Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP leader Amit Shah met leaders and influencers from the Jat community of western Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. The meeting reportedly took place at BJP MP Parvesh Verma’s residence in New Delhi. It was attended by Union minister Sanjeev Balyan, state minister Bhupendra Chaudhary and other senior leaders.
According to sources, Amit Shah said at the meeting, “Jats don’t think for themselves but for others like BJP does for the nation. Jats think of farmers’ interests and BJP too. Jats think of the country’s security and BJP too. The Jat community has showered us with votes every time we approached, even when we sometimes didn’t listen to you.”
The Jat community had supported the year-long farmers’ protest against the Centre’s three farm bills in 2020 and 2021.
Sources said that Amit Shah went on to say, “You fought the Mughals, we are fighting too. We’ve done a few things, let me recount them. We got Mahendra Pratap Singh’s respect. Soldiers asked for ‘One Rank One Pension’, we gave it. We appointed three Jat governors and nine MPs. 40,000 people had died due to Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Modi threw it away.”
He continued, as per sources, “The BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government cleared over Rs 36,000 crore farmers’ loans. Money was put into farmers’ accounts. If there’s anything missing, we’ll do that too. Other than BJP and Modi, who can protect the nation? This is the kind of king we need!”
Amit Shah also attacked Opposition parties in his address, sources said. He reportedly said, “Rahul Gandhi doesn’t know kharif and rabi and he talks about farmers. We announce, we lay foundation stones and we inaugurate, unlike the Congress. Will you bring Akhilesh again? Don’t you feel safer? Do you want our youth back in jails?”
He said that the BJP too had wanted to join hands with Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal for the upcoming election but he had “chosen the wrong house”, sources stated.
“Don’t think, give us your votes. We’ll do the thinking,” Amit Shah concluded, as per sources.
Although the BJP received considerable support from the Jat community in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the Samajwadi Party has claimed that the Jats, who are mainly farmers, will not elect the BJP this time after the year-long protest.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly election will be held over seven phases in February and March 2022. The votes will be counted on March 10.
