Capitalising on farmer protests, political events in Rajasthan eye Jat vote, hope to dent BJP’s assist base

As protests in opposition to the three farm legal guidelines have unfold throughout a number of districts of Rajasthan the place kisan mahapanchayats are being organised, political events are eying to extend their assist base among the many Jat neighborhood, which constitutes the biggest inhabitants among the many farming class within the state.
Traditionally voters of the Congress occasion, the Jat neighborhood’s shifting assist to the BJP lately has been instrumental in serving to the saffron occasion win elections.
Back in 2019, the BJP and its allies had gained all 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan, together with areas such because the Shekhawati area comprising districts akin to Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Churu and different bastions of Jat politics like Nagaur district.
Now, each the ruling Congress in addition to different events such because the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), which broke away from the NDA in protest of the three farm legal guidelines, are hoping to extend its assist of the Jats.
At current each the Congress and the BJP have state presidents who belong to the Jat neighborhood. The neighborhood, thought-about as the biggest electoral demographic, is estimated to account for greater than 15 per cent of the state’s inhabitants, greater than the variety of different communities akin to Rajputs, Gujjars and Meenas.
“The BJP has lost the support of the Jat community, which is almost totally dependent on farming. The farmer protests across the country are similar to that of the JP movement or the Anna Hazare protest, where governments of the day became hollow from inside after the protests. During recent rallies of Rahul Gandhi ji, more than a lakh people turned up in Nagaur. This was when there is no election. From this you can understand the level of anger among the people against the BJP,” Rajasthan Congress president and state training minister Govind Singh Dotasra informed The Indian Express.
Dotasra, a Jat chief himself, mentioned that the Congress would proceed to organise rallies and programmes in opposition to the three legal guidelines.
“The Congress is with every community. The farm protests are the death knell for the BJP government. We will continue to raise the voice of people through more protest rallies against the farm laws,” he mentioned.
During his latest go to to Rajasthan, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi additionally visited the temple of Veer Tejaji — a folks deity vastly revered by the Jat neighborhood — in Sursura, Ajmer. Party insiders say that this transfer was additionally aimed to woo the neighborhood.
According to the claims of politicians akin to former MP Subhash Maharia, who misplaced the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Sikar parliamentary constituency on Congress ticket, the protests in opposition to the farm legal guidelines will change the political equations in districts akin to Sikar, thought-about the center of the Jat populated Shekhawati area.
While the Congress had gained the utmost variety of districts within the Shekhawati area in the course of the 2018 Assembly elections, months later, the BJP had swept the state in the course of the Lok Sabha elections, whereby senior leaders akin to Maharia needed to style defeat.
“The three farm laws will have far-reaching consequences and the livelihood of farmers will suffer. Nobody can imagine the angst within the country at present. During my visits to villages in Shekhawati I saw that there is widespread discontent among the farming population against the laws,” quips Maharia, who says that he’s participating in protests and organising rallies in opposition to the legal guidelines together with the Samyukta Kisan Morcha.

While Raja Ram Meel, president of the Jat Mahasabha says that any votes of the neighborhood misplaced by the BJP will profit the Congress, Nagaur MP and RLP chief Hanuman Beniwal, who’s among the many most distinguished Jat leaders from the state, says that neither the Congress nor the BJP will profit from the dissatisfaction among the many Jats over the farm legal guidelines.
“The Jat community will now cast its vote against the BJP. But the Congress will not get its benefit. Third forces and regional parties such as the RLP will gain from this because we have consistently raised issues of farmers and have also broken away from the NDA in protest of the farm laws. We also organised huge protests and jammed highways. Farmers know that the BJP is not taking back the laws but they also know that the Congress is playing politics over the issue,” mentioned Beniwal.
He added that the Jat neighborhood influences an enormous chunk of the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in Rajasthan.
“In 70 Assembly seats in Rajasthan, Jat votes count between 60,000 and 1 lakh and the community influences 120 seats along with 19 Lok Sabha constituencies,” mentioned Beniwal.
The BJP dismissed notions that the farm protests will dent its assist base amongst Jats in Rajasthan.
“Had the Jats been with Congress, then they wouldn’t have left the party. Ever since former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee gave the Jats reservation, the community has received maximum benefits of welfare schemes aimed at farmers during BJP regimes. They (Congress) are trying to spread propaganda in which they won’t be successful,” state BJP president Satish Poonia informed The Indian Express.

He added that third forces have by no means succeeded in Rajasthan and the farmer protests gained’t have an effect on the BJP’s fortunes.
“Third fronts have never succeeded in Rajasthan and neither will they ever. Regional parties are not a factor in Rajasthan. The farmer protests are happening in a limited area and that too is sponsored which is now being exposed. They won’t have any bearings on the BJP’s fortunes in future elections,” mentioned Poonia.