As many as 223 candidates are in the fray for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana that goes to polls on May 12.
 
There are 18 candidates contesting for the Ambala constituency, 24 for Kurukshetra, 29 for Sonepat, 21 for Bhiwani-Mahendegarh, 24 for Gurugram, 20 for Sirsa, 26 for Hisar, 16 for Karnal and 27 for Faridabad.
 
A total of 1.8 crore voters will be voting in Haryana which is conducting the polls in a single phase. Of these, 6 lakh are new voters.
 
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had polled 34.8 per cent votes, winning seven seats, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won two seats and the Congress finished third with one seat.
 
This time, in the fray, is also Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has entered into an alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP). According to their seat-sharing strategy, the AAP is going to contest on three seats, leaving seven for JJP. At the joint press conference, Dushyant had said the two parties will fight together in the Haryana assembly polls too.
 
A split in INLD and the alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) in Haryana are likely to result in a division of non-BJP votes in the state and hurt the Congress where it is in a close fight with the BJP in these Lok Sabha polls.
 
An INLD-BSP pact would have given a tough fight to the BJP, but the INLD split has changed all that. The BJP is only too pleased with the changed scenario and the Congress sees a ray of hope too.

Barring Hisar and Sonepat, the Congress and BJP are now locked in a straight fight. The INLD is in bad shape. So much so that it’s sitting Sirsa MP Charanjeet Singh Rori seems out of the contest already. In Sirsa, the contest is between state Congress president Ashok Tanwar and former IRS officer Sunita Duggal.
 
The BJP is confident of a good show in Haryana after winning an assembly by-poll in Jind where Congress’s national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala was in the fray. But then, the BJP had filed Krishan Middha, the son of Hari Chand Midha, the INLD legislator whose death necessitated the byelection in Jind.
 
The BJP is facing double anti-incumbency in Haryana, where Manohar Lal Khattar government completes its tenure later this year. The Jat quota remains the top issue in the election in Haryana, where caste equation has played a determinative role in polls.
 
Jat leaders allege that the BJP government did not defend the 10 per cent quota in jobs to their community strongly enough in the Supreme Court which set aside the provision. Further, the Jats are said to be favouring the Congress and the INLD more than the BJP, which banks on the non-Jat OBC community, particularly the Sainis.
 
Famous political clans of Haryana will be crossing swords in polls in many Haryana constituencies this time. The third and fourth generation members of three political families of former biggies —Bhajan Lal, Devi Lal and Bansi Lal— besides the Hoodas have been fielded from various constituencies with the most direct contest between them in Hisar and Sonipat.
 
It is said that Chhattis biradari, or 36 communities leave together in harmony in Haryana but for this election, many are calling it 35 + 1 as Jat’s, the dominant community, could swing either way.
 
According to a recent survey conducted by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), better employment opportunities (44.61 per cent), agricultural loan availability (40.36 per cent) and higher price realization for farm products (33.80 per cent) were the top three voter priorities in the state.
 
Key constituencies in Haryana for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections
 
Kurukshetra
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has manoeuvred extensively through the constituency, with elaborate campaigns and public speeches from the campus of Kurukshetra University.
 
The seat gives an edge to BJP with over three lakh Jat voters, 1.25 lakh Brahmins, nearly 1 lakh Sainis and as many from Ror community, the descendants of Maratha soldiers who had fought in the historic battle of Panipat.
 
The BJP has fielded Nayab Saini from the seat.
 
The only threat facing the BJP in Kurukshetra is a challenge from a breakaway faction called the Lok Suraksha Party, headed by rebel Kurukshetra MP Rajkumar Saini.
 
Saini is looking to mobilise Dalit and minority votes, which will upset the BJP’s applecart.
 
During a rally in Kurukshetra on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was a victim of one-sided oppression, with the Congress hurling abuses at him all the time under the “veil of love”.
 
Kurukshetra picked a non-Jat MP last time. But reposing faith in Jat voters, Abhay Chautala has fielded his son Arjun Chautala. Here too, the contest is between BJP’s Nayab Singh Saini and Congress’ Nirmal Singh. After Naveen Jindal, an accused in the coal scam, refused to contest, the Congress shifted Nirmal Singh from Ambala to Kurukshetra. Saini, a minister in the Khattar government, is a winnable candidate.
 
Hisar
Hisar is going to witness a triangular clash of dynasties. The BJP has fielded Brijendra Singh, an IAS officer and son of Birender Singh, Steel Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet. Both PM Modi and Birendra Singh have campaigned for his son. Brijendra’s great-grandfather was Sir Chotu Ram, the great peasant leader from Haryana, and this lineage could help him.
 
Against him in the fray are sitting MP Dushyant Chautala of the JJP and Congress’ Bhavya Bishnoi.
 
Bhavya is the son of Kuldeep Bishnoi who has a reputation of joining and abandoning parties, living up to his father and former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal’s epithet of ‘Aya Ram, Gaya Ram’.
 
Dushyant has become the youngest MP in the Lok Sabha elections.
 
Hisar has three families contesting against one another. No ideology, it is sheer poll math that will work here.
 
Sonipat
With the BJP winning the high-decibel Jind assembly bypoll, the saffron party is confident of winning the Sonipat parliamentary constituency. The Jind bypoll, which concluded in January this year is also an indication of a weak Congress in the seat with party national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala finishing third after JJP’s Digvijay Chautala.
 
Again, the Jind bypoll victory was significant for the BJP, which won the seat for the first time ever, wresting it from the INLD and Congress.
 
At stake is the political career of two-time former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is contesting from Sonipat.
 
Sonepat
Sonepat is seeing an exciting fight. The BJP has refielded sitting MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik in this Jat region, hoping to consolidate non-Jat votes. But with Congress fielding former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the contest has become interesting. Hooda is one of the biggest Jat leaders in Haryana.
 
The Congress, fighting for political survival, has fielded top leaders, who must prove their mettle. On the other hand, the JJP has fielded Digvijay Chautala. He may not win but could make it difficult for Hooda.
 
A former chief minister, a turncoat and a rebel scion are making for an exciting triangular contest for the Sonepat Parliamentary constituency.
 
“On paper, the two Jat candidates— Hooda and Chautala— are expected to fight for a share of over 6.70 lakh Jat votes while Kaushik, a Brahmin, can hope to corner a major share of about 1.50 lakh Brahmin votes. However, the actual contest may turn out to be totally different. Five out of the nine assembly segments in this constituency are held by Hooda loyalists, an important factor in determining the pull of the candidate. The JJP candidate, Digvijay Chautala, is heavily banking on the three assembly segments falling in Jind district. Chautala did well, finishing runners up in the recent Jind byelection. The BJP candidate relies heavily on the urban electorate in Sonepat and Jind assembly segments to prop up his prospects,” Hindustan Times reported.
 
Rohtak
Meanwhile, Bhupinder Singh’s son, Deepender Hooda, is in the fray from Rohtak, and is seeking a fourth straight victory from the Hooda citadel. The Jat leader is facing competition from former MP Arvind Sharma, a prominent Brahmin leader.
 
Deepender has won thrice. Despite being a Jatland, it is the Yadavs, Brahmins and other non-Jat communities who have contributed to his victory in the past. But post-Jat agitation and BJP’s non-Jat politics, the equations could change.
 
Bhiwani
Bhiwani will see a tight contest between sitting BJP MP Dharambir and Congress’ Shruti Choudhry. Former MP from Haryana, Shruti is the granddaughter of former state chief minister Bansi Lal and daughter of Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry. In 2014, Shruti had finished third, losing out to Dharambir by a margin of 1.3 lakh votes and Rao Bahadur Singh of INLD by a meagre 7,000 votes.
 
The infighting in the INLD might cost them their bastion with the Jat votes splitting and going to the Congress.
 
In the Bhiwani constituency, Jats form the largest majority followed by the Yadavs, Brahmins, Gurjars, Mahajans and Punjabis. With the INLD in shambles and week campaigning by its offshoot, experts suggest that Jat votes will go to the Congress and the non-Jat votes will go to the BJP.
 
Gurgaon
Three assembly constituencies of the Mewat region – Punhana, Ferozepur Jhirka and Nuh – are a part of the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency. The Mewat region is dominated by Meo Muslims and pans across north-western India, in Haryana and Alwar and Bharatpur in Rajasthan.  The INLD, which had won two assembly seats in 2014 from Mewat district, are now facing a grim situation with its Meo Muslim legislators defecting to the Congress.
 
Meanwhile, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi campaigned on the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) grounds in Gurugram in an attempt to mobilise urban voters from the Gurgaon constituency, who overwhelmingly voted for the BJP in the previous elections.
 
This has also made the fight largely bipolar – between Congress candidate Captain (retd) Ajay Singh Yadav and BJP’s sitting MP Rao Inderjit Singh – both strong Ahir (Yadav) leaders. As a result, the Yadav vote is expected to split in this seat.
 
Minister Inderjeet Singh is the tallest leader in Ahirwal area. He was Congress MP and then BJP MP. But his long tenure may trigger anti-incumbency. Six-time MLA and former minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav is counting on Inderjeet Singh’s shortcomings but the key to the battle is Mewat, one of the most backward districts in Haryana.
 
The Gurgaon seat has more than five lakh minority votes. Inderjeet Singh could be in trouble should they vote en bloc. In the industrial town of Faridabad, the BJP is betting on Union Minister Krishan Pal Gurjar. The Congress is banking on old hand Avtar Singh Bhadana. It’s a fight between two heavyweights and AAP’s Naveen Jaihind stands little chance of a win.
 
Gurgaon, renamed Gurugram, has 21.34 lakh voters in nine assembly constituencies of southern Haryana. With total assets worth Rs 102 crore, Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD’s) Virender Rana is the richest candidate contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Haryana from this seat.
 
Faridabad
While the AAP did not win a single seat in the 2014 general election, it managed to garner 50,000-60,000 votes on almost all seats. Even if the party is not able to wrest any seat, it is bound to pose a serious threat to contenders in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ambala and Sirsa. AAP has fielded state party chief Naveen Jaihind from Faridabad.
 
The Jat community is at loggerheads with BJP on the issue of Jat reservation and the Khattar governments actions against Jat protesters during the reservation stir.
 
Jats, who constitute 27% of the population in Haryana, have been the politically dominant force. However, the recent chasm between Jats and non-Jats seems to have changed the social fabric and the political landscape completely.
 
Congress may be pegging its campaign on its ‘Nyay’ minimum income guarantee scheme and a jobs promise, but the state BJP government’s opening up of government jobs is being seen as a major achievement.
 
The jobs have also given heft to BJP’s accusation against the Hoodas that jobs, education opportunities and development were all concentrated in their constituencies of Sonepat and Rohtak.

Polling on 118 Lok Sabha seats will be held in the remaining two phases of the parliamentary polls that end on May 19. Voting for the penultimate sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held in 59 constituencies on May 12. The BJP had won 44 of these Lok Sabha seats in 2014, 46 along with its allies.

Inputs taken from Money Control and Tribune India. 

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With Lok Sabha elections approaching, every political party is trying to show that it cares for the marginalised communities and if voted to power, it will do all that is possible to address their concerns. However, for Dalits of Bhagana village in Haryana’s Hisar district, it seems justice will remain elusive no matter who comes to power. They have been camping outside the district secretariat for the last eight years in protest against their social boycott by the dominant Jats of their village over a land dispute but to no avail.

Dalits of Bhagana village at the protesting site in Hisar (Photo: Inder Bisht)
 

The boycott which resulted in the exodus of 138 Dalits families from Bhagana hasn’t seen a single prosecution till date despite several complaints and a writ-petition being filed by the victims in the Haryana High Court.

Victims’ lawyer Balwant Singh Bodia says that the state government had falsely claimed in an affidavit that all the victims have been rehabilitated to which they have filed a counter-affidavit in the court.
 

Dalits of Bhagana village at the protesting site in Hisar(Photo: Inder Bisht)
 

No relief package or any concrete steps towards the rehabilitation of the affected families have been taken by the administration till date.
In  December 2012, the administration managed to persuade the protesting families to go back to the village by giving them compensation of around Rs 67,000, and an assurance of their safety.

Out of the 138 families, 51 eventually did agree to return to the village. However, later, to the shock of the families, the compensatory amount turned out to be a loan.

“I still receive notices from the State Bank of India to pay my instalments for the cattle loan which the district collector had fraudulently imposed on me claiming it as a part of relief amount. I owe more than a lakh rupee to the bank now,” says Virender, a Dalit from Bhagana who had agreed to return. Many of the 51 families eventually again relocated to different parts of the state after feeling disillusioned by the promises made by the administration. along with the persistent hostile environment towards them in the village.
 

The playground on the disputed land in Bhagana village (Photo: Inder Bisht)
 

In 2014, Bhagana witnessed a second exodus of the Dhanak (a backward caste) community members when four minor girls of their community were allegedly gang-raped by the members of the Jat community.
 

About 80-odd families of the community left the village fearing for their lives and the biased attitude of the administration in favour of the Jats.
 

Five members of the Jat community were eventually arrested in the case but later got released.
 

The National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) has been monitoring the matter for the last few years, and some members of the commission have visited the village as part of their probe.

Last year, the NCSC had asked the Haryana chief secretary, director general of police (DGP) and Hisar deputy commissioner (DC) to appear before the chairman for a hearing in connection with the issue.

Satish Kajla, 39, who has been leading the protest, says that the NCSC chairman Ram Shankar Katheria had told him that the uprooted families would be relocated near Hisar. However, on the matter of prosecuting the 30-odd village members who had ordered their social boycott, Kajla says, Katheria was dismissive.
 

A Dalit protester from Bhagana continuing with his occupation at the protesting site in Hisar (Photo: Inder Bisht)
 

“He told me in private that if they were to take action against the villagers, who are jats, law and order situation in the area would suffer,” says Kajla.
 

A special investigation team was constituted after the meeting to investigate the matter, says Kajla, but there is no information about its progress.
 

“I had filed an RTI to find out any update on the SIT findings but didn’t get any response. I am clueless at the moment where the investigation is heading towards,” says a dejected Kajla.
 

The issue which had started with a dispute over the distribution of village shamilat (common) land in 2011 witnessed the Jats-led village panchayat later imposing social-boycott of the protesting Dalits resulting in the exodus of 138 Dalit families from the village.
 

The uprooted families camped outside Hisar’s mini secretariat and started protesting against the injustice and atrocities they were subjected to by the members of the dominant caste of their village.
 

After the gang-rape incident in 2014, the protesting families undertook a 170 km walk to Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to highlight their plight in front of the country’s media and politicians.

“I met Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, who asked me to meet the then Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda,” says Kajla.
 

In the meeting with Hooda, Kajla claims, the then chief minister reprimanded him for raking up an “unnecessary issue”.
 

Dalits of Bhagana village at the protesting site in Hisar (Photo: Inder Bisht)
 

The present village sarpanch Shakti Singh says that he has done his best to persuade the Dalits to return to the village but, he adds, that the “few” protesting people are keeping the issue alive for “personal gains”. “They don’t want to work but live off the compensation money. We agreed to all their demands and are willing to give them plots too,” says Shakti Singh.

The Dalits of Bhagana this correspondent spoke to said that the plots are far away from their present residences in the village and hence are of no use to them.

Despite the claims of the sarpanch that situation has normalised in Bhagana and that no social boycott of Dalits is practised anymore, few of the Dalits who had returned to the village say that the situation is not normal, particularly for the Dalits who are still protesting against the previous sarpanch and panchayat members.

Vimla Devi, 55, whose husband had expired last year says that when she along with her family returned to Bhagana after six years and went to the sarpanch for work under NREGA scheme, the sarpanch, she said, told her that since she was still part of the protest at Hisar secretariat she can’t get work.

The dispute had arisen in 2012 after the village panchayat had excommunicated some Dalits of the village for objecting to the distribution of 280 acres of the village (common) land by the panchayat members. “The village head along with the panchayat members had drawn up a scheme to divide and distribute the common land among the villagers. According to the scheme, the upper castes were to get around 1,000 square yards each while the Dalit households were getting around 100 square yards each,” says Satish Kajla.

The plan was allegedly in response to a government scheme ‘Mahatma Gandhi Malin Basti Yojana’ under which 100 square yards of a plot was to be given to every BPL (below poverty line) family.
 

Their abandoned houses in Bhagana village (Photo: Inder Bisht)
 

However, Kajla alleges that the scheme was a ruse, and the panchayat didn’t have the intention to distribute the land to the Dalits.

“They knew that if the panchayat had directly asked the villagers to vacate the common land then there would have been a protest. So they named a scheme and asked people to deposit the money for registration in a bid to look it authentic,” says Kajla.

Out of 280 acres of common land in Bhagana, 230 is non-cultivable which is used for various purposes like playground, cremation, pond, dumping garbage and cattle dung.

The common village land was distributed in proportion to the land that the residents already owned. This meant that the Dalit families, which were mostly landless, ended up with less than 100 square yards each. They were also asked to deposit Rs 1,000 as registration fee.
“The dominant caste group in the village, most of its members belonging to one family, managed to corner most of the redistributed land,” says Kajla.

Next, the panchayat members started felling trees from the common land and sold the timber off in the market.

The actual flashpoint between the Jat-dominated panchayat and Dalits occurred when the panchayat members uprooted poles and broke off seating arrangement at a three-acre playground where the youths of the village used to play.

“We used to play on the ground daily. It was special for us because some of us had managed to clear physical round of the recruitment process because of continuous training on the ground. We were in no mood to let it go,” says Jagdish Kajla, another Dalit member of Bhagana village.

When the Dalits made a representation to the government, the Jats were angry and allegedly ordered a social and economic boycott of them.
 

Their abandoned houses in Bhagana village (Photo: Inder Bisht)
 

“The shopkeeper in the village was told not to sell to us; the common village pond was denied to our buffaloes. No one would talk to us. We were not allowed to use barber shop, village cremation ground and temples. Even using transport to travel outside of the village was not allowed to us,” recalls Satish.
 

“No jat would employ us in his field. The village head had stopped giving us work under NREGA scheme also,” says Satish.
Pushed to the wall the boycotted Dalits on May 21, 2012, left the village along with their cattle and camped at the premise of Hisar’s mini-secretariat. The protest has continued ever since.

Courtesy: Two Circle

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1,611 Days after Muzaffarnagar Riots, Jats Say ‘Allahu Akbar’ and Muslims Chant ‘Har Har Mahadev’, says a wonderfully heartening report in TV 18 authored by Uday Singh Rana. At Mahapanchayats, Jat and Muslim leaders are erasing the past and giving peace a chance. Two ‘Mahapanchayats’ were held to reach a solution. The Muslims had one clear condition. 

“They told us that if there was even a hint of involvement of the BJP, which they blame for the riots, any chance of a settlement would be off the table,” says Vipin, adding, “We agreed to that demand and did not invite any BJP leaders to the Mahapanchayat.” Despite elected representatives being from the BJP, the party held responsible for sponsoring hate, was cut out of the peace process. It is this that prompted Sanjiv Balian to get the Adityanath government to quash cases against Hindus.

It was after the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections last year, that Vipin Singh Balyan from Kutba village in western UP’s Muzaffarnagar took the first steps. As many as 53 Jat youths from his village were implicated in nine separate cases of violence, including murder, in 2013, when communal riots ripped through Muzaffarnagar. He started going to the Muslim victims and beg forgiveness on behalf of Jats. 

Close to four and a half years ago, on the morning of September 8, 2013, communal violence had spread to Kutba and a group of local youths had killed eight Muslims. Terrified of the attack, , Muslims fled the village and settled in nearby Bara Basti, a cluster of 12 Muslim-dominated villages. 

How did the peace process begin?
“I decided to go to the house of one Akhtar Hassan, who had great standing among Kutba’s Muslims. I told him I was there to ask for forgiveness. The first time I went there, the Muslims gathered around and started abusing me for what Jats had done to their families. I neither reacted nor tried to defend myself. I left my Jat ego at the door and listened to everything they had to say,” says Balyan says the report. 

The first meeting with Akhtar did not work. Balyan persisted, only to be turned down once more. When the third visit, too, yielded no possibility of a “settlement”, Balyan says he was beginning to lose hope. But then, something unexpected happened. 

“After the third meeting, I went home dejected. That very evening, Akhtar called me. He said that a Muslim girl from Kutba was being bothered by local Muslim lads from Bara Basti. He sought help from Jats to put pressure on the police to arrest those miscreants. As their former landlords, Jats thought it was their duty to help a daughter of Kutba, even if she was Muslim. We surrounded the police station and the cops were forced to arrest the accused.”

Give and Take
It was this incident that helped break the ice and gave Balyan and company the chance to move forward with their “peace process”. But it was important to first win back the Muslims’ trust. The culprits of Kutba were Jats, but the Jats of Kakra village had lost their sons at the hands of Muslim rioters from nearby Pur Balyan village. So the Jats of Kutba took a decision. They would first get cases against Muslims withdrawn. 

All Images are from TV 18

Chaudhary Shakir Ali is the former pradhan of Pur Balyan village. On September 7, 2013, a group of Jats were passing through the mosque in Pur Balyan when they were killed by a Muslim mob. 

It was Shakir Ali, a local landlord, was accused of instigating the violence. “We have centuries-old relations with Jats. But since the riots, I had stopped getting wedding invitations from Hindu households. Sometime during Ramzan last year, during the sehri, Jats from Kutba came to my house and had breakfast with us. Vipin bhai told us that he wanted a settlement of all riot-related cases. That came as a godsend for us. We were willing to fold our hands in front of the Jats of Kakra and beg for forgiveness. And if that helped the Jat boys from Kutba, it would be even better.” Two ‘Mahapanchayats’ were held. But the Muslims had one condition. 

“They told us that if there was even a hint of involvement of the BJP, which they blame for the riots, any chance of a settlement would be off the table,” says Vipin, adding, “We agreed to that demand and did not invite any BJP leaders to the Mahapanchayat.” 

So it was decided. Fifty-three Jat boys from Kutba and 27 Muslims from Pur Balyan were accused of rioting. The two communities would come together to forgive all of them for their “crimes of passion”. After months of negotiations with the victims — the Kutba Muslims who now lived in Bara Basti and the Jats of Kakra — it was decided that a ‘Mahapanchayat’ would be held.
Two ‘Mahapanchayats’ were held. But the Muslims had one condition. 
“They told us that if there was even a hint of involvement of the BJP, which they blame for the riots, any chance of a settlement would be off the table,” says Vipin, adding, “We agreed to that demand and did not invite any BJP leaders to the Mahapanchayat.” 

It complicated matters slightly since Kutba’s twin village Kutbi is the home of BJP MP and former Union minister Sanjeev Balyan. But the Jats did not waver from their promise. The BJP was cut out from the peace settlement. 

Chaudhary Shakir Ali, former pradhan of Pur Balyan village

The first two Mahapanchayats, one held at Mulayam Singh Yadav’s residence in Delhi and the other one in Muzaffarnagar city, were positive in their tone and tenor, but a settlement had not been reached. The victims wanted to forgive and move on, but the scars of the Muzaffarnagar riots were still fresh. It was the third Panchayat in Bara Basti on February 4, 2018, where they made serious headway.

Sohanvir Balyan, a Jat from Kakra, says, “Our Jat sons had been killed and yet, we went to the Mahapanchayat in Bara Basti. Some Right-wing groups refer to Bara Basti as ‘Mini-Pakistan’ owing to its Muslim majority. But we did something radical there.”

At the Mahapanchayat, Sohanvir took the stage and asked all Jats to chant ‘Allah-O-Akbar!’ (Allah is great). He then turned to Muslims and asked them to chant ‘Har Har Mahadev!’ (Hail Lord Shiva). To Vipin Balyan’s surprise, everyone complied. 

“Jats and Muslims have been friends for centuries but I have never seen something like this. I have never seen hardy Jats shout Allah-O-Akbar or seen skull cap-donning Muslims shout ‘Har Har Mahadev’,” he says. 
“All of us chimed in. Har Har Mahadev is not an Islamic chant, but we still chimed in,” says Shakir Ali. 
The chants set the ball rolling. Chainpal Singh, the son of a local Chaudhary, took the stage with Shakir Ali and the two begged for forgiveness on behalf of their communities. “I folded my palms and said ‘Galati te humari thi, humein maaf kar dijiye (It was our fault, please forgive us),” says Chainpal.

But what clinched the ‘peace deal’ were the pleas of village elders. 

Vipin Singh Balyan (on mike) addressing a panchayat

Raghubir Singh, a 90-year-old Jat from Kutba, faced Akhtar Hassan and told him that Jats held no ill-will against Muslims. “The violence was not planned or done out of some enmity. A video was being circulated on mobile phones that showed the head of a Jat being smashed by a rock. It later turned out that the video was from a Taliban camp in Afghanistan. We were fooled and we fell for it. So I begged Akhtar to forgive Jats.”

Shakir Ali had a similar story to tell. “Some BJP leaders had held a Mahapanchayat on September 7 and rumours spread that a Muslim journalist was brutally murdered after it. Some local boys got angry and things got out of hand.”

After the chants and the passionate pleas for forgiveness, Akhtar Hassan, who lost many friends in Kutba, “forgave” the Jats of his village. “I took the families of the victims, all of whom were my friends, into confidence and together, we forgave the Jats of our village. The cases are still going on in the courts but we don’t want to exact any revenge,” he tells News18. 

Shakir Ali says, pointing to 40-year-old Assaduddin, “Look at him! He is handicapped and the police said he had murdered someone! Several people, from both sides, were falsely implicated in the riots. Now, they can move on with their lives.”

While these Mahapanchayats were helping Jats and Muslims move towards a resolution, it ruffled feathers within the BJP. Former Union minister and Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan met UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday in Lucknow, along with BJP MLA Sangeet Som and farmer leader Naresh Tikait. He demanded that several cases of arson should be quashed. The leaders claimed that out of 502 cases, around 400 cases were of arson and were mostly bogus just to get the compensation.

As per reports, CM Yogi has assured the leaders of all possible help in this regard after proper consultation. A few days ago, the Yogi government had announced its decision to withdraw 20,000 cases, which were “politically motivated”.

Jat elders in Kutba

According to local Jats, Sanjeev Balyan’s decision to take Naresh Tikait with him to Lucknow has political significance. As the ‘Chaudhary’ of the Balyan Khap, which dictates social life in 84 Jat villages of Muzaffarnagar, Tikait is essentially Jat royalty. Moreover, he is the son of iconic farmer leader Mahinder Singh Tikait. 

A Jat activist from Muzaffarnagar says, “When we met Tikait sahib, we told him that he had been used by Sanjeev Balyan for political ends. When he (Sanjeev Balyan) goes to the CM with the leader of the Balyan Khap, it appears as though all Jats are with him. His position in the BJP gets strengthened.”

Another activist says Jats were “fooled” in 2014 and again in 2017. “Jab tak Jat Jat hai, tab tak Jat ki thaath hai. BJP ne kuch waqt ke liye Jat ko Hindu bana diya tha. (As long as Jats remain Jats, they will remain prosperous. BJP had turned Jats into Hindus for a while).”

Unperturbed by the BJP’s attempts to champion riot-accused Jats, Vipin Balyan says his Mahapanchayats will continue. “We have already resolved the conflicts in Kutba, Kakra and Pur Balyan. Now we will hold similar Mahapanchayats for the Jats and Muslims of Lishar, Fugana, Lakh, Mohammadpur Raisingh and Kawal villages. Jats and Muslims are, once again, united. The days of Baba Tikait (Mahinder Singh Tikait) are back.”

While Muslims who fled their village do not plan to return to live here, signs of communal healing are already visible. “One boy was an ironsmith in our village. A few months ago, he came back to set up his shop, even though he continues to live 5 km away in Bara Basti. We welcomed him with open arms and he was followed by Muslim farm labourers, who are the backbone of Jat landlords. The wounds are healing,” says Balyan.

Shakir Ali agrees. “Recently, I held my son’s Walima (wedding reception) in the village. I had more Hindu guests than Muslims,” he says proudly.

The post Remorse forgiveness and healing in Muzaffarnagar: TV 18 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Professor Sudhir Panwar – who is a Jat – seems to be encouraging apolitical equation which is difficult to politically exploit in any other constituency in Western Uttar Pradesh.
 

In all his public address and meetings, one can see good participation of the members of the two communities which used to share good relationship in the region. Jats and Muslims sitting together and talking about the pre-riots unity between the two communities is a picture that was difficult to imagine in the immediate aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar riots.

But it is now crucially indicative of changing political fault lines and shifting loyalties, seen for the first time inthe last three years in the riot-affected region.

Though it is difficult to imagine the support of the Muslim community to Jat candidate in the wake of the communal riots, a “pro-Akhilesh wave of support among Muslims” and his own candidature can make it possible.
 

The attendance in his public meetings in Muslim majority villages of the constituency validates the fact. Professor Panwar accepts the riots have severed the decade-old cordial relation between Jat and Muslims and created a valley of trust deficit between them, but he confidently claims that there is a change of heart and now the two communities now wants start afresh – forgetting what happened in the past.

“People have realised the fact that prosperity in western UP can happen only with Jat-Muslim unity and, therefore, the two communities want to redevelop the same relations they used to share earlier,” he told Janta Ka Reporter during the campaign trail.

If he gets success in pulling off this combination, which even the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) did not dare to touch this time, he will ensure the defeat of Hindutva poster boy Rana – a Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) candidate who is a sitting MLA of the constituency and an accused of the 2013 riots.

Professor Panwar is the first Jat candidate to be fielded by the SP in the past 40 years and, therefore, he appears to be getting support of his fellow community members. Besides Sudhir, BSP candidate Rao Waris is another strong candidate who has consolidated Dalit votes and a decent section of Muslim votes behind him.

Of over 3 lakh total votes, Thana Bhawan has around 1.10 lakh Muslim electorates, 80,000 Jatavs (Schedule Caste community), 50,000 Jats, 20,000 Thakurs and 20,000 non-Yadav Other Backward Class voters.

Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter
 

The post Rising above 2013 communal riots, Shamli’s Thana Bhawan set to re-script history of Jat-Muslim brotherhood? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Here, we will try to make sense of the caste arithmetic of the western Uttar Pradesh district. The district, which is a business hub because of the flourishing ornaments, sports and musical instruments industries, has seven assembly segments – Meerut city, Siwal Khas, Kithore, Meerut Cantt., Hastinapur, Meerut South and Sardhana.

Meerut (city) Assembly Constituency
The seat, which used to be considered a safe seat for the BJP because of a large concentration of the trading community, is witnessing a tough fight between Laxmikant Vajpayee, three-time MLA of the constituency and former chief of the saffron party’s UP unit, and Samajwadi Party’s Rafiq Ansari.

Muslims, who constitute around 1.25 lakh of the total voters (around 3.5 lakh), appear to be decisively voting in favour of the SP to keep the BJP at bay. This was evident from their high participation in the joint public address by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday.

The constituency has around 40,000 Baniya (a trading community), 30,000 Sikh (Punjabi-Khatri), 30,000 Brahmin and 35,000 Dalit votes. Local voters say that following demonetisation, the traders’ community – which traditionally used to votefor the BJP – has now decided to change their preferences. The Sikh community has an alternative in Punkaj Jolly, a Sikh businessman who has been fielded by the BSP.
Additionally, the city seat has small population of Valmiki voters – who are considered to be a “votebank of the BJP”. The community too have “decided to teach the BJP a lesson this election because of ignoring their concerns”.

“A meeting of our community was held recently at Ronakpura – a Valmiki settlement in Meerut –where we anonymously decided to vote for the BSP and create a history,” said Prem Nath Dhingra, a Valmiki leader.

But why? “Are you feeling comfortable here?” he asked standing near an open sewage drain which was emanating all-pervasive stench.

“The entire area where we live has overflowing garbage dump. Weare living in a hell despite supporting a party which has been ruling the Meerut civic body for the past 15 years,” he added.

Not only is the Valmiki community miffed with the BJP, the small and medium traders are also apparently unhappy with the saffron party because the demonetisation has “brought down their business by almost fifty percent”.
“The traders’ community has now decided to shift their loyalty. We have an option (indicating thecandidature of BSP’s Pankaj Jolly) this election,” said a book shop owner in Subhash Bazaar refusing tobe named.

Though he agrees that it is not that the entire business community, who will go against the BJP, but confidently claims that the party has lost support of a major portion of the community. He said the majority of the Punjabi community’s votes will go in favour of Jolly.

If this happens and votes of the Baniya community also get divided, it is certainly not a good news for the BJP.

On the other hand, the SP candidate Ansari clearly enjoys the support of Muslims. He is likely to get support of a chunk of the Brahmin community because of the alliance with Congress. Therefore, he is apparently giving a tough fight to Vajpayee. Interestingly, experts also do not rule out the winning probability of the BSP candidate if he successfully fetches the Punjabi votes.

“The BSP already enjoys Dalit (35,000 votes) support. If it gets success in attracting Punjabi and Muslims votes, then the victory party is certain,” said Dr Satish Prakash, political analyst and associate professor at Lucknow College.
 

Sawalkhas Assembly Constituency
It is a Jat dominated seat with around 60,000 votes of community. The number of Muslim votes in this constituency stands at around 1.25 lakh. The SP has fielded Ghulam Mohammad, who is a sitting MLA here, the BSP has given ticket to Nadeem Chauhan, the BJP and the RLD have chosen Jats as its candidates.

Though the SP’s candidate is strong here but he carries anti-incumbency. If the Muslim votes get divided between the SP and the RLD, then locals are of the view that that the RLD candidate will win. Asked what about the BJP candidate, who is also a Jat, they said that “Jats are extremely unhappy with the BJP because of the reservation issue and demonetisation which has affected their farming. We are not voting for the Congress and the SP either. Our support is first for the RLD and if not the RLD, then for the BSP”.

Kithore Assembly Constituency
The seat has major share of votes of two communities – Gujjars (60,000) and Dalits (60,000). The SP has fielded Shahid Manzoor, who is a cabinet minister in the state, the BJP has given ticket to Satvir Tyagi , the BSP has tried luck with Gajraj Singh Nagar (a Gujjar) and the RLD has pitted Matloob Gaur.

Locals say that Matloob is a strong leader and giving a tough fight to his rivals. But despite the fact that he is socially well accepted, his contest is with a former minister who has his own support base.

“If theRLD candidate (Matloob) cuts into the Muslim votes, then his prospect is strong. Otherwise, the BSP will win the seat,” they added.

Meerut Cantt. Assembly Constituency
Dalits have highest number of voters (70,000) here, Baniyas constitute around 60,000 of the total votes, the number of Jat votes stand at 30,000 and Muslims 15,000. Valmikis too have around 20,000 votes.The BJP has fielded Satya Prakash (three-times MLA from here), Congress Ramesh Dhingra (a Punjabi), BSP Satendra Solanki (a Jat) and RLD Sanjeev Dhama (a Jat).

It means, two Jats are in the fray. There is a triangular fight on this seat between the BJP, Congress and the BSP. Strong anti-incumbency was quite visible for BJP’s Agarwal. In addition, the BJP workers and leaders themselves were opposing his candidature. Dhingra is giving a tough fight to others because he is getting support of Punjabis (his own community) and Muslims (because of the alliance).

He is a popular leader in the constituency. He had secured 30,000 votes when he fought the last assembly elections on Congress ticket and lost to BJP’s Agarwal with a thin margin. But if you look at the trend of previous elections in the state, it suggests that the triangular fight always benefits the BSP.

Hastinapur Assembly Constituency
It is a reserved seat for SCs. BSP’s Yogesh Verma, BJP’s Dinesh Khattik, SP’s Prabhu Dayal (who is the sitting MLA and belongs to the Valmiki community) and RLD’s Usha Rani are challenging each other. The constituency has around 60,000 Gujjar, 25,000 Jat, 65,000 SC, 5,000 Valmiki, 20,000 Baniya, 40,000 Punjabi and 15,000 Bengali (migrated Hindu Bangladeshis) votes.

BSP’s Yogesh Verma appears to be strong here because most of the Muslims this reporter spoke to favoured his candidature. In the last assembly elections, he had independently fought and secured 42,000 votes and lost by only 2,000 votes.

Meerut South Assembly Constituency
The seat has around 75,000 Dalits votes, 1.25 lakh Muslim votes, 25,000 Gujjar votes 25,000 Baniya votes, 20,000 Jat votes and around 15,000 Brahmin votes.

The BSP appears to be strong here as its candidate Yaqoob Qureshi is a strong and popular leader among Dalit and Muslim communities. He shot to limelight after he had announced a prize money of Rs 51 crore to those who beheaded the Danish cartoonist who had stirred controversy after creating a caricature of Prophet Mohammad. He is a former minister too.

There is a direct fight between the BJP and BSP on this seat.

Sardhana Assembly Constituency
BJP’s Sangeet Som is a star candidate here. He emerged as Hindu Hirdaya Samrat following the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots. He was booked under National Security Act (NSA), which was later revoked. He is a sitting MLA but faces anti-incumbency.

He belongs to the upper caste Thakur community and enjoys overwhelming support of youth but winning election this year does not appear to be a cake walk for him. The anger among Jats for the BJP is making the battle an uphill task for him.

BSP has fielded Imran Qureshi, son of Yaqoob Qureshi. Atul Pradhan, who is a popular Gujjar leader in the constituency, is the SP candidate. Again Muslim voters are present in sizeable number (around 1 lakh) here. Dalits have around 50,000 votes, Gujjars 20,000, Jats 25,000 and Thakurs 30,000.

Muslims appear to be confused between the SP and the BSP. However, the dominant theme was that they support whoever appears to be in a position to defeat Som.

Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter
 

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