New Delhi: As the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections draws closer, one of the key battles to watch out for will be in Muzaffarnagar, where Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh is the joint opposition candidate. While the win in the Kairana bypoll last year was a fresh lease of life for the party, it is still staring at an uphill battle, as it seeks to regain lost ground among traditional voters — the Jats of western Uttar Pradesh.
In an interview with CNN-News18, Singh took a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and said farmers blamed him for the stray cattle menace in the state. He added that it was “too late” to talk about the possibility of the Congress joining the Mahagathbandhan in UP.
You’ve been on the ground, campaigning in Muzaffarnagar. How has the response been so far?
The campaign has really just started. I’ve held important meetings in the last 2-3 months here and every section of the society is against the government. An election is normally about what the government has done in five years, of what they had promised and what they delivered. When we speak to the people — the farmers, youth or anyone else — they all seem to agree that our condition is much worse than what it was five years ago. That’s what counts.
2014 was a bad year for the RLD. You had hoped that in 2017 you would see some reversal of fortunes but it was not as good as you’d have expected. What’s different in 2019? Why do you think the same script won’t repeat itself?
The 2014 election was different because of the communal riots. I spent the last year visiting at least 10 districts in western UP, where I spent 10 days discussing nothing but the question of how to bring back bhaichara among communities. The Kairana election, in that sense, was a step towards cementing that bhaichara once again.
In the Kairana bypoll, there really was a joint opposition but that does not seem to be the case this time around. This time, the Congress is sitting out. What do you have to say to the Congress at this point? Do you think they should also join the grand alliance?
It’s too late to talk about the possibility of the Congress boarding the ship now. Secondly, this is a polarised election. Polarisation is not communal. Polarisation is about the BJP and who is going to defeat them and everyone in UP knows that this grand alliance or the Mahagathbandhan is going to do that.
What about the Congress not joining the alliance? Do you think they made a mistake?
I’m not going to talk about that. As I said, it’s too late to discuss that anymore.
The government has also doled out a package for sugarcane farmers. They’ve given a soft loan and they are saying this will solve the sugarcane crisis. What is your assessment?
Rs 12,000 crore worth sugarcane dues of UP farmers were pending as of last week. What are they going to do about it? Plus, people have lost faith in this government anyway. What Modi says and what Modi does has no connection.
What do you think of the government’s narrative on the Balakot airstrike? Do you think this will be a national security election or will this come down to local issues?
This election will be decided on what the government has delivered in the last five years, and they haven’t delivered anything.
How do you rate the performance of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath?
One very big problem in the villages is that of stray cattle. They are roaming freely and eating all the crops. You know what they say in villages? Yogi aa gaya humari fasal khaane! So you know what they think about Yogi…
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