Congress to play ‘Ajgar’ card in poll-bound UP

In its endeavour to revive itself in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress is planning to play the Ajgar card in western part of the state.

Late Chaudhary Charan Singh created Ajgar, an acronym for Ahir, Jat, Gujjar and Rajput castes, in the 70s and later morphed it into Majgar when Muslims were added in it.

The importance of Ajgar and Majgar petered out in the 90s, as different caste groups began functioning independently.

“Since we are attempting to break the caste mould that kept UP in its grip for the past 27 years, we will first try to revive the Ajgar card, and convince the various caste groups to join hands and merge as a force to reckon with,” said a senior Congress leader from western UP.

The confidence of the Congress stems from the fact that Jats are disillusioned with the Rashtriya Lok Dal and find it politically irrelevant. The community is also irked with the BJP over the reservation issue, while Rajputs are also feeling sidelined in the BJP.

Gujjars are neutral at present, but if Jats and Rajputs come together, Gujjar would join in.

Yadavs, in western UP, can also be convinced to join the combine as they have not been major beneficiaries in the Samajwadi government. “Yadavs in central and eastern Uttar Pradesh have benefited the most because there is no Yadav leadership in western Uttar Pradesh that could cater to our interests,” said Deepak Yadav, a teacher in a local degree college in Meerut.

The Congress, meanwhile, is also confident of bringing Muslims into the Ajgar fold to turn it into Majgar.

“Muslims are looking for an alternative to the SP that can defeat the BJP. Minorities are upset with the Akhilesh government that failed to nail the accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots and also did not protect Muslims. The same thing happened in Dadri. If other castes show their support to the Congress, there is no reason why Muslims will not join in,” said Congress member of legislative assembly Maviya Ali, who won from Deoband in a recent byelection.

Sources say the Congress will hold meetings with leaders — especially elders and youths — of these communities in the coming days.