Moving away from his traditional seat of Bhagpat where he was trounced in 2014, veteran Jat leader and Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh (80) says he is contesting from Muzaffarnagar to heal the violent communal divide.
How important is this election for you, especially after a string of defeats?
How important this election is for me, that’s not the question. [The question is] how important it is for the country, for democracy, for keeping our Constitution and saving all our constitutional bodies. If people lose faith in constitutional bodies, there is no democracy. Therefore, this is a very important election. And like Mr. [Amit] Shah said, if Modi wins this time he will be Prime Minister for 50 years. That means there will be no democracy.
You think it’s a greater challenge than RLD, SP or BSP...
Than me or who is winning... And one thing is very clear as far as U.P. is concerned, this combination, nobody can beat.
Why do you think so?
Look at the arithmetic.
Just arithmetic or is there anything else to the alliance?
Every part of society, be it farmers, youth, minority or Dalits — everybody is angry with the government. See, election in a democracy is all about what they have done in the five years; whether to give them another chance . If you look at it, they have not done anything, except a lot of promises of which they haven’t kept a single one. To farmers, they said they will give 150 times the cost, not done. For the youth, two crore jobs per year, now they are saying ‘make pakoras’ . And clean Ganga... nothing has happened. Made in India, nothing. Smart cities, not there. So what has he done? Those are the questions and as the campaign progresses, all these questions will come up again. See, all the TV and newspapers are now saying that because of what happened [in Balakot]... but these are the issues on which people will decide. As far as that issue [Balakot air strike] is concerned, everybody is with the army.
You have contested many times from Baghpat. But in 2014, not only did you lose, you stood a surprise third. So this time...
The last election, at least in this part of India, was not normal because of those riots in Muzaffarnagar.
Why did you choose to contest from Muzaffarnagar?
Because the riot started from here. Muzaffarnagar’s message went to the whole country. And this was the reason why the BJP won.
So you want to uproot the BJP from here?
Yes.
But isn’t this a big risk for you, since Muzaffarnagar was the hotbed of that violence and communal divide?
On February 13 last year, I went to Muzaffarnagar. February 12 was my birthday, I completed 79 years. So I said, the 80th year I will spend on getting rid of that communal divide. I called it bhaichara (brotherhood). And for the last one year, I have been to at least 10 districts, two or three times and stayed there overnight, talking to different groups. So that thing is gone now. The communal divide is not there. And the Kairana election cemented the bonding together of vote banks... our votebank.
Jats and Muslims are coming together like before?
Yes, yes! In Kairana, not only that, our core voter voted, farmers of all castes and religions voted. Another big issue here is the cow. Cows are worshipped and they forever have been. As far as the farmers are concerned their livestock was their ATM; you need money, you go sell some cattle. Now they didn’t get their price for the sugar cane — this area depends on sugar cane for its economic survival — and then these animals are eating up their other crops. So there is a great deal of anger. That’s a very big issue here.
Is that going to be a part of your campaign?
I watched a lot of social media and YouTube videos in which farmers are saying, ‘Look what Yogi is doing, eating the crops.’ They call them [stray cows] Yogi and Modi.
But the BJP is projecting it like they are actually protecting cows from being slaughtered...
Everybody can see what the situation is; they are worse off than they were earlier.
Apart from sugar cane, cows, and communal divide that you want to heal, anything else that will be an important issue?
Unemployment is a very big issue. Notebandi destroyed the informal economy. And then look at GST, look at farmers, first they declare MSP, then they import all the commodities from abroad. Last year, was there a need to import sugar? Three years ago, they imported wheat when there was a bumper crop. Two years ago, they imported lentils when there was an oversupply of it.
They declared MSP but depressed the market price. So farmer doesn’t get the MSP. Then the electricity prices have gone up, double. Tractors used to be tax-free but now been declared commercial vehicles and every year they have to pay tax. Now there is GST too if you are buying a tractor or its parts. Now they are saying, every 10 years you have to buy a new tractor. No farmer can afford it. They run them for 40 years. They have no idea of the rural economy. This has not only affected the farmers. That money circulated in the area. I tell these small businessmen and traders, if ₹10,000 crore is given as farmers’ sugar cane dues, in three months this will be all in your pockets. Everybody is affected right now.
Have the dues been paid back to the sugar cane farmers?
Mr. Modi has been saying that we have done so and we will pay in 14 days and he would not accept whatever the [actual] figures are. But it’s a plain and simple lie.
RSS and BJP say other governments were corrupt and they are not...
Ask any person in a village or town, ‘Has corruption increased?’ They all stand up and say ‘yes’. Forget everything, we need a PM in a democracy, who listens to everybody, consults everyone and then takes a decision. He [Mr Modi] doesn’t listen to anyone, doesn’t consult anyone or answer any questions or any press conference. We need a PM... chappan inch ki chaati theek hai, lekin dil bada hona chaiye (a 56-inch chest is fine but one must also be big-hearted). But Modi has no concern for the poor, oppressed, farmers and the unemployed.
Are you happy with the three seats that have been given to you as part of the alliance (Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat and Mathura)?
In a combination or seat adjustment, no party is ever happy. Therefore, the question is not that. It is larger. There may be all these seat differences, but in U.P., we didn’t take too much time to discuss and bicker about it... because everybody realises that it is not important.
You expect that your core voter will stick with you in Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar. But in other seats where the SP and BSP are contesting, will your voters transfer to them?
Yes, yes. As I said, I had gone to 10 districts...with those bhaichara meetings, so they understand.
So Jats are also angry with the BJP?
They are basically farmers and aggressive farmers. The farmer’s situation and the farming community feels they are being left out.
On April 7, you, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati will hold a rally in Saharanpur, kicking off your joint campaign. How important is it for U.P. that you three have come together?
Let me put it this way, in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana, the combination already existed. Now we have formalised it.
