SP-RLD win eight out of 12 seats in districts most affected by the riots

Prominent BJP faces were outclassed

Amidst the euphoria of the victory of Hindutva forces in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, many have missed how the Jats and Muslims of the sugarcane belt have almost buried the ghost of the Muzaffarnagar riots and defeated three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates who were products of the 2013 riots that was the BJP’s central plot during the campaign.

Minister for Sugar Industries and Cane Development Suresh Rana from Thana Bhawan, Budhana MLA Umesh Malik, and Sardhana MLA Sangeet Som, all facing charges for inciting the riots, lost at the hustings. In the neighbouring Kairana, Mrignika Singh, whose father Hukum Singh built the Hindu exodus narrative, lost to the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Nahid Hasan.

Out of 12 seats in Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat and Shamli, the districts most affected by the riots and the farmers’ agitation, saw the BJP winning in only four seats. In 2017, the BJP had won 10 of these 12 seats. In the Baraut seat of Baghpat, the margin of the BJP candidate’s victory was only around 300 votes. In Meerut, the alliance bagged four out of seven seats. In 2017, the BJP had bagged six seats.

In Bijnor, another centre of farmers’ protests and Jat-Muslim consolidation, the alliance has won four out of eight seats. In two out of the four lost, the victory margin is only around 200-odd votes.

“The results show that we have been able to defeat politics of hate and rekindle bhaichara (brotherhood) in the region,” Sandeep Chaudhary, national spokesperson, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), said.

In Charthawal, he said, the BJP was riding on double sympathy as its sitting MLA Vijay Kashyap passed away during the second wave of COVID-19 and his widow was contesting. Also, Kutbi, the native village of the BJP’s Jat face and Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan falls under the constituency. Still, the alliance candidate Pankaj Malik emerged victorious largely because the seat has a significant Muslim population and the Jats moved away from the BJP.

Data presented by Axis-My India Exit poll suggests that 44% Jats and 83% Muslims in Uttar Pradesh voted in favour of the alliance. However, local observers in these districts suggest that Jats in these districts voted 60-70% in favour of the alliance, largely because of the renewed faith in the RLD, and bonhomie between Jats and Muslims.