Ahead of the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on 10 February, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with Jat leaders in the national capital on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan, and BJP MPs Satyapal Singh and Parvesh Verma. Western Uttar Pradesh BJP leaders Mohit Beniwal and Captain Abhimanyu were also present in the meeting. More than 200 Jat leaders attended the meeting held at MP Parvesh Verma’s residence.
During the meeting, the Home Minister is supposed to have said that RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary has chosen the wrong path, referring to the RLD-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. According to Parvesh Verma, “On (RLD chief)
Jayant Chaudhary, he (HM Amit Shah) said that there are many possibilities after the polls. For now, he has chosen a party. People of the Jat community will speak to Jayant. BJP’s doors are always open for him.”
“We wanted to welcome (RLD chief) Jayant Chaudhary to our home (BJP) but he has chosen the wrong path,” the BJP MP added.
Responding to this news, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary tweeted, “Don’t give this invitation to me. Give it to all those 700 farmers’ families whose houses you have destroyed.”
At the meeting, Amit Shah also said, “There are some similarities between you (Jat leaders) and us (BJP). You have fought with Mughals for around 650 years. Just like, Jats do not think only about themselves, but always prioritise nation’s security, BJP also has the same ideology.”
He also said, “We have revoked Articles 370 and 35(A) because you have voted us to power since 2014. You have always supported us.”
Citing the example of farmers, Shah stated that both Jat and BJP think about the welfare of farmers. “We have also worked for implementing ‘one rank one pension’ under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Many youths who belong to the Jat community are already working in the Defence sector. Only BJP has given Ministers from the Jat community. You (Jats) have always strengthened the party,” he added.
“Under the leadership of PM Modi, we have given around Rs 80,000 crore to farmers. Work of Ganga Expressway has started. The maintenance yard will be built in Jewar. Work is underway to transform Agra, Saharanpur, Mathura and Firozabad into smart cities. Medical Park is about to be built. Now the state ranks at first place for the market of sugarcane, wheat and mango,” the Home Minister said.
Reacting to Shah’s statements, Captain Abhimanyu, Western Uttar Pradesh BJP leader said that the party does politics of nationalist ideology. “For us, the nation is first, then party. This state was being exploited by foreign invaders, but now, BJP is working to save the interest of farmers in the state,” Abhimanyu added.
Another attendee to the meeting said, “We have demanded a Bharat Ratna for (former PM) Chaudhary Charan Singh, reservation for Jats and proportionate representation in Central government and Uttar Pradesh government. The Home Minister has responded positively to our demands.”
Baghpat BJP MP Satyapal Singh said that no Jat leader or member of the Jat community was angry with the party. “Such a meeting is not being held for the first time. Before this, meetings with the Brahmin community and other sections of society have also been held. Every section of society will make the Bharatiya Janata Party alliance win,” he said.
On the SP-RLD coalition, Satyapal Singh said, “There is no support base for SP and RLD on the ground.”
Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan, known to be one of the biggest leaders of the Jat community in western Uttar Pradesh, said that the meeting was on the agenda of the elections. He said that the meeting was supposed to be held earlier but could not be held due to the COVID situation.
On the resentment of the farmers of the Jat belt, Balyan said, “This perception is created before the elections but in the elections, Jats always vote for the BJP. Jats have always voted for the BJP. They voted for BJP in 2014, 2017 and in 2019. This time also Jats will vote for BJP. Nobody wants Akhilesh Yadav to become the Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh.”
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is one of the BJP’s star campaigners for Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, will campaign in the western region of the state on Thursday. The senior BJP leader will attend a “Chaupal” in Bagpat and interact with people at Modinagar in Ghaziabad during campaigning.
AKHILESH DEFENDS CRIMINAL CANDIDATES
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday defended the party’s decision to give tickets to some candidates facing criminal cases and said most of these cases had been filed by the BJP government.
“Gayatri Prajapati’s wife doesn’t have any case against her, cases are against the husband. Most cases against Azam Khan were lodged under BJP rule. As far as Nahid Hasan is concerned, BJP (government) lodged most cases against him,” Akhilesh Yadav said. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Tuesday slammed Akhilesh Yadav saying that his party and his allies cannot stop BJP from returning to power and alleged that SP was giving tickets to criminals.
“SP will not be able to stop the lotus of BJP from blooming in the state. The list of candidates that the SP has released for the upcoming elections shows that it is not a political party but the party of gangsters, criminals, mafias. They are not fighting polls in UP but threatening the people of the state. I wish to tell him that however many criminals you give tickets to, your cycle is punctured and will remain punctured,” he had said.
Samajwadi Party has given ticket for upcoming UP polls to jailed former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati’s wife Maharaji Devi from Amethi. Lok Sabha MP Azam Khan, SP candidate from Rampur seat, is lodged in Sitapur jail since February 2020 as many cases are registered against him.
SP’s candidate from Kairana Nashid Hasan was arrested by UP police earlier this month under the Gangsters Act and is currently in judicial custody.