Alleged removal of former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh's photograph from the annual calendar released by a Haryana-based government agriculture university, which is named after Chaudhary Charan Singh, has fuelled anger among the electorally influential Jat community members in the western Uttar Pradesh, which is scheduled to go to polls in the first two phases of polling in the state on February 10 and 14.
Jat community leaders in Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut and other places in the western UP region slammed the BJP government in Haryana for removing the photograph of the tallest leader of their community from the annual calendar of the varsity.
''BJP is trying to get support of the Jats in western UP...their leaders have been wooing the community but in Haryana, a government university has removed the picture of Chaudhary Charan Singh and the BJP is silent,'' said a Jat leader in Muzaffarnagar on Thursday.
Senior leader of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), which had spearheaded the farmer agitation against the now-scrapped farm laws, Rakesh Tikait slammed the BJP government for showing "disrespect" to Chaudhary Charan Singh.
''It seems you (BJP) are not satisfied with the death of 700 farmers during the farmer agitation and so now you are humiliating our ancestors and the ideal of the farmers Chaudhary Charan Singh...it is humiliation of every farmer of the country,'' Tikait said in a Tweet.
The social media was flooded with posts condemning the removal of the photo of the former prime minister from Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar. Many netizens said that it showed the ''true character'' of the BJP.
''BJP is seeking votes in the name of Chaudhary Charan Singh in UP but the same party shows disrespect to the farmer leader in Haryana....it shows what the BJP feels about him,'' remarked a netizen.
According to the reports, the varsity administration was now planning to issue another calendar with the photo of Chaudhary Charan Singh.
The controversy has erupted at a time when the saffron party was already facing the anger of the Jat community in the western UP region arising out of the over a year-long farmers' agitation against the farm laws. Several BJP candidates had to face protests from the people when they visited their villages for door-to-door campaigning.
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