Ajit Singh knows everyone in Indian politics and everyone knows him. The reason ? He’s been in virtually all alliances — with the Congress, in the ill-fated National Front and later the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.
Singh has now once again entered into an alliance with the Congress on the eve of assembly elections in UP. Interestingly, the Congress has already announced party candidates for a large number of seats in Western UP—widely considered Ajit Singh’s bastion for his appeal among the Jats, which hinges largely on the charisma of his late father Chaudhary Charan Singh. Whether his caste considers him a caste leader, is a moot question because Western UP has 125 Assembly seats spread over 22 districts and in the 2007 assembly elections, Ajit Singh was able to win just 10. But he won five Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, suggesting that the Jats in UP were filled with remorse at having allowed a Dalit to become the Chief Minister of UP. Now, nearly three years later and after simmering tension in Western UP over land acquisition, sugarcane prices and endemic caste tension between Jats and Jatavs (Dalits), the indications are that the Jat rage against the Mayawati –led Bahujan Samaj Party has only deepened.
Still, it is all very mysterious. The Congress had already announced a number of candidates for Western UP. For instance, Pankaj Mallik, its sitting MLA from Shamli (the Bharat Kisan Union’s stronghold and held by the Ajit Singh family in the past) has been repeated. Atrauli, Meerut and Aligarh are also Ajit Singh’s areas of influence. But for all these constituencies, the Congress has also announced candidates and it will have to ask them to stand down in favour of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). They naturally cannot be expected then to work for the (RLD), and are in fact likely to work as hard as they can, against him. But that’s the price you pay for indecision.
Equally puzzling is why Rahul Gandhi, who made himself so popular over land acquisition injustice in Bhatta Parsaul (where there was police firing as well), has handed over these areas to Ajit Singh. He will certainly demand them. Whether the Congress will give them is an open question. But this much is true. In the past, the Jats and the Muslims have been supporters of the Lok Dal. This is why the Samajwadi Party has reacted angrily to the Congress-RLD alliance: it sees its prospects in Western UP in jeopardy.
Ajit Singh realises this. In March 2009, he announced he was tying up with the BJP to form a “formidable alliance” that would work towards a change in government in the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh.The alliance was firmed up by Rajnath Singh, who was contesting from Ghaziabad and needed Ajit Singh. It fell apart soon after.
In a society consumed by power politics, Ajit Singh’s is a case of talent gone to waste. He was the original ‘computer boy’ of Indian politics, not Rajiv Gandhi. Though, he was the son of Charan Singh, a leader who set great store by kisan (farmer) politics, Ajit Singh went to the US, studied engineering and worked as a techie before he came back to join the dusty, badland politics of UP. His contribution to Indian agriculture is not widely known at a time when a lot needed to be done in the sector (he was Agriculture Minister in 2001).
But despite ups and downs in politics (more downs than ups), Ajit Singh must be given credit for the fact that he hung in there. He has often spoken about injustice done to him: “Indira Gandhi groomed Rajiv Gandhi to become a politician. It was a kind of regency. I came to India to set up a software company. My father had slipped into a coma. I was the only son. He had never spoken to me about politics. I decided myself that I should come into politics. He passed away. At that time, I was told by my father’s able lieutenants—the Mulayam Singhs, Bahugunas and Devi Lals—that they would take care of me. I jumped straight into it.”
The early days were stories of betrayal and the bitter struggle against those “who said one thing to you and went ahead and did the absolute opposite”. He made many tactical mistakes and his father’s political base got parceled out between those who propped him up as chaudhary ka beta but appropriated the Charan Singh legacy. Ask him about the charge that is made most frequently against him: his political inconsistency. He will smile mirthlessly: “Mulayam Singh Yadav has aligned with every known political party under the sun and he is not inconsistent—but I am. V P Singh crossed over from the Congress, collaborated with the BJP and launched a third front. He is not inconsistent. I am.”
Singh now has another chance. He also has son Jayant, an MP by choice, by his side. What use he will make of him remains to be seen.