gfiles magazine

April 19, 2011

Bitter medicine for Shashank

jat stir led by ajit snowballs
IN February, when a host of parties, including the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Peace Party, Indian Justice Party, Bharatiya Samaj Party, Janwadi Party, Ittehad-e-Millat Council and the Bharatiya Lokhit Party formed a front to contest the Uttar Pradesh polls in 2012, it upset Mayawati’s apple-cart. The front will fight for 403 Assembly seats under the leadership of Ajit Singh, son of Chaudhry Charan Singh, and a Jat leader from Western UP. Mayawati is already hard at work, preparing for the elections. She is touring districts every week for the last two months. This front poses a threat to her, especially in western Uttar Pradesh. Within a week of its formation, the Jat agitation for reservation gathered momentum. Trains were cancelled and roads were blocked.
UP Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh kept saying it was not a law and order problem but a political one. So the police became a silent spectator. Shashank Shekhar himself belongs to the Jat community and is from western UP. It is well known that Yaspal Malik, a leader of the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, is a follower of his and an Ajit-baiter. The agitation, extending to Haryana and Rajasthan, shows Ajit’s vote bank. It is a blessing in disguise for him as he now has a task to perform.

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