Shikha Trivedy: Narendra Modi will kickstart the second phase of the BJP's election campaign in Uttar Pradesh today by addressing a rally in Bulandshahr, in an effort to consolidate his party's gains in western Uttar Pradesh.
After the Muzaffarnagar riots of September, BJP, it was felt, had emerged as the principal beneficiary of the communal polarisation that had taken place in the region. The Jat-Muslim combination that had traditionally rooted for union minister
Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal, or the RLD, had come under stress, and large sections of the Jats had gravitated towards the BJP.
Mr Singh has now tried to reclaim some of the lost ground by claiming credit for the Centre's decision to bring Jats within the Centre's OBC category to enable them to avail the benefits of reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. It fulfils the community's long-standing demand, and brings the RLD back in contention in western Uttar Pradesh.
The RLD, which is contesting the coming Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Congress, has been assigned eight seats. It had won five seats in 2009 in partnership with the BJP.
"Mr Singh used Jat reservation for his survival. He could not enter the villages after the riots," argues BJP Vice-president Satyapal Malik, himself a Jat.
The RLD is making a desperate attempt to sell the issue of Jat reservation, and appears to have retrieved some of the space ceded to the BJP. "My children can now apply for government jobs till the age of 27. So he will gain,'' observes Rajender Chowdhury, a Khap leader.
But it's also true that a large number of young and aspirational Jats see no future in farming or government jobs, and have rallied behind Mr Modi. "People who want identity politics may not have entirely disappeared in the Jat heartland, but issues of development can no longer be ignored,'' points out Sudha Pai, a professor in the School of Political Studies, JNU.