Jat quota row may hit BJP in U.P. polls

Even as the BJP leaders have started election campaigning in Uttar Pradesh in a big way, the issue of reservation to Jats may affect the electoral prospects of the party claimed the leaders of Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (JASS), the organisation with a substantial following among Jats in western Uttar Pradesh announced an “all out war” against the BJP for “betraying” the Jats over the issue of reservation.

The agitating outfit started its campaign against the BJP early this week with a big rally in Muzaffarnagar from where Jat leaders announced their strategy to boycott the saffron party for “not fulfilling its promise of reservation to Jats”. The JASS organised two rallies in Amroha and Muzaffarnagar and plans to hold many more from January last week in several other parts of western Uttar Pradesh.

Campaign against BJP

The head of the agitating outfit, Yashpal Malik asserted that the JASS would openly campaign against the BJP in the upcoming State Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh and said, “We have already started campaigning against the BJP and the mammoth rally in Muzaffarnagar was a part of that. To start with, we will launch pamphlets against the BJP in all the Assembly constituency with a substantial Jat population”.

Mr. Malik said that the outfit would organise a series of rallies against the BJP in all the Jat-dominated constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh.

‘False promises’

“The full-fledged campaign will go on from the last week of January till the Uttar Pradesh elections. Reservation for Jats was cancelled by the Supreme Court in March 2015 as the BJP government didn’t plead the case with the required seriousness,” Mr. Malik said. After the verdict, top BJP leaders met a delegation of Jat leaders and assured that reservation will be ensured to the Jats by law. Lot many things happened in the last one-and-half years, but we didn’t get reservation,” he added.

Mr. Malik said Jats were influential in over 100 Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh where the JASS will organise rallies.

“We already organised a massive Jat Sankalp rally in Amroha and Muzaffarnagar. Now expect a huge rally in prominent districts like Meerut very soon,” he added.

Asked about the modus operandi of this campaign against BJP, Mr. Malik asserted that the JASS would form a committee in all 100 Assembly constituencies where these committees would start the campaign against BJP candidates from January end.