Ram Gopal Jat

Jaipur: Two new political parties have altered equations significantly for the December 7 Rajasthan assembly elections. Former BJP member and prominent Jat leader Hanuman Beniwal launched his Rashtria Loktantrik Party, which has formed a third front with another former BJP MLA and Brahmin leader Ghanshyam Tiwari, who launched his Bharat Vahini party. Together, these two leaders have the potential to weaken the BJP’s vote share among these communities.

Jats, once a strong political force in Rajashtan with their 15-18 per cent vote share, have been losing their political clout after the sons and daughters of former popular Jat legislators failed to develop the same bond with their community. Beniwal, say observers, has been working to strengthen his Jat base for the past 10 years and has managed to get the attention of Jat youth who compare him to popular Jat leaders like Nathuram Mirdha, Ram Niwas Mirdha, Parasram Maderna and Sisram Ola. “They were known to fight for people’s rights and could attract everyone’s attention,” said Ram Achra, a Rashtriya Loktantrik Party worker. “Beniwal has similar traits.”

Beniwal’s support to farmers in particular, over several contentious issues in the past five years, has not only got him support from the Jats, the bulk of whom are farmers, but also from farmers belonging to other communities like Meghwal, Meena and Mali. And among the Muslims too.

“I am not a leader of just the Jat community but have been leading all 36 communities of the state,” says Beniwal. “I have been fighting with the government for everyone’s issues.” Hitting out at the Congress and BJP, who have been ruling the state for the past 25 years, Beniwal asks “in a state were 65 percent of the population is dependent on agriculture, who is the government working for? Farmers have been committing suicide due to huge debts, their electricity is cut for not paying even small dues”.

Such farmers’ issues will be solved ‘diligently’ if his party comes into power, Beniwal promises. Farmers were given due attention during the leadership of people like Mirdha, Maderna and Ola, Beniwal says. “With their deaths there is no leader left who can fight for the demands of the Jat community. That is why I took up this morcha.” The Jats also believe that Beniwal has fought the good fight in the long-standing rivalry between Jats and Rajputs, specifically in the killing of Jyotirama Gorera, a Jat, in 2006 by Anandpal Singh, a Rajput. Beniwal had kept up pressure on the government to bring him to justice until Singh was killed in an encounter in 2017. "Beniwal highlighted that the murder was a conspiracy of ministers Younus Khan and Rajendra Singh Rathore,” said Prabhu Chopra, a party worker. “He fought for the community for 12 years, that is why we are supporting him.”

But not all Jats are supporting Beniwal. “We have never claimed that Rajasthan Jat Mahasabha is supporting Beniwal or his party,” said Rajaram Meel, president of the Mahasabha. “We will neither be supporting Beniwal nor the BJP. We do not wish to support a leader who only talks about self-interest and misguides the youth.”

However, the Adarsh Jat Mahasabha has promised full support to Beniwal after Sube Singh Chaudhary was elected its president in October. "Hanuman Beniwal is the sole leader working towards Jat upliftment,” said Sube Singh Chaudhury. “Beniwal has been working for farmer rights for the last 10 years and has been raising our concerns for a decade in the Assembly. There is no other leader fighting for the rights of the farmers. That is why we are supporting him in these elections.”

But past performance of Jat leaders who left the BJP to float their own party has not been encouraging. Like Jat MLA Kirori Lal Meena, who recently returned to the BJP, having fought the 2013 election after leaving the BJP to form his Rashtriya Jantantrik Party which won only four seats, despite making huge promises to farmers. Now, Beniwal is doing the same, like promising availability of water and electricity to farmers, usage of solar energy for agriculture, and releasing farmers from debt traps. True, Rajasthan has not seen any ‘Third Front’ winning elections in the last 25 years. But the fact is, between 1957 and 1993, small parties and independent leaders have played an important role in forming the government. Which of course Beniwal and Tiwari will be hoping for.

Beniwal plans to field his candidates on all 200 seats, of which 62 remain to be declared. Jat votes play an important role in about 12 seats in Nagaur, Barmer, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, and Churu, and other national parties, too, prefer to field Jat candidates on these seats.

Inevitably, both Congress and BJP have ridiculed the third-front. “There is no chance of a ‘Third Front’, this is all show biz”, said Sachin Pilot, Congress state party president. “These are just big dreams of those who cannot do anything,” said Rajendra Rathore, BJP minister. But for all their bravado, both parties are having to deal with some serious problems, internally and externally.

While the BJP is fighting to counter the anti-incumbency wave, Congress is facing a cold war between former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, current state Congress president Sachin Pilot, and opposition leader Rameshwar Dudi. 

"People are not happy with both BJP and Congress,” said Rakesh Verma, a political analyst and senior journalist. “So it is likely that neither will win a clear majority. In which case, the third front along with other minor parties have a good chance of grabbing a number of seats.”

(EOM)