Jats of western Uttar Pradesh keep BJP, gathbandhan on tenterhooks

The elections have come in the midst of the harvest season, which is not good news for the BJP

It is common for the Jats of western Uttar Pradesh (UP) to attribute their voting preference to a dream they get a couple of days before the polling day. In the dream, or so it is claimed, Chaudhary Charan Singh, former prime minister, farmers’ leader and the most influential Jat politician in independent India, appears to tell his clan folk which symbol they should vote for.

Not just the candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but those also of the gathbandhan, as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)–Samajwadi Party (SP)–Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance is being spoken of in these parts,