RLD plans Bhaichara Zindabad campaign to unite all sections

Even as the over four-month-long farmers’ movements claim to be strictly non-political, hectic efforts are on by the non-Bharatiya Janata Party political parties to exploit the situation arising from the agitation and forge a new social coalition in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the crucial 2022 state assembly elections.

The Rashtriya Lok Dal is planning an outreach campaign to unite the Jat community with other sections in western Uttar Pradesh amid the ongoing farmers’ protest.

The farmers’ protest has given a ray of hope to RLD to regain its lost electoral base in the region. RLD Vice-President Jayant Chaudhary has addressed a series of kisan mahapanchayats during the last three months. The RLD, along with its senior ally, is desperately seeking to unite different sections against the BJP.
Titled Bhaichara Zindabad, the campaign, set to commence later this month, will offer a socio-cultural platform for poetries, dramas and discussions on several topics. It primarily seeks to bridge gaps between Jats and other sections, including Muslims, Dalits and other weaker sections. The Jat-Muslim social coalition was shattered after the September 2013 communal riots in Muzaffarnagar district of western UP.

RLD President Ajit Singh had then accused the Samajwadi Party government in UP headed by Akhilesh Yadav of engineering the riots to politically finish his party’s electoral base in west UP. The Muzaffarnagar communal riots had left 62 dead and 93 injured. Moreover, it had left over 40,000 Muslims displaced and they were forced to take shelter in relief camps. The riots had created a Jats versus Muslims sentiment in western UP’s politics. The Jat-Muslim social combination was painstakingly crafted by Chaudhary Charan Singh after he left the Congress in 1967.
The RLD vice-president said, “As the farmers’ protest is going on, it is time to unite all sections against the anti-farmer government in Delhi. Unity is our first priority. So we are planning this campaign.”

He said an organising committee had been formed which included people from different sections and different professions. “They will hold meetings and finalise the dates but it is sure that the campaign will start from Muzaffarnagar. It is a place where riots between Jats and Muslims happened in 2013,” Jayant Chaudhary said.
In the 2014 general elections, the Jats supported the Bharatiya Janata Party. RLD’s Ajit Chaudhary and Jayant Chaudhary lost their seats in Baghpat and Mathura, respectively. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls too, both father and son lost the elections.

According to Chaudhary, this message of unity will travel from Muzaffarnagar to all the Jat dominated areas and other parts of the state. “We have shortlisted more than 25 districts for this campaign including Saharanpur, Meerut and Mathura,” he said.

“This is a time when the BJP can try anything to break the unity among the people who are against this government. It is hardly 10 months to go for UP assembly elections and people in western UP are continuously boycotting the BJP leaders. People of all sections are together against them so we do not want this agitation to end,” he said and added, “I believe BJP will definitely try to break the unity but our Bhaichara Zindabad campaign will keep farmers united.”