Jat Outfit Calls for Vote Against BJP in Kairana and Noorpur Bypolls

New Delhi: The Akhil Bhartiya Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (ABJASS) has called on its supporters in western Uttar Pradesh to vote against the BJP in the upcoming by-elections in Kairana and Noorpur later this month.

Yashpal Malik, the national president of the outfit, said, “The Modi government has been making false promises to Jats ever since they came to power. First, on March 17, 2015, the judiciary struck down Jat reservations because the government argued for it half-heartedly. Then, on March 26, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah held a meeting with their Jat MPs and promised that they would pass a law regarding Jat reservations."

He added, "When our brothers in Haryana were carrying out their movement, the BJP, at the behest of its MP Rajkumar Saini, shot at Jat protesters. Since then, the government has filed false cases against Jat youths. We want all Jat brothers in Kairana and Noorpur to ask local BJP workers and candidates when Jats will get reservation in central government jobs and when our brothers in Haryana will get justice. We want them to vote against the BJP in these bypolls."

The Kairana Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after the death of sitting BJP MP Hukum Singh in February. Jats and Gujjars are the two of the largest chunks of voters in Kairana. While BJP leaders are confident that Gujjar voters will stick with the BJP out of sympathy for deceased MP Hukum Singh, a Gujjar, the Jat voter could prove to be the kingmakers of Kairana.

After losses in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls, BJP leaders don’t want to leave any stone unturned in Kairana. In this constituency, Mriganka will be up against the member of another prominent political family from western UP. Tabassum Hassan, mother of Samajwadi Party MLA Nahid Hassan, who had defeated Mriganka in the 2017 UP Assembly Elections from Kairana. Tabassum, who is contesting on a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ticket, is the joint candidate of the opposition parties.

In Noorpur, where the BJP’s Lokendra Singh Chauhan won in both 2012 and 2017, the BJP is facing a tough challenge with the BSP sitting out and possibly transferring its vote to the SP. Here, too, the ruling party will apply the same strategy. The seat fell vacant in February after Chauhan died in a road accident in Sitapur.

​