After RLD’s bonhomie with BJP, farmers of West U.P. are in wait-and-watch mode

Major khap panchayats and farmer unions of western Uttar Pradesh have adopted a wait-and-watch policy for now with Delhi Police making massive arrangements at the Ghazipur and Chilla borders to stop farmers from the region entering the Capital in support of agitating peasants from Haryana and Punjab. “It is a test of how much the government believes in the ideology of Chaudhary Charan Singh and what role our leader Chaudhary Jayant Singh would get to play after he joined the National Democratic Alliance,” said Shyam Singh of Gathwala khap. Gaurav Baraut, the nephew of the chiefs of Desh and Balyan khaps, who has done his PhD on the impact of farmers’ agitation, felt the RLD had missed an opportunity: “The BJP lost four out of five Assembly seats in Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha and all three in Shamli district. Ironically, now, both the dubious winner and credible loser are on the same side.” He said unless Mr. Singh made the ruling party see sense in the demands of farmers and pushed it to tweak the Agniveer scheme, his followers would feel cheated by the sudden shift. They feel they could help in BJP’s outreach towards minorities the way Apna Dal contested the Suar bypoll and successfully fielded a Muslim candidate without any base in western U.P.