Ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on February 11, Khaps of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana met on January 8 in Kharad in Muzaffarnagar, to declare that they won’t vote for the BJP again. Around 35 Khap leaders, some who have at least 75 villages under them and thousands of Jats of Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti gathered at the rural convention. In the 2014 Assembly elections they had voted for Bharatiya Janta Party and it helped BJP have a clean sweep in the national scene.
After the launch of demonetisation, farmers of UP who are mostly Jats have suffered a lot, according to the farmers who spoke to Indian Express. These farmers were from Shamli-Kairana-Muzaffarnagar belt of UP. Many Muslim Jats also blame Modi government of being divisive and said that Jats and Muslims are together in this fight against the Modi government.
They blamed Modi for not acting on the promises he has made to the farmers and also for not offering reservation to Jats. They said that their children are still in jail after the Muzaffarnagar riots and they are not able to do anything about it.
Even several problems of poverty, demonetisation has left them confused. Some said that they are afraid that they’ll also have to pay tax and they cannot afford it. In addition to this, they are not well-read and cannot understand the cashless system of transaction and are prone to cheating. Khaps said that at least they have seen “some” development under Akhilesh Yadav’s government.
Jat farmers support is crucial in winning UP elections as they are the dominant vote bank. But since, rabi sowing season was badly impacted by demonetisation they are extremely upset. Some also said that demonetisation has done nothing but turned black money into white and corruption still continues.
