India: Muzaffarnagar violence draws on SP-RLD contest, estrangement of Jats from Muslims

From: Indian Express

A conflagration, a story
A.K. Verma Posted online: Tue Sep 10 2013, 02:27 hrs
Muzaffarnagar violence draws on SP-RLD contest, estrangement of Jats from Muslims.

The recent spurt in communal conflagrations in Uttar Pradesh, especially in the western part of the state, the so-called Jatland, must send alarm bells ringing. The growing dilution in Hindu-Muslim social interaction is an unfortunate reality today, to which no government seems sensitive. Jatland in western UP was a bit of an exception.

The Jats of western UP had always been socially influential and rich. As the population of Muslims grew in the region, the two shared the riches. Collectively, they made western UP not only agriculturally but also industrially rich. With riches came political clout and ambition. Chaudhary Charan Singh used to be the undisputed leader of Jatland and had the acumen to hold Muslims close. Today, there is none who could replicate him.

After Charan Singh’s death in 1987, there were two claimants to his legacy: Mulayam Singh Yadav, who claimed to be his natural political heir, and Ajit Singh, his only son. The splitting of that legacy is the root cause of the Jat-Muslim divide today. Ajit, who now runs Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), claimed and strengthened the Jat identity, whereas Mulayam, who heads the Samajwadi Party (SP), struck a chord with Muslims. Mulayam’s becoming chief minister of UP in 1989 gave him the opportunity to do that with the utmost urgency, especially given the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue. Since then, successive elections in UP have shown Muslims substantially voting for Mulayam’s party.

Traditionally, the Jats have had a tendency to overwhelmingly back the RLD, while Muslims in western UP backed the SP. About 48.6 per cent of Jats voted for the RLD while only 10.9 per cent voted for the SP in 2007. In 2012, 44.7 per cent of Jats voted for the RLD and only 6.8 per cent for the SP. In contrast, Muslims largely backed the SP in western UP. In 2007, 46.4 per cent of Muslims voted SP, and 5.1 per cent voted for the RLD. In 2012, 39.4 per cent voted for the SP and only 0.9 per cent for the RLD.

So the Jat-Muslim divide was always there, but whenever Ajit Singh of the RLD is posited against the SP, it sharpens along political lines, even though it still gives the impression of a communal divide. The immediate cause of a conflagration is irrelevant; it could be any petty matter.

The RLD-SP schism also has an economic dimension. Both vie for the leadership of the kisans of UP. With the rise of the Yadavs as a dominant peasant community across the state, the rich Jat kisans of western UP feared the loss of both economic and political leadership. To beat Ajit on his turf, courting Muslims became very important for Mulayam. Players like Mayawati have jumped into the contest for Muslim votes and the Congress also makes its own bid. So the competition for the Muslim vote is fierce here. Consequently, with a rise in Muslim population in the constituencies of this region, there has been a decline in the Muslim vote share for the SP.

It is possible to cite at least three reasons for the growing distance between the Jats and the Muslims. One, there has been a substantial change in the demographic composition of western UP. While Muslims constitute about 19 per cent of the population of UP, in western UP (Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, GB Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Bijnor, JP Nagar, Moradabad, Rampur) they account for a formidable 33.2 per cent of the population. They are not, by any stretch of the imagination, a numerical minority here, but they enjoy the benefits accorded to a minority community by the Constitution. Two, the fact that they are considered a minority and wooed by all political parties has become a cause for consternation among the Hindus, especially the Jats.

Three, most importantly, this appears to have led to the substantive empowerment of Muslims in Jatland. Their representation from the 12 districts of western UP is 33.76 per cent in the state assembly. Out of 77 assembly seats, Muslims were elected from 26 seats there in 2012. That has also given them clout in the government and administration.

One only hopes that Uttar Pradesh’s leaders will realise the sensitivity of the web of relationships and restore harmony in the area.

The writer is with the department of political science, Christ Church College, Kanpur express@expressindia.com