Kairana: Rashtriya Lok Dal leader and former MP Jayant Chaudhary, son of party chief Ajit Singh, is trying to unite the Muslims and the Jats, pitted against each other during the 2013 riots in neighbouring Muzaffarnagar, ahead of Monday's parliamentary by-election in Kairana.

It's a battle for survival for his party, which drew a blank in the last general election when the BJP swept western Uttar Pradesh, aided by the polarisation caused by the Muzaffarnagar riots.

In an interview to The Telegraph, Jayant exuded confidence that Kairana's sugarcane farmers would reject the BJP's divisive politics and vote for RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan, who has the support of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress.

How important is this by-election for you?

A: It's important for me. It's important for the social fabric of the region. It's important for Opposition unity. We don't want the Karnataka momentum to stop. From the national perspective too this election is being keenly watched.

The Muzaffarnagar riots scarred this region but you have still fielded a Muslim candidate. How are you pitching for your candidate among your community, the Jats?

A: Our ideology is focused on the farmers; we don't concern ourselves with a candidate's caste or religion. This region was marred by sectarian violence, and we want to change that image.

The BJP's campaign says the people have not forgotten the riots. But when they are going and asking for votes reminding them of the riots, people are rejecting them.

It's a very negative campaign. We are running a positive campaign. We want the people of Kairana to send out a message of communal harmony and reject the divisive politics of the BJP. I'm confident the people will vote for harmony.

How do you see the BJP's campaign and how are you countering it?

A: I have been to 140 villages. All the alliance partners like Dharmendra Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and the Congress leaders are coordinating and working hard on the ground. The BJP, on the other hand, is using the government machinery.

They have 17 ministers. They are using the state intelligence to find the organisers of my programmes, who are being called and dissuaded. So their campaign is about man-to-man marking and the targeting of influencers. I'm running a people's campaign. No big meetings: just going from village to village and talking to the people on concrete issues.

Is sugarcane a big issue for you in Kairana?

A: Sugarcane and bhaichara (brotherhood) are the two big issues. I did a poll on Twitter saying what should the issue be in Kairana, ganna (sugarcane) or (Muhammad Ali) Jinnah? The people overwhelmingly voted for ganna.

( The allusion is to chief minister Yogi Adityanath's alleged attempts to polarise voters by saying the government's priority was ganna but it would not let anybody hang portraits of Jinnah.)

Every village I go to, I shout, " Ganna or Jinnah?" And the youths reply, "Ganna."

So, danga (riots) and Jinnah are not going to work in Kairana. It's farmers' issues that will drive the voters.

The RLD has joined the Opposition alliance and is contesting from Kairana. The BJP sees it as a desperate bid to save your party. There are questions over the longevity of this alliance and Opposition unity....

A: We are desperate to save this country - so there may be some desperation. This (Opposition unity) is not a majboori (compulsion) but is zaroori (a necessity).

These are desperate times. All democratic institutions are being circumscribed, right from the Reserve Bank to the Election Commission, and the freedom of the press has been muzzled.

Actors like Akshay Kumar are tweeting on the hike in petrol and diesel prices and then deleting the posts. ( Reports have said Akshay has deleted old tweets deriding fuel price hikes during the UPA's tenure.) Why? The kind of pressure people are facing is unheard of. If we do not unite now, democracy will slip away from us.

Will this alliance continue till the 2019 general election and the next Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, due in 2022?

A: It will continue for a long time. I can speak for the Samajwadis and our party. I have spoken to Akhileshji (Samajwadi president Akhilesh Yadav) and we had a good meeting. Rahulji (Congress president Rahul Gandhi) has taken the lead in the sense that in the national framework, the Congress is always there as the fulcrum.

What about the Bahujan Samaj Party? Have you talked to its leadership?

A: We have spoken to the BSP too. On the ground level, I meet their cadres and functionaries everywhere I go. The message has seeped in. The Dalits of this country are sick of the hate campaign against them and are going to vote against the BJP.

Are the BSP cadres on the ground working for the RLD candidate?

A: The voter sentiment is very strong. Even in Karnataka, the Dalits voted against the BJP. As political parties, we drive sentiments; but when the voters have already made up their minds, there is very little we can do. The Dalits have already decided to vote against the BJP.