PM Modi’s Effort to Woo Jat, OBC and Muslim Voters of Aligarh

Sandip Thakur

The stage for the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh is all set and the first agenda act was in Aligarh. The occasion was the foundation stone of Mahendra Pratap Singh State University which was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi, being a senior player of politics, took full advantage of the platform and started the election campaign of Uttar Pradesh. After the PM’s speech, caste politics started heating up. PM Modi in his speech, tried to reach out to each and every vote bank of West UP,farmers, Jats, Muslims and OBCs. He tried connecting with everyone. Now this effort is going to be successful or not, this we will get to know only after the upcoming election results which are scheduled to be held next year.

By laying the foundation stone by PM Modi, BJP has tried hitting two targets at a time. First is that the University is in the name of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh who belongs to the Jat community. This will woo many jat voters whose impact is on more than 100 seats in the state.

Secondly, the ruling party BJP has tried to show this fact that the previous ruling governments have never done this and they just forgot the contribution of these great personalities towards the country. BJP tried giving an expression that they are here to rectify the mistakes of the previous government.

PM Modi fiercely praised Chaudhary Charan Singh who is regarded as a great man by farmers and Jats.

Modi has also raised the issue of crime happening before 2017 in West UP. He said that there was a time when the administration here was run by the arbitrariness of goons and mafia. PM Modi also tried compensating the damage caused by the farmers protest by saying that more than one lakh crore have been transferred in the accounts of farmers. He said that in the last four years in UP new records have been set in purchases on MSP. The problems of sugarcane payment are being reduced. Payment of more than one lakh 40 thousand crore rupees to sugarcane farmers of UP has been made.

Along with Jats and farmers, Modi addressed the entire OBC community and tried to appease Muslims also. PM Modi talking about Jat Raja mentioned Former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh as well who died recently. He was a resident of Atrauli Tehsil of Aligarh District in Madhauli village. In the background of farmers’ movement, BJP does not want to take the equation of Muslims and Jats lightly.

By building a University in the name of Jat Raja, BJP wants to target 102 seats in UP assembly elections where Jat voters have their influence. Recently, popularity of the BJP has declined tremendously in western UP due to the farmers’ protests.

In the assembly elections of 2017, BJP won 102 seats out of 136 seats in West UP. Here about 17 % vote bank is of Jats.

Actually, it is being said that BJP is a party of Banias and Brahmins and it gets votes of both these castes. But this time the BJP has focused on the OBC vote bank the most.

Considering the caste mathematics of UP, the highest 40 percent vote bank is of OBC, while dalits constitute 20.8% of the population. Muslims at number three are 19 percent, 12 percent of the population is Brahmins and Thakur population is 8 per cent. This means that the majority is of OBC. So, it is confirmed that BJP can not win the upcoming election without the vote bank of OBC. That is the reason that the PM today addressed and mentioned many strong leaders. The PM also remembered the then Chief Minister Kalyan Singh who played an important role in the Ram Mandir movement.

Kalyan Singh used to be the biggest face of Hindutva for BJP. Kalyan Singh was the first Chief Minister of BJP who was from OBC community. Kalyan Singh was from the Lodhi community, whose population is spread hugely from Central UP to West UP. In the population of OBC, this is at the third place after Yadavs and Kurmis.

Yadavas are supposed to be the traditional voters of SP and Dalits of BSP but BJP will try to convince and get the votes of the other OBC society on their side.

Apart from this, the PM by narrating the story of a Muslim friend of his father tried convincing the Muslims of not only Aligarh but of whole country that BJP is a party that believes in “Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas.”