Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) National President Jayant Chaudhary and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) – Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Jayant Chaudhary addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Responding to the ferment in the Muslim community after the Waqf Bill became law, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary on Saturday (April 12, 2025) said the Act was a “complex piece of legislation” whose value would become evident in the days to come. “The Act has come into being after a long dialogue following a democratic process,” Mr. Chaudhary said, describing the Act as an material expression of PM Narendra Modi’s credo of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas (support from all, development for all).
Reacting to the Murshidabad violence, he accused the West Bengal government of instigating people against the Act.
The press conference was called at the Union Minister’s new residence on Tughlaq Road to announce the launch of the party’s membership campaign on April 14, the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar. Former MLAs and Zila Panchayat presidents from Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Telangana joined the party on the occasion. Following his party’s State general secretary quitting in protest against the Waqf Act, Mr. Chaudhary said, “No one of importance has left the party, and new people are joining us.” He went on to underline the expansion of the National Democratic Alliance family with the All Indian Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam joining the alliance.
Asked about the Karnataka Cabinet accepting the results of the caste survey conducted by the State Commission for Backward Classes in 2015, Mr. Chaudhary said a “complex issue was being simplified” by Congress “for a political reason”. “Many from the Kashyap community from U.P. working in Delhi write Sharma as their surname. There is no guarantee that people will express their caste identity to government officials. The Opposition was misleading the poor as if the caste census would pave their way to the middle class. Caste census is not a solution; it is one set of data,” he said.
Earlier, responding to a question on the objections raised by prominent Muslim leaders like Mahmood Madani on the Waqf Act, Mr. Chaudhary said in a democracy, people had a right to differ and to decide for themselves. “I appeal to Mr. Madani, a respected leader, not to make any provocative statement. It is a complex legislation, people will take time to understand its benefits. Muslims are being told their properties are in danger when the law has been made to secure them,” he said.
The law, he said, didn’t apply with a retrospective effect, meeting the demand of several parties, including the RLD. The role of the district magistrate in surveying disputed Waqf properties has also been amended, he added.
On the charges of RLD having moved away from its ethos after joining the NDA, Mr. Chaudhary pointed out, “his tweets and statements [on contentious issues] had not stopped”. Referring to his recent post on social media platform X, criticising the U.P. police’s measures for stopping namaz on streets during Eid, he said, “Improving the functioning of U.P. police is a continuous process. I can only say this… rest is in UP government’s hands.”
He said former RLD president Ajit Singh contested from Muzaffarnagar to bridge the trust deficit after the riots. “That effort continues. We are a liberal, progressive, and secular party. I have had one-to-one conversations with Muslim leaders of the party and have spoken to responsible members of the Muslim community before and after the legislation. “I have asked them to visit mosques and hold deliberations with the youth. They should not feel that the country has taken a different direction and that the RLD has not compromised with its principles.”
The timing of the membership drive is significant as it has come at a time when Dalits of western U.P. are enraged against the NDA after Rajput groups attacked MP Ramjilal Suman. “Baba Saheb was not just the leader of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. He was a liberal, progressive leader who continues to give us direction to negotiate social issues through his writings and speeches,” he said. For the next six months, he said, party workers would travel to the nook and cranny of the region to increase the party’s footprint, and, by October, a new president will be elected in the national convention of the party.”
Party sources said the shift to Tughlaq Road is a message to the farmers who were anguished after his father Ajit Singh was asked to vacate 12 Tughlaq Road, the residence of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, after the NDA came to power in 2014. “Now, 25, Tughlaq Road will be the new home of farmers of west U.P. in Delhi,” Anil Kumar, RLD MLA and Minister in the U.P. government, said.
Published – April 12, 2025 08:23 pm IST