UP polls: To woo divided communities, RLD to raise farmers’ issues

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RLD chief Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Chaudhary said his party would demand loan waiver for farmers. “Large populations in villages are dependent on agriculture in western UP, as in other parts of the country. There are farmers in all communities. They are one,” he said.

JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi said, “Communal and caste identities merge in the larger identity of the farmer. We are trying to bridge the communal gap, as be it Jats or Muslims, farmers in both communities face the same problem.”

Ajit Singh invited Deve Gowda for the event while Jayant Chaudhary met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Delhi on Saturday. “Ajit Singhji invited me for the event. It’s about farmers. So I will definitely attend,” Deve Gowda said.

The RLD and JD(U) have already tied up for the polls, and the possibility of an electoral arrangement with the SP is being explored.

Muzaffarnagar in western UP was the centre of the Jat-Muslim conflagration in 2013. Western UP was also the cradle of farmer politics, which formed the base of the Bharatiya Lok Dal, headed by former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. The RLD carried on with this support base, but the 2013 riots saw a sharpening divide between Muslims and Jats in the region, that spelt the doom for the RLD in the 2014 elections.

“Revival of farmer politics is key to the revival of the RLD in western UP and socialist forces elsewhere. We are trying to revive the legacy of Charan Singh. There are issues like arrears of sugarcane farmers that have traction among the electorate in western UP across caste and community lines. We have to build on that,” said a leader attending Monday’s event.

These leaders will share the dais at another event to mark the birth anniversary of Charan Singh, the father of Ajit Singh, on December 23 in Muzaffarnagar.