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So why is the government so focused on Love Jihad in UP when it faces a massive threat on the farm bills? Well, the two are somewhat connected.
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Chaudhary Charan Singh originally forged what was called the MAJGAR alliance (Muslim, Ahir (Yadav), Jat, Gujjar and Rajput) to advocate middle farmer interests in UP. It was based more on interests than on identity.
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The Muslims and the Jats were the cornerstones of this alliance, which through fractured by various factors including Mandal endured almost up to 2013 riots, and still voted together. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/meltdown-of-the-majgar-alliance/article5120950.ece
Enter, the love jihad narrative.
This fascinating article traces exactly how what was until then a South Indian story was spread in Muzzafarnagar by the BJP using pamphlets and party workers in the run up to the Muzaffarnagar riots to polarise.
+ https://thewire.in/communalism/love-jihad-anti-muslim-history-sangh-parivar
This fascinating article traces exactly how what was until then a South Indian story was spread in Muzzafarnagar by the BJP using pamphlets and party workers in the run up to the Muzaffarnagar riots to polarise.
+ https://thewire.in/communalism/love-jihad-anti-muslim-history-sangh-parivar
The 2013 riots and subsequent displacement fractured what was left of the alliance and gave the BJP entry into UP.
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But something interesting seems to be happening on the ground now. The farmer protests have brought back memories of Mahendra Singh Tikait’s 1988 BKU farmer rally to Delhi protest power prices.
+ https://thewire.in/agriculture/farmers-siege-delhi-bku-farm-laws-protest
+ https://thewire.in/agriculture/farmers-siege-delhi-bku-farm-laws-protest
And farmers are ultimately an interest group and not an identity group. The farm bills protests are representative of a diverse group of identities united by common interest. And there is a real worry that this could begin to knit back Charan Singh’s fractured alliance...
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... and bring interest groups back to the forefront of politics in UP. Which the BJP cannot afford.
Therefore a return to the playbook that originally killed this alliance - love jihad.
Therefore a return to the playbook that originally killed this alliance - love jihad.
