Ajit Singh faces stiff fight in Baghpat

April 04, 2014 07:23 pm | Updated November 27, 2021 06:55 pm IST - Baghpat (UP)

It’s known to be the stronghold of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, with its party chief Ajit Singh being elected to the Lok Sabha seven times from the seat, but Baghpat promises to present a contest to watch out for this election.

The main fight is between Mr. Singh and former Mumbai Commissioner of Police Satyapal Singh, who is making his political debut on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket. What makes the contest even is the poliarisation of votes – for and against Mr. Ajit Singh — in the wake of the Muzaffarnagar riots last year.

While the Jats are wholeheartedly supporting Mr. Ajit Singh, the Muslims are sore at him for not reaching out to riot victims in Muzaffarnagar and Kairana.

“The Muslims are now wondering if Chhotey Choudhary [Mr. Ajit Singh] really deserves their votes,” said Gulfam Khan in Aminagar Sarai.

The other candidates — Bahujan Samaj Party’s Prashant Choudhary and Samajwadi Party’s Ghulam Mohammad – poised to spoil the game for the two players.

Mr. Mohammad, a former college principal and the SP MLA from Siwalkhas, enjoys much support among the educated youth.

Yogendra Dhaka, a local lawyer, is contesting on the Aam Aadmi Party ticket.

The usual topics during elections — dismal condition of roads, erratic power supply, poor education and health facilities and delay in payment of sugarcane dues — replaced by heated debates, on whether to vote for Mr. Ajit Singh or defeat him at ‘chaupals’ across the villages and towns.

Sarfaraz of Tilpani village said the Muslims would vote for the SP or the BSP rather than elect Mr. Ajit Singh, “who left the community suffering during the riots.”

In Dabathua village, the choice among Hindus seems to be the BJP while the Muslim Jats are in favour of Mr. Ajit Singh, courtesy the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s decision to include the powerful Hindu and Muslim Jat community in the central list of Other Backward Classes for reservation in jobs and educational institutions.

The Choudhary family has been representing Baghpat since 1977 but for a brief period when Sompal Singh Shastri of the BJP defeated Mr. Ajit Singh in 1998. Mr. Singh draws much strength due to the work done by his father Choudhary Charan Singh.

“It’s not Jats alone, but the entire population here knows the development efforts put in by my father and my family in education, health care, drinking water, agricultural facilities in the region. All this has enabled the youth to prosper and get into good jobs in different sectors.,” Mr. Singh said.

His claim, however, was stoutly countered by Mr. Satyapal Singh, who denied any development in the constituency and termed the UPA’s decision to extend reservation benefits to Jats as a “poll gimmick to cheat the farmers.”

“Did the government not know that such a lopsided decision without proper homework was bound to be challenged in court?” he asked referring to the Supreme Court decision to step in to scrutiny the decision.

“The people here are fed up with the lack of development in the area and now they want to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister,” Mr. Satyapal Singh said.

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