The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is fighting a battle of survival in Uttar Pradesh, and Monday’s Kairana bypoll seems its best shot to stay on the political scene ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The SP and BSP have forged a strategic alliance with the RLD and are supporting its candidate, Tabassum Begum. The Congress has not fielded a candidate for the seat, and the Lok Dal (splinter group), which could have played spoiler, has withdrawn its candidate.

On Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath called the alliance a “thagbandhan” (a pact of cheats) and said the RLD was fighting for “its existence”.

RLD vice-president Jayant Chaudhary spoke to Newslaundry about the Kairana bypoll and need for larger opposition unity ahead of 2019.

Here are some excerpts from the conversation:

Amit Bhardwaj: Considering RLD’s dismal performance in the previous elections, one wonders why the SP agreed to give you a ticket for the bypoll. Especially, when it had successfully trampled the BJP in Phulpur and Gorakhpur.

Jayant Chaudhary: It is in national interest that there is opposition unity. And we had to be part of that. If you look at our vote-bank and at the farmers’ distress, all parties are aware that this where we can ask some hard-hitting questions of Narendra Modi.

How important is the Kairana bypoll from the perspective of the RLD?

JC: See, it is so important that you have come from Delhi and are interviewing me. I don’t think in the next election you will be coming to Kairana.

The kind of media attention and traction this bypoll is getting is because of the results of Gorakhpur and Phulpur. The BJP is an election-contesting machinery. They are not only governing at the Centre with a majority but are also part of the government in many states. But their focus is not on governance. The amount of focus they out on campaigning reflects their intentions.

The PM is coming (here) on May 27. He could have easily come after the poll was over in Kairana. But he has chosen a day on which he can perhaps say a few things which may influence the election. The BJP doesn’t like losing an election. That is why it is important.

We are taking away the momentum from the BJP.

CM Adityanath said in Shamli that this bypoll is a question of existence for a few. Obviously, the RLD was his target. Do you also think it is a question of political existence for you?  

JC: No, (but) the bypoll is very important for us politically. It is very important for the social fabric of this constituency. The way our people are described in this constituency, it seems as if they are still embroiled in Hindu- Muslim tension.

You have a chief minister who brings up riots [Muzaffarnagar riots] even five years after the event. He doesn’t let people move on. This was the sole focus of his speech [on Wednesday]. Let him talk about what he has achieved in one year. Let him talk about his plans for Kairana. We are running a positive campaign; they are running a negative campaign – that’s what I have perceived.

In Phulpur and Gorakhpur BJP lost. But this time the BJP might be coming prepared to take on the coalition or strategic understanding of the SP, BSP and RLD. They might have changed their strategy.

JC: They have nothing different in their strategy. They had only one ball to throw at us, and that they have already done in their last big gathering [on Wednesday]. The CM was here, their 17-18 cabinet and state ministers were camping here. They are using government machinery to put pressure on the Pradhans [village heads] and local elected representatives.

But when there is a public mood, you can’t shift it. Public anger against the BJP is very high, and the public mood in our favour is very high. It is for the united opposition, and in this area the voters want to revive the RLD.

The election comes at a time when UP is caught in a debate of ganna (sugarcane) and Jinnah. CM Adityanath has said at a poll rally that “we will talk about ganna but will not allow Jinnah’s poster”. Will Jinnah’s reference change the political narrative here?

JC: He keeps harping on the same issue. When he became chief minister, in his first three months, I think he referred to Aurangzeb at least five times; he spoke about how the Mughals looted us. Their minds are still rooted in the 16^th century. As a young person, I think a voter of UP who wants positive politics will get trapped in these narratives.

We are not interested in a portrait of Jinnah. It might have historical relevance. He was a life-long member of Aligarh Muslim University, so it is for the university to decide on it.

For me, for my farmers, for voters in Kairana, we don’t care about Jinnah’s portrait. So you can’t say we will also [resolve] ganna but continue to talk about Jinnah. No, first you tell us why sugarcane dues have not been cleared yet. You had promised the dues will be cleared within 14 days [of harvest].

The policies of the BJP government in the state and at the Centre are failing the farmers. If you are importing 3 lakh tonnes of sugar in September, with mere 25 per cent duty, you are going to hurt the market. You are going to hurt the farmers, you are going to hurt realisation to the sugar mills, you are going to hurt the process of payment to farmers. Rs 13,000 crore are still due to the sugarcane farmers of UP.

The BJP is using (late PM and RLD chief Ajit Singh’s father) Chaudhary Charan Singh’s picture in posters. Their leaders are referring to him in speeches. It appears that while the RLD is becoming electorally irrelevant, the BJP is fast co-opting Singh’s legacy. How do you respond to such strategies of the party?

They have used his name off and on. They do mention his name when they come to Meerut and when they come to Bhagpat, but they forget that there is Kishan Ghat in Delhi. They forget to pay tribute at Kishan Ghat. PM Modi has forgotten to even tweet, in the past two years, on his birth anniversary. If you respect the man, then respect his ideology, respect the farmer and respect what he stood for.

He was not a mere Jat leader limited to Meerut, Bhagpat, Chapraulli. He continues to remain relevant in Haryana and Rajasthan but his face doesn’t feature in BJP posters in those states. This shows their hypocrisy.

Does it also create an identity crisis for the RLD that the BJP is trying to co-opt Singh’s legacy?

Not exactly. Electorally, we have had a few bad results but in politics there are phases. In UP, there has been a whole phase of hate politics. This new brand of Hindutva, where we celebrate festivals by tying a band on our head, hold a national flag and criticise anyone who doesn’t follow our own value and belief system. It is now subsiding. The entire country is waking up. I think when the social coalition forms, then we will be very relevant – even at the national level.

Ajit Singh took part in HD Kumaraswamy’s oath-taking ceremony in Bengaluru. Do you see a larger opposition unity taking shape ahead of 2019 to take on the Modi government?

Modiji is very smart at driving the narrative. You don’t want to give him a chance to rake up issues which are irrelevant but may have emotional appeal and drive votes away from the real issues of the country. If we are in the opposition, we have to come together and shape a shared agenda, and we will have to do a sustained campaign. Before the 2019 polls, you will see viable opposition unity.

The Kairana bypoll is about Kairana or 2019?

Kairana will trump any other issue. But it will have a splash, a different impact and wobble the BJP government at the Centre.