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In battle for Jat votes, Mayawati, Keshav Prasad Maurya attack Akhilesh Yadav over ‘chavanni’ remark
BSP chief seeks apology to Chaudhary family; UP deputy CM Keshav Prasaad Maurya invokes Charan Singh legacy as BJP and BSP step up attack on SP national president ahead of 2027 assembly polls
Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav’s “chavanni ko rupaya bana diya” jibe at former ally and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary, who is the Union minister of state (independent charge) for skill development, has snowballed into a political controversy.
Bahujan Samaj Party national president Mayawati and Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya are accusing the SP leader of insulting not only Jayant, but also the Jat community and the political legacy of his (Jayant’s) grandfather, former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.
The “chavanni” controversy has implications beyond the immediate confrontation between Akhilesh and Jayant. It has handed the BJP, RLD and BSP a common political line of attack against the SP ahead of 2027.
The sharpest attack came from Mayawati, who demanded that Akhilesh apologise to the RLD as well as the Chaudhary family. Mayawati described Akhilesh’s comment as “indecent, shameful and arrogant” and accused the SP chief of displaying an undemocratic mindset.
By specifically demanding an apology to the Chaudhary family, the BSP chief sought to broaden the controversy beyond the political clash between Akhilesh and Jayant and connect it with the legacy of Charan Singh, a towering figure in north Indian farmer politics.
Her intervention also gives the BSP an opportunity to attack the SP’s social-engineering politics in western Uttar Pradesh, where Jats and Muslims have historically been an important electoral combination in several constituencies.
Maurya, meanwhile, sought to turn the controversy into a direct political attack on Yadav, questioning the SP chief’s record of retaining political allies.
“The truth is that the SP chief has squandered what Netaji (Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav) built,” Maurya said. He also accused Akhilesh of insulting Jayant and invoked Charan Singh’s contribution to farmers and western Uttar Pradesh. The BJP’s intervention is significant as the party seeks to consolidate its political alliance with the RLD ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.
The issue assumes significance because Jats, despite constituting around 10% to 15% of the population in parts of western UP, can influence electoral outcomes across more than 50 assembly seats. Their political preferences are particularly important in districts such as Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Baghpat and Bijnor.
Political experts suggest the controversy offers the BJP-RLD alliance an opportunity to consolidate Jat support and strengthen its western UP social coalition. For the SP-Congress opposition, the challenge will be to prevent the issue from alienating Jat voters while retaining its broader alliance. Consequently, the controversy has added a fresh layer to the battle for western UP, where Jat sentiment could prove crucial in shaping the 2027 electoral outcome.
The controversy erupted after Akhilesh took a swipe at Jayant over his decision to leave the SP alliance and join the BJP-led NDA.
His reference to turning a “chavanni” into a rupee, coupled with his assertion that the SP had taught Jayant “ABCD”, triggered a sharp response from the RLD chief.
“If you had to use such cheap words in a political battle, you could have simply taken my name– there would have been no issue,” Jayant said on X, objecting to the reference to the Jat community. He also warned that the arrogance he had witnessed “from close quarters” eventually leads to political decline.
During the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign, Jayant had said, “Main koi chavanni nahin hoon jo palat jaunga.” (I am not a 25-paise coin that I will flip) as he rejected public overtures and invitations from senior BJP leaders to switch sides.
The RLD was in an alliance with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party in the 2022 polls but joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
