Will Rajasthan get its first Jat Chief Minister this time?

Jat Mahakumbh was organized in Rajasthan’s Jaipur last days. Whose purpose was completely political. Rajasthan assembly elections are to be held after eight months. Jat society has a lot of influence in the politics of the state. The purpose of this conference was to increase the participation of Jat society in politics. In Rajasthan, 6 members of the Lok Sabha and 33 members of the Legislative Assembly come from the Jat community. The population of Jat community in Rajasthan is also more than 12 percent. Even after having so much influence, a Jat has not been able to become the Chief Minister in Rajasthan till date. There is resentment among the people of Jat community regarding this matter.

Jat society has great influence in many districts of Rajasthan including Ganganagar, Hanumangarh, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Nagaur, Ajmer, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jaisalmer. Jat voters play a decisive role in the Lok Sabha and Vidhansabha elections in these districts. Whichever side the Jat society is inclined, the candidates of that party win.

Despite being the largest in number, the leaders of the Jat community have not been able to get enough importance in politics. The Jat voters of Rajasthan had been continuously giving unilateral support to the Congress party for five decades. After the independence of the country, after the abolition of the princely states, the Jat community was associated with the Congress. The Jat community in Rajasthan was considered a strong vote bank of the Congress. There were many big leaders of the Jat community who played an important role in the politics of the state and the country.

Baldev Ram Mirdha was a big leader who worked to organize the people of Jat society. After the independence of the country, Kumbharam Arya, Sardar Harlal Singh, Nathuram Mirdha, Ramniwas Mirdha, Parasram Maderna, Kamla, Daulat Ram Saran, Sumitra Singh, Ramnarayan Chaudhary, Sheeshram Ola, Shivnath Singh Gill, Ramdev Singh Mahariya, Dr. Harisingh, Narayan Singh , Com Sampat Singh, Manphool Singh Bhadoo, Hemaram Chowdhary, Mahadev Singh Khandela, Natwar Singh, Balram Jakhar, Lalchand Kataria, Narendra Budania, Sanwarlal Jat, Raja Mansingh, Maharaja Vishvendra Singh, Hanuman Beniwal, Kailash Chowdhary, Govind Singh Dotasara, Satish Poonia Like there have been big and effective Jat leaders. Who have played an important role in politics by holding important positions in their respective parties.

At one time, there were veteran Jat leaders like Chaudhary Kumbaram Arya, Nathuram Mirdha, Parasram Maderna, whose words even no Chief Minister had the courage to avoid. Chaudhary Kumbaram Arya was such an influential leader that even the collectors did not dare to enter his chamber. He had great influence on the general public. That is why he used to win elections by changing the region again and again. Despite having so much influence, he could never get a chance to become the Chief Minister.

For the first time in 1973, Jat leader Ramniwas Mirdha became the chief ministerial candidate. But in front of Haridev Joshi, he was left out of becoming the Chief Minister due to losing by one vote. Similarly, in 2008, Shishram Ola had expressed his claim for the post of Chief Minister in front of Ashok Gehlot. But due to lack of support of more MLAs, he could not become the Chief Minister. Apart from this, Jat leaders never directly fought for the post of Chief Minister.

In today’s time, be it Congress or BJP or any other political party, there is no Jat leader of great stature who can join the race to become the Chief Minister. The Congress has appointed Govind Singh Dotasara as the state president. But his stature has not become enough to join the race for the post of Chief Minister. Before becoming the State President, Dotasara was the Minister of State in the Government of Rajasthan. Lalchand Kataria, Ramlal Jat, Hemaram Chaudhary, Vishvendra Singh, Brijendra Singh Ola of Jat society are ministers in the current Gehlot government. But none of them has the stature to become the chief minister.

BJP state president Satish Poonia was recently removed from the post of president and made deputy leader of opposition in the assembly. For the first time, Satish Poonia, who became the MLA from Amer, became the state president, his stature in the politics of the state increased. But after leaving the post of president, his influence will also be less. However, he has been made the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. At present Rahul Kaswan from Churu, Narendra Kumar Khichad from Jhunjhunun, Swami Sumedhanand Saraswati from Sikar, Kailash Chowdhary from Barmer, Bhagirath Chowdhary from Ajmer are MPs on BJP ticket. The sitting MP from Nagaur is Hanuman Beniwal of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party who won the election in alliance with the BJP.

Jagdeep Dhankhar of Jat community coming from Jhunjhunu district is the Vice President of the country. MP from Barmer Kailash Chowdhary is the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in the Central Government. No Jat leader is a cabinet minister in the central government. While many Jat leaders have been cabinet ministers in the past. Balram Jakhar, MP from Sikar, has been Lok Sabha Speaker and Union Agriculture Minister. Devi Lal, who was an MP from Sikar, has been the Deputy Prime Minister of the country. Nathuram Mirdha, Ramniwas Mirdha, Kunwar Natwar Singh, Jagdeep Dhankhar, Daulat Ram Saran, Sheeshram Ola, Subhash Mahariya, Mahadev Singh Khandela, Lalchand Kataria, Professor Sanwarlal Jat, CR Chaudhary have been ministers in the central government of Jat society.

Sardar Harlal Singh, Nathuram Mirdha, Ramnarayan Chowdhary, Parasram Maderna, Narayan Singh, Dr. Chandrabhan, coming from Jat community, have been the president of Pradesh Congress Committee. On the other hand, Kamla has been the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Governor of Tripura, Gujarat, Mizoram. Satish Poonia became the first Jat state president in BJP. Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal won the Nagaur seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP. After that he remained an ally in the BJP-led NDA coalition. But for some time now he has been singing his own different tune. Hanuman Beniwal is the most popular leader of the Jat community and speaks his mind very loudly. But his National Democratic Party does not have much mass base in the state. Apart from the Jat society, other castes are also not getting connected with their party. Congress and BJP leaders also do not want Hanuman Beniwal to be stronger in the politics of the state.

Jat Samaj, the biggest political force in Rajasthan, plays an important role in winning and losing about 100 assembly seats in the state. Similarly, in spite of the widespread influence of the Jat community in more than a dozen Lok Sabha seats in the state, while giving tickets, all political parties do not give tickets to the Jat community according to their influence. This is the reason why Jat community has never been able to win more than forty MLAs.

This time the Jat community seems to be in a mood to do cross-border politics. But due to lack of effective leadership, they are not getting their full rights in politics. Due to this, even the Chief Minister of the Jat community is not able to become. How united the Jat community is able to win more and more MLAs, it will be known in the results of the coming assembly elections. The further politics of Jat society will depend on the election results.

Ramesh Sarraf Dhamora

(The author is a freelance journalist accredited by the Government of Rajasthan. His articles continue to be published in many newspapers of the country.)