Led by Jayant Chaudhary, the Rashtriya Lok Dal was hopeful of turning the tables against the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh by capitalising on the farmers’ angst against the ruling government. However, its alliance with the Samajwadi Party faced disappointment as the saffron party cruised to an easy victory in the recently concluded UP assembly polls.
In an exclusive interview to FinancialExpress.com, Chaudhary divulged the reasons he believes led to the alliance’s defeat. He also spoke on a range of other issues, including the Congress’ unabated downfall at the national level, and his party’s preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Excepts:
How do you see the UP poll results? Did it come as a disappointment, or a boost to your party’s prospects as it won eight seats against one in 2017?
My nature is that I take things a little lightly, and don’t take negativity to my heart. I do believe leaders need to inspire people to achieve more. So that is the principal task at hand, how I can motivate my workers to put up a good fight. We’ve done well… we have gained a lot of credibility. We have shown that a sustained campaign can help you win elections. We have registered our presence in the voters’ minds.
We ran a very positive campaign. We were the first party to come up with a manifesto… a very strong issue-led campaign. And overall, the alliance did well… we were able to click well together. Me and Akhilesh (Yadav) ji were able to… in our tours… build up a certain energy and enthusiasm. Somewhere, it translated in a better performance, and the vote share has gone up. Last assembly polls… we were decimated. This time we have got eight seats. So, that is enough to work.
Do you think that the narrative of farmers’ distress was subdued with the withdrawal of farm laws? Why do you think the Jat-Muslim vote bloc, which your alliance with SP was relying on, did not vote the way you thought?
There are players that work outside these narratives… voters don’t always vote along these sort of issues or caste combinations. This is only post polls that we analyse things and then come up with these terms — Jat-Muslim. In actuality, you need votes from every community, every broad section of society needs to support you, otherwise there is no way you can get majority… you can’t even win one seat.
As for the farmers’ agitation, it definitely resonated on the ground, it was not a manufactured issue and the fact that so many people came out in the 13-month-long agitation… they came on the streets, they expressed solidarity with the farmers in their own ways… that cannot be discounted. They must have voted along the same lines.
BJP tackled it in many ways… the first way was that they withdrew the bills. So seemingly, the threat had been dispersed and dealt with. Then they told the farmers that the issue is done, now look at other issues of Uttar Pradesh. So, their diversionary tactic also must have had some impact. And they were also able to convince some other sections within the villages who don’t have tremendous landholding and whose main occupation is perhaps not farming, but they are part of the rural identity. They were able to pit against the farmers in some areas. I think this might also have worked for them.
Do you see Akhilesh Yadav’s late start of the campaign as a reason for the defeat? Also, do you think Samajwadi Party failed to play the role of main opposition party in these five years?
The election campaign is one aspect. Election campaign, technically, you can say… when we start asking for votes. But before that, we are always on the ground… whether it is to sustain the organisation, to take a message to the bottom of the pyramid… there are constant programmes that we need to do and we are doing it.
I think the Samajwadi Party was looking at their boot structure when they were organising training camps. So those programmes were not publicised… so it appeared that a lot of media has come up with this explanation that Akhilesh Ji came a little late.
Also, we were coming from a position where the BJP had tremendous majority. So, in that essence, we were gaining ground… everyday we were gaining ground. I think if we have had more time to explain our issues better… and that is somewhere where the BJP has done a lot better than some of the regional parties in building up their cadre.
You must understand that the entire machinery of the BJP today is focussed on just elections, and not so much on governance. They get sworn in to power and from the next day, they start thinking about the next milestone which is another election. I don’t think that should be the case, they must be made accountable for the positions that they hold. The chief minister should be focussed on Uttar Pradesh rather than campaigning throughout the country for his party. Similarly, all the MLAs must be brought to account for their own constituencies… the local issues. I think that is the sort of voter awareness that we need to do.
What is your strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections? Will the alliance with Samajwadi Party remain intact?
We had a national executive and we congratulated the alliance for their credible performance, and we also indicated that we need to show that we are committed to this direction. So that resolution was passed and on the 24th of this month, we are sitting again to talk about the organisation and the way forward. And I will move a resolution in the assembly… in the national executive… to authorise us and me to take the decisions regarding future alliances. But it is clear that we are going to stay the course. Akhilesh Ji tried his best, he is a positive person and I think we do need to work together in the future as well.
PM Modi has said that UP poll results have determined the fate of 2024 Lok Sabha polls. How do you see this remark?
It’s part of their political pitch… like ‘Aayega to Modi Hi’. They constantly try and build up this narrative so that the floating vote can be captured. There are people who are perhaps right now not thinking about the election. So, they want to create a space for BJP within those voters.
And that’s not really the case… UP Election was a different election. Now, at the national level, people are going to look at what their choices are and what the real issues are.
But, as far as the question that how are we going to better engage with voters… we know what our shortcomings are, how we can tackle them. I think number one is trying to formalise our organisation and build up an organisation at the grass roots. Just before these elections, we started a new exercise in RLD — we call it ‘Team RLD’. We gave an app, we gave training to our workers… they were to go into the booths and enrol people.
We must understand that a party like ours, even Samajwadi Party, has the same culture. Our people are more focussed on issues and movements. They are not part of a formal organisation at that level. So that cadre building needs to be happening from Day 1 till the election. So Team RLD is an exercise where we are going to start looking inwards… at our organisation, at our strengths, at our weaknesses.
You were approached by the BJP before the elections. Do you think realigning with the ruling party would have paid better dividends?
I was not approached by the BJP before the elections… that was an election tactic. We had tied up with Samajwadi Party… it was pretty clear and fought the election together. Previously… the Lok Sabha election… we were in alliance and there was no reason to break that alliance.
So, when the election was declared, when our alliance was declared, after that, that pitch was made by Amit Shah ji and other BJP leaders also who were part of the strategy. The idea was to tell our people who perhaps went to BJP in the last election, and who were coming back to us, that “stay with us, they will also come with us.”
I tried to my best to remove those doubts from people’s minds. We have been successful in getting people from the BJP to come back to the RLD fold. That is how we have gained vote share and also a lot of new voters. In our meetings, in our programmes, the sort of youth participation across all regions was very very encouraging and I think the young voters, the first-time voters… they liked our message.
There is quite a buzz in the media over your name being considered by the Samajwadi Party for Rajya Sabha.
Elections are not declared yet… they are going to happen in June and July. Of course, it is an honour to be a part of that House, and then get a platform to raise issues. So that decision will be taken by us jointly.
How do you see Congress’ downfall and AAP’s rise in the coming times in India’s political landscape?
I think there is a desire amongst voters to see a new alternative and the traditional older parties in the opposition have failed to come together and create a credible platform. Us and Samajwadi Party and some other parties came together and that was the real alternative. The election was polarised between us and the BJP. But at the national level, more efforts need to me made so that like-minded people, party leaders do come together. I think it is our failure that we have not given that alternative, therefore voters are now looking at new things.
Aam Aadmi Party has momentum on their side… they have won two states… there is no doubt about that. They have done some good work, but I think they need to show commitment to the responsibility that has been given to them. Now in Delhi, they have repeated government… in Punjab, people will see where they are able to prove governance or not.
For the Congress, I cannot really comment much but I think internally we all need to look at ourselves… how we can rebrand. The leadership question in Congress needs to be resolved at the earliest and what I find is that internally within Congress ranks… because I speak to a lot of leaders… there is a lot of confusion. So, I think their worker base needs to be motivated and from top till the bottom, they need to give one message. That is not happening. I don’t see the activism also on the ground. There are so many issues, but those issues are not being taken to the people effectively.
The fact is that in many states across India, Congress is still very relevant, they have the organisation. And in some states, they are the principal opposition party if now the party in power. So there is a big responsibility on their shoulders.
Political parties are divided over ‘The Kashmir Files’. The remarks by Arvind Kejriwal have created a furore. How do you see his remarks?
It is a film on a real issue and no one can doubt the trauma that Kashmiri Pandits have gone through and more serious efforts should have been made at a reconciliation over the past two decades. Even the principal party in power today… you see the prime minister today making an appeal for people to go and watch the film… I wish that the same commitment would have been to get a reconciliation on the ground so that people would have felt safe enough to go back. Those who want to go back should be able to go back. That has not happened.
So therefore it’s not a real issue, it’s just a flimsy campaign in my mind. Kejriwal Ji in the House… he used humour… I tweeted that it was a good speech. I think subsequently he was attacked, but he was actually taking about promotion of a film, rather than any issue relating to Kashmiri Pandits.
Where do you think RLD lagged as an alliance partner of the Samajwadi Party? Where do you think there could have been chances of performing better?
Typically, when you enter an alliance, there are some issues which you need to iron out well in time. I think our discussion on seats could have been resolved a little earlier and we should have perhaps given our candidates more time to campaign. Second, like I said, parties like us need to have a traditional structure at the ground level. We need to work internally on our organisation… there was no problem with our issues, I think our campaign had a lot of vibrancy and there is no issue with the face of Akhilesh ji as the chief minister candidate… we got a lot of traction. Another aspect is looking at different sections, whether our appeal was finding resonance with them, or connecting with them.
Women voters, I think, is one area where our organisation is weak and we need to build upon.
