LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will touch the heart of politically volatile west UP region by reaching Meerut on January 2 to lay the foundation stone of a national sports university in the name of Indian Hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
Highly placed sources in the BJP told TOI that the PM will flag off the ambitious project in Salawa locality under Sardhana assembly seat represented by BJP MLA Sangeet Singh Som. The assembly constituency, notably, comes under the Muzaffarnagar parliamentary seat, represented by BJP MP and junior Union minister for animal husbandry, fisheries and dairy, Sanjeev Baliyan.
Significantly, both Som and Baliyan were among accused in 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots after which BJP emerged as a political behemoth and stormed to power at the Centre with an overwhelming majority in 2014 and then in UP after 2017 assembly elections. Baliyan won the Muzaffrangar seat in 2014 and then 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Sources said that the BJP has pumped in its organizational machinery to bring in party supporters in a large numbers not only from within Meerut but from the neighboring Muzaffarnagar district. "The coming of a sports university is certainly a big project for the city which is known for its sports goods industry. It will also help the party escalate its footprints among the young voters," said Meerut (Mahanagar) president Mukesh Singhal, while speaking to TOI on Sunday.
Modi's scheduled visit to the agriculturally rich region comes a little over a month after the Centre annulled the three farm laws, which were at the epicenter of a raging farmers’ protest. The development also potentially underlines BJP's counter to the SP's alliance with the Jayant Chaudhary's RLD which has a strong base among the Jat community in the west UP.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary had held a joint rally in Meerut on December 7, in what marked a show of strength of the key opposition against the BJP ahead of 2022 assembly elections. The SP-RLD combined rally was held in the Meerut Sadar seat which is held by SP’s Rafiq Ansari.
Though RLD was decimated in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it had a brief resurrection in 2018 Kairana byelection when its candidate Tabassum Begam, who was backed by SP-BSP, defeated BJP’s Mriganka Singh by around 50,000 votes. Mriganka is the daughter of senior BJP leader Hukum Singh whose death had necessitated the bypoll.
Analysts say BJP has been roping in its key party leaders in the strategic districts in communally sensitive west UP region. Union home minister and party’s chief strategist Amit Shah had visited Saharanpur earlier this month to lay the foundation stone of Ma Shakumbhari Devi University, while CM Yogi Adityanath had flagged off the Jan Vishwas Yatra from Mathura, a key Hindu religious centre.
