti-farm laws protest that ended in December of last year after the government dropped the three disputed agricultural laws.

Shah's meeting with the Jat leaders took place days after he kicked off a door-to-door campaign for the party from Kairana in western UP. Kairana has been the laboratory of Hindutva politics since 2013, where the BJP has fielded Mriganka Singh, the daughter of firebrand controversial hardline Hindutva leader late Hukum Singh. Hukum had made a high polarised pitch about the migration of Hindus from the region due to "Muslim miscreants".

Sporting a traditional 'pagadi' and sitting on the ground, Shah was surrounded by members of the Jat community, some of whom were smoking "hookahs" while the Home Minister spoke with them, indicating that the BJP is open to working with Jayant Chaudhary-led RLD even after the elections.

Shah's subtle message to the Jat voters was that even if they vote for RLD, they should not vote for Samajwadi Party. The BJP is clearly working on the traditional Jat-Yadav war of attrition in the area. In the past too, Western UP residents have lacked confidence in the SP. BJP calculates that even if RLD wins a few seats, it could be persuaded to back a BJP government in a post-poll scenario.

In the meeting, Shah is learnt to have told the Jat leaders about the work done by the BJP for the development and the honour of the community, which includes the naming of a new University in Aligarh after Jat king Mahendra Pratap Singh. Mahendra Pratap Singh was the one, who had donated land for the establishment of Aligarh Muslim University.

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