At the Gangesar village in Haryana's Sonipat Lok Sabha constituency, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers introduce Ramesh Kaushik as a future cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
The outgoing BJP MP, who is seeking a re-election from Sonipat, is pitted against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda, the seniormost Jat leader of the Congress.
Digvijay Singh Chautala, great grandson of Devi Lal, who, along with his brother, Dushyant, floated the Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) — has made it a triangular contest in Sonipat, where Jats make up 34% of the electorate. Of the about 15 lakh voters in the Sonipat Lok Sabha constituency, spread across nine Assembly segments, more than 5 lakh voters are from the Jat community.
Chaupal campaigning
“The person who defeats the former chief minister will certainly be a cabinet minister,” declared a local BJP leader, as he asked Mr. Kaushik to address the few villagers that come to a chaupal (open gathering).
Mr. Kaushik’s short speech focused on Mr. Modi’s “decisive leadership in protecting the country and ensuring progress”, including the fulfilment of the promise of One Rank One Pension (OROP), an issue that is meant to please retired defence personnel.
The focus on Mr. Modi’s leadership appears to be a well thought-out strategy as the local MP is not a favourite even among voters who support the party.
“He has not come here before the elections and has not done anything for us. But we want Modi to be the PM again and that’s why people will support the BJP candidate,” said Manphool Prajapat, an elderly person in his mid-70s, who belongs to the kumhar (potter) caste.
Local issues
Chander Singh, another elder, who said he was in his 90s, complained of the two-month delay in receiving his old age pension, even as he patiently waited to listen to Mr. Kaushik at the chaupal .
In the neighbouring village of Khandrai, an elderly woman got into an argument with a BJP worker over the poor condition of the road and the overflowing drains that run through the village like a maze of arteries.
“If you had come here on a rainy day, you would not have been able to walk as the entire area gets waterlogged,” said Jitender, a resident of Khandrai, who asserted that the 2019 elections will be a closely fought one, but did not indicate his political preference.
To overcome such sentiments of anti-incumbency, the BJP nominee has tried to leverage Mr. Modi’s popularity, especially among castes like Brahmins (10.42%), Bania (4%) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) who make up the majority of voters.
Development projects
“We have a leader we can boast about. Can the Congress nominee say that about his leader? Apart from Modi ji 's leadership, our government has also sanctioned development projects worth ₹28,000 crore,” Mr. Kaushik told The Hindu .
The BJP is also clearly focusing on non-Jat votes after the fault lines between Jats and non-Jats in the State widened, following the 2016 violence over the Jat reservation agitation.
Though Mr. Hooda has not yet intensified his campaign in his own constituency for the May 12 polling, supporters of the two-term chief minister are confident that he will get votes from all sections, including non-Jats.
“All the infrastructure-development, four-laned roads, hospitals and industry happened during his rule. Now, we have a situation where there is just two hours of power supply in the villages during day time,” said Kirpal Singh Gahlaut of the Mohana village, a Congress supporter.
‘Modi next PM’
He pointed out that during the 2014 Assembly elections, held a few months after the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress had managed to win five of the six Assembly seats.
“Despite Modi ji ’s lehar (wave), we won five seats, and it was also because of Hooda ji ,” he said, even as he admitted that a section of voters want Mr. Modi as the next Prime Minister. “But they don’t want to defeat the former CM as he is the tallest leader here,” added Mr. Gahlaut.
The fight for Jat votes has become more intense with the entry of the JJP, a splinter group of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) that is also in the fray.
“If Mr. Hooda declares that he won’t contest the next Assembly elections and will serve you as an MP for the next five years, I will withdraw from the fight,” Mr. Chautala told his supporters at Kamach Kheda village in Julana.
