Balakot puts BJP in stride in Haryana

Party helped by popularity of Narendra Modi, an important factor in Haryana.

October 06, 2019 10:44 pm | Updated October 07, 2019 08:14 am IST - GURUGRAM

Manoharlal Khattar claims to have ended nepotism and earned the tag of ‘Mr. Clean’.

Manoharlal Khattar claims to have ended nepotism and earned the tag of ‘Mr. Clean’.

Abki baar 75 paar ” (‘This time, more than 75 seats ) goes the slogan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Haryana for the forthcoming Assembly election slated to be held on October 21.

Though the party appears to be comfortably placed, it seems to be helped more by factors other than the performance of its own government in the State led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Big reprieve

Seemingly on the back foot till a year ago, the BJP State unit got a breather with its clean sweep of the mayoral elections in five cities in December 2018, with the Congress not contesting those polls, and then a comfortable victory in the Jind byelection a month later, at the expense of the Indian National Lok Dal weakened by a split.

However, the wave of nationalism sweeping across the country after the Balakot airstrikes turned the fortunes of the party in Haryana, more so since every tenth soldier in the Army comes from this State.

The party was also helped by the soaring popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who remains an important factor in Haryana as a decisive leader.

Both Mr. Modi and nationalism will continue to be important factors in the Assembly election, especially in the wake of the amendment to Article 370.

That former Haryana Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda supported the amendment, going against the party line, underscores the importance of the issue in the context of Haryana.

Poor record

Though with an abysmal record on the employment front, and grappling with farmers’ distress, the BJP won the goodwill of the people with fair recruitment of Group D employees and police constables.

Mr. Khattar claims to have ended nepotism in government jobs and earned the tag of ‘Mr. Clean’, helping the party.

However, health care and education infrastructure in the State remain in shambles and there are a large number of vacancies in positions for doctors and teachers.

Series of scams

The hype created around "Happening Haryana" — an investors summit in Gurugram in 2016 — also fell miserably short of the expectations. Though Mr. Khattar makes claims of corruption-free and transparent administration, his five-year tenure is marked by a series of scams including scholarship scam, privates buses hiring scam, overloaded vehicles scam and cash-for-job scam.

Putting a big question mark on the leadership skills of Mr. Khattar, the state saw large-scale violence during stand-off between the police and the supporters of Sant Rampal and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on different occasions and during Jat reservation agitation in 2016 claiming around 80 lives in police firing.

However, the Jat agitation row widened Jat and non-Jat divide in the state helping the BJP immensely by consolidation of non-Jat votes behind the party. It remains the most important factor behind the BJP establishing itself politically in the state.

Split in the INLD

The split in the Indian National Lok Dal(INLD) leading to the formation of Jannayak Janta Party in December last and the infighting in the Congress primarily over the state leadership issue also helped the BJP. The Congress has no organisational set-up in the state at district and block levels.

The party high command's indecision over state leadership harmed the interests of Congress in Haryana. A decision to bring in new leadership was taken last month, but it was too late with just weeks to go for the assembly election.

Haryana could be termed as a missed opportunity for Congress. Though BJP seems unstoppable, the challenge for the Congress lies in downplaying the Jat and non-Jat divide in the state and making it a Hooda versus Khattar election. The BJP, though, would like to weave a narrative around national issues to counter unemployment, farmers distress and resentment among government employees.

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