Upcoming Elections and Gurjar Benefits

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ज्यों-ज्यों लोस चुनाव नजदीक आ रहे है, त्यों-त्यों वेस्ट यूपी में पिछड़ा वर्ग की सियासत करवट ले रही है। सपा सुप्रीमो मुलायम सिंह यादव ने पिछड़ा वर्ग को लुभाने के लिए गुर्जर पर दांव लगाया है। इसी के तहत सरधना विस क्षेत्र से चुनाव लड़ चुके अतुल प्रधान को सपा छात्रसभा का प्रदेश अध्यक्ष नामित किया है।

राजनीतिक विशेषज्ञों की मानें तो वेस्ट यूपी में पिछड़ों में पैठ बढ़ाने की असल चुनौती सपा के समक्ष है। पूर्व प्रदेश अध्यक्ष स्वर्गीय रामशरण दास की भरपाई के लिए सपा ने पहले एमएलसी रामसकल गुर्जर को प्रदेश का कार्यक्रम क्रियान्वयन मंत्री, पूर्व मंत्री वीरेंद्र सिंह व नरेंद्र भाटी को राज्य मंत्री पद का दर्जा दिया। अब वेस्ट यूपी से अतुल प्रधान को सपा छात्रसभा का प्रदेश अध्यक्ष बनाकर गुर्जरों का लुभाने की कोशिश हो रही है। मालूम हो कि वेस्ट यूपी की 26 लोस क्षेत्रों में 12 सीट ऐसी है, जहां गुर्जरों का दबदबा है, शायद इसीलिए गौतमबुद्धनगर से नरेंद्र भाटी को लोस में प्रत्याशी भी बनाया है।

सपा सुप्रीमों ने जाटों को जोड़ने के लिए राजेंद्र सिंह चौधरी को कैबिनेट मंत्री व पूर्व मंत्री अनुराधा चौधरी को कैबिनेट व साहब सिंह को राज्य मंत्री का दर्जा दिया है। दो दिन पहले मुजफ्फरनगर के मुकेश चौधरी को गोसेवा आयोग का अध्यक्ष बना उन्हें भी राज्य मंत्री का दर्जा दिया है।

सपाइयों में हर्ष, हुई आतिशबाजी

अतुल प्रधान के सपा छात्रसभा का प्रदेश अध्यक्ष बनने पर छात्रनेता राहुल त्यागी के नेतृत्व में चौधरी चरण सिंह विवि के गेट पर आतिशबाजी की गई। वहीं सपा नेता रफीक अंसारी, आदिल चौधरी, सपा प्रदेश सचिव राजपाल सिंह ने मिठाई भी वितरित की। उधर, एनएएस कालेज छात्रसंघ के अध्यक्ष जयराज चपराणा ने अतुल प्रधान की ताजपोशी पर हर्ष जताते हुए मिठाई बांटी। इस दौरान कई छात्र भी उपस्थित थे।

एक तीर से दो शिकार

अतुल प्रधान को सपा छात्रसभा का प्रदेश अध्यक्ष बनाकर मुलायम सिंह ने एक तीर से दो शिकार किए हैं। मालूम हो कि अतुल वर्ष 2006 से छात्र राजनीति से जुड़े हैं, वहीं गुर्जर बिरादरी से भी तालुल्क रखते हैं।

बसपा भी गुर्जरों को लुभा रही

बसपा ने भी गुर्जरों को लुभाने के लिए गेम खेला है। बसपा ने बागपत से प्रशांत चौधरी व बिजनौर-हस्तिनापुर से मलूक नागर को लोस चुनाव मैदान में उतारा है। वहीं भाजपा, रालोद व कांग्रेस ने अभी तक प्रत्याशियों की घोषणा नहीं की है।[/u]

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Facing resentment from the Jat community after the Muzaffarnagar riots, the Samajwadi Party (SP) is attempting to stitch a Muslim-Gurjar combination in western UP, which will be put to its first political test on October 22 at a sammelan in Saharanpur.

With Yadav votes missing in the region, the SP leadership will now bank on this new combination with Gurjars being the most dominant community after Jats in the western region.

A big rally of Muslim-Gurjar, too, is planned at a later stage, which will be attended by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav as well as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The responsibility to organise the sammelan has been given to former MLA Imran Masood, who is also the nephew of jailed Congress MP Rasheed Masood, and minister of state for technical education Ram Sakal Gurjar.

"The sammelan will be attended by nearly 30,000 people. I am confident that people, mainly Muslims, will realise that the SP government has done the most in providing relief operations after the riots. We understand the riots have affected them but we need to move ahead," said Masood, the organiser of the Muslim-Gurjar sammelan.

Masood joined the SP on September 15 and is the party's candidate from the Saharanpur parliamentary seat. Saharanpur is already dotted with hoardings announcing the Muslim-Gurjar sammelan.

Senior Gurjar leaders, who are now in oblivion, have been invited to the sammelan.

SP's national vice-president and former MP Choudhary Yashpal Singh, a Gurjar, is among the invitees for the event. His son, Rudrasen Choudhary, is in the organising committee.

"The Gurjar community is with us. All their important leaders in the area will be on stage. We will pave a new path for the SP in the western UP," Imran said.

An invitation has also been sent to SP's national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav for attending the sammelan. "If we receive his consent, the numbers will swell to 50,000," he said.

In what is according more prominence to Gurjars, Minister Ram Sakal Gurjar has been given the responsibility of Saharanpur, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad by the party while he is also the in-charge minister of Bulandshahr.

"In all these districts, we have a good number of Gurjars. We are getting tremendous support for the first time. Our meetings of Gurjar community are attended by thousands of people," Ram Sakal Gurjar said.

The SP has also roped in Nahid Hasan, who has been given ticket from the Kairana parliamentary seat. Currently, the seat is held by BSP's Tabassum Begum, who is Nahid Hasan's mother .

"Since they also belong to Gurjar community, there is no discrimination on religious grounds. The results will be different this time," Ram Sakal Gurjar said.

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With Gujjars constituting nearly 8 per cent of Delhi’s electorate and having a significant presence in 14 Assembly seats, community leader Ramvir Singh Bidhuri is confident that this time, with the help of the Gujjars, the Bharatiya Janata Party would be able to unseat the Congress.

Mr. Bidhuri, who joined the BJP a couple of months ago, began his career with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a student leader but later shifted to the Congress during the time of Indira Gandhi. Though he may have changed parties a number of times, he still enjoys the position of a patriarch within his community.

He was responsible for the defeat of Congress strongman and former Union Minister H.K.L. Bhagat in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections. He had contested on a Janata Dal ticket and bagged nearly one lakh votes. This split the secular vote and led to the defeat of the four-time Congress MP at the hands of BJP’s B.L. Sharma.

The BJP is trying to weave the same magic through Mr. Bidhuri this time. “The kind of honour I have got in the BJP is simply overwhelming. Senior party leaders like Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj have welcomed me with open arms. So it is now incumbent upon me too to work hard and ensure the success of the party.”

Mr. Bidhuri insists he has got his work cut out. “I have set my eyes on around 14 Assembly segments in East, South, West and New Delhi parliamentary constituencies where there are a significant number of Gujjar votes. I have already travelled to several of these and I find the mood very positive for the BJP. Besides, I would also be travelling to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh for campaigning.”

As a community, Gujjars have always played a significant role in Delhi politics. At present there are seven legislators from the community of which one, Ramesh Bidhuri from Tughlakabad, is of the BJP, while the remaining — Balram Tanwar from Chhatarpur, Ram Singh Netaji from Badarpur, Anil Kumar Chaudhary from Patparganj, Naseeb Singh from Vishwas Nagar, Dayanand Chandela from Rajouri Garden and Neeraj Basoya from Kasturba Nagar — are from the Congress. Apart from this, the community has about 40 councillors in the three municipal corporations.

Though he was concerned about infighting within the BJP earlier, he said the party has swung anywhere between six to eight per cent votes in its favour by settling the issue. Mr. Bidhuri, who had contested the last Assembly elections on a Congress ticket from Badarpur, was brought into the party by Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel, who realised the former’s reach among the community.

Mr. Bidhuri is confident of the BJP romping home on two counts. “People today are not just angry with the Congress, they hate it. The price rise has impacted everyone. People are also wondering why every other party is ganging up against the BJP. What is so wrong with it? They do not like such selective targeting, just because the party dares to talk about the rights of Hindus as well.”

On the performance of the Congress Government in Delhi, Mr. Bidhuri said: “This government has only made big ticket announcements about regularisation of unauthorised colonies, ownership rights to resettlement colonies or providing food security to the masses. In effect, everyone knows that no map can still be passed in any unauthorised colony, huge sums are being asked from residents of resettlement colonies for ownership rights by way of payment of circle rates; and the public distribution system has completely failed.”