Muzaffarnagar: Harendra Singh Malik, a Samajwadi Party leader running for Lok Sabha in Muzaffarnagar as the INDIA bloc’s nominee, claimed the RLD’s alliance with the BJP will have little electoral influence in his district. The former Rajya Sabha member is up against BJP’s Sanjeev Balyan, whom he refers to as a “accidental leader”. Malik and Balyan are both members of the prominent Jat community in western Uttar Pradesh.
Balyan was elected from Muzaffarnagar in 2014 and 2019 and served as a Union minister in Narendra Modi’s administration. In the run-up to the elections, Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) shifted sides, leaving the INDIA bloc and aligning with the BJP. The switching of sides prior to polls has bewildered people of the area.
In the 2019 elections, Balyan beat Chaudhary’s father and previous RLD chief Ajit Singh by a margin of about 5,000 votes. Malik said the RLD can do whatever it wants because it does not had a candidate in Muzaffarnagar. So that (RLD) is not a factor here… The BJP will not profit from this (RLD support),” the Jat leader stated.
Malik remembered “political FIRs” filed by Muzaffarnagar police during the 2019 elections, including one for an attack on Jayant Chaudhary’s wife Charu Chaudhary’s vehicle. He said that the villagers who protected the caravan were arrested by the police, and that the charges had yet to be dismissed, causing community outrage against the BJP.
“Maybe Jayant Chaudhary has linked with the BJP, and in a political environment, he may identify with whoever he likes. Farooq Abdullah has now praised the BJP. However, fans of Chaudhary Charan Singh are with us,” Malik stated. On the significance of farmers groups in regional elections, he stated that while farmer organizations are apolitical, they have undeniable power. “If they speak in favour of anyone, it is definitely going to have an effect on the poll outcomes,” Malik opined. Malik stated that the most important problem he is addressing in this election is’sammaan’ (respect) and that the people have been “insulted” during the previous ten years.
“Aside from this, everyone is aware of the escalating prices and corruption. And corruption occurs under his (Balyan’s) support. Employment is a major concern for the local youngsters. The youth is unemployed and scared. “They (the government) raised a lot of hopes but did not live up to them, and as a result, people are having problems,” he alleged.
Commenting on the work done during Balyan’s two terms as Muzaffarnagar MP, Malik said the BJP leader may claim to have a model railway station here, but he should also specify when it was sanctioned and if the line was electrified or double (rail) tracked.
An integrated goods corridor was built here, but an industrial corridor was suggested in the region but could not be built due to his neglect. Otherwise, an industrial corridor would have been built between Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, as it was originally planned between Meerut and Saharanpur. Malik stated that if a corridor had been built, it would have assisted local kids in finding jobs.
He could not do all of this because he is not a political man. I’m not sure what’s going on; the entire national media has been here and asked me if he’s a big leader. But how come he is such a large leader, although he is actually an accidental leader? As far as I am concerned, I do not believe he is a politician, he stated. Muzaffarnagar goes to the elections on April 19.
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