In Mathura, the land of Krishna, will BJP’s Jat consolidation get a Hindutva glue?
It was Mathura where chief minister Yogi Adityanath chose to hit the campaign trail on March 27 with his first Prabuddha Sammelan (meeting of intellectuals) and subtly played the Krishna Janmabhoomi card.
The BJP has set its sights on a hat-trick of wins in Mathura, the land of Krishna, with a consolidations of Jats, who comprise 30% of the voters in the Lok Sabha constituency, and looks keen to cement its success formula with a dose of the time-tested Hindutva glue.
It was Mathura where chief minister Yogi Adityanath chose to hit the campaign trail on March 27 with his first Prabuddha Sammelan (meeting of intellectuals) and subtly played the Krishna Janmabhoomi card.
Beginning his address with a reference to Ram playing Holi for first time in 500 years at His ‘dham’ (abode) in Ayodhya, he was quick to add that “now lanes of Mathura and Vrindavan must be awaiting their turn”. This appeared to be an indication of support to the long-standing demand for a grand temple of Lord Krishna at his birthplace, known as Krishna Janmabhoomi, sharing its wall with the Shahi Eidgah Mosque.
The Mathura constituency goes to polls in the second phase on April 26.
Out of approximately 19 lakh voters in the constituency, Mathura has about 5.50 to 6 lakh Jat voters, mostly in the vast rural belt of the district. The fact that Jats hold the key to electoral success has assumed additional importance now that the BJP has allied with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, a party with a core support base of Jats, after 15 years.
Two-time sitting BJP MP and party candidate Hema Malini is already on the campaign trail and celebrated Holi in Mathura.
With the political equations having changed, voters in Mathura are looking forward to the day when RLD president Jayant Chaudhary will campaign for Hema Malini who had defeated him in 2014.
The Congress, which will contest the Mathura Lok Sabha seat under its seat-sharing pact with the Samajwadi Party, is yet to declare its candidate but seems to be inclined on a Jat candidate to counter Hema Malini. The Bahujan Samaj Party has already named Kamal Kant Upmanyu for the seat.
In her first Lok Sabha election, Hema Malini defeated the then sitting RLD MP Jayant Chaudhary by 3,30,567 votes, winning in all the five assembly segments, including those dominated by Jat voters.
Albeit, it was the Modi wave which made the task easy for Hema Malini in 2014 and she won the seat again in 2019 by 2,93,417 votes against RLD candidate Kunwar Narendra Singh after Jayant Chaudhary chose not to contest from Mathura.
Aware of the Jat factor, Hema Malini made sure to have her husband film star Dharmendra, a Jat, address a few public meetings in her support in 2014 and 2019, to highlight her credentials as “bahu” (daughter-in-law) of the community.
Despite Mathura being a Jat dominated constituency in western Uttar Pradesh, the electoral results have been a mixed bag for the family of former Prime Minister the late Chaudhary Charan Singh, the grandfather of Jayant Chaudhary.
Chaudhary Charan Singh’s wife Gayatri Devi lost the Lok Sabha election from Mathura in 1984 while his daughter Dr Gyanvati Singh lost in 2004, on both occasions to Congress candidate Manvendra Singh.
Gayatri Devi had, however, won the Gokul (now Baldev) assembly seat in 1974.
Jayant Chaudhary won the Lok Sabha election in Mathura in 2009 with BJP support but lost in 2014. He won the Mant assembly election in 2012 but vacated the seat.