Sravasti Dasgupta 
Ladwa (Haryana): As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) looks to counter ten years of anti-incumbency in Haryana and consolidate the anti-Jat vote by projecting Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini – an OBC – as its chief ministerial face, a cliffhanger is in the making in Ladwa, the assembly constituency where the sitting Congress MLA Mewa Singh is taking on Saini.
Saini was a Lok Sabha MP from Kurukshetra – Ladwa is an assembly segment that is part of the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency – before he was elevated to the top post in March this year, replacing former chief minister and now Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
As the constituency gears up for the upcoming electoral contest between Saini and Congress’s Singh, Ladwa’s hopes of becoming a “CM city” are clouded by concerns of unemployment and farmers’ distress.
“It is not just about him being a Saini. If they (BJP) had not declared him as the chief ministerial candidate, then the election would have turned here very easily here,” said Harpal Singh, who runs a motor vehicle business in Gudha village, which has a sizeable Saini population.
With a dominant population of Jats, Ladwa also includes a sizable presence of Dalits and OBCs, including Sainis. While the Saini community is enthused to have a member of their community projected as the chief ministerial candidate, hopes of seeing Ladwa becoming a “CM city” is driving several voters in the area.
“There have been chief ministers from Rohtak, Bhiwani, Sonipat. But never from Ladwa. Ladwa will become a CM city. It is not about Saini, but about getting a chief minister from Ladwa,” said Jarnail Singh, a farmer in Gudha village.
The move to declare Saini as the BJP’s chief ministerial face has however, pushed to the fore, the saffron party’s seemingly divided house in the state, with at least two senior leaders throwing their hats in the ring as claimants for the top job.
Former Haryana minister and 6-time MLA Anil Vij said last month that he is staking claim for the job as he seeks a seventh term from Ambala Cantt. Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh also stated that people of Haryana want to see him as the chief minister, even as Saini has been projected by the party for the top job.
The BJP has thrown its weight behind Saini with union home minister Amit Shah also announcing at a rally that he backs Saini’s “vision” for the state.
According to BJP leaders in Ladwa, who are campaigning for Saini, such proclamations do not make any difference in the party.
Posters of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and Prime Minister Narendra Modi dot Ladwa. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
“Not just Sainis, all communities are with us. There is no difference of opinion among workers. Everyone is working unitedly. Whether it is Vij, or even Saini, all may want to become the chief minister but ultimately it is the high command who decides,” said Desh Raj Sharma, at the BJP’s Pipli office-in-charge in Ladwa.
While the BJP had won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections, it was reduced to five in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Haryana earlier this year, with the Congress winning the other five seats.
The fact that Saini is the face of the BJP trying to blunt anti-incumbency from the two terms of Khattar’s government, and course correct from the setback of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is also clear from the slew of populist measures announced in recent weeks.
Saini has been running a minority government in the state and has served for only 56 days after the Lok Sabha elections. At poll rallies, he has proclaimed that in just 56 days he has taken “126 historic decisions”.
This includes procuring all crops at MSP, compensate farmers for less rains, increasing reservations for OBCs in line with that of the centre’s to 27% and the annual income limit for OBC creamy layer from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 8 lakh, formalising over 1 lakh contractual jobs, 10% reservation for Agniveers in government jobs among others.
“Khattar did not do any work in the last ten years and that is why he had to be removed. In the last 56 days alone Saini has done so much work,” said Ram Singh Saini in Gudha village.
Missing MP versus visible MLA
While Saini is banking on these course-corrective measures, he faces an uphill battle in Ladwa and a strong opposition in the form of the Congress’s sitting MLA Mewa Singh. Congress workers in Ladwa said that, Singh will win with an even higher margin in comparison to 2019.
“His winning margin will double this time in comparison to 2024. When Saini was Kurukshetra MP, he did not work here and was not even seen here. Now he has come back to win as an MLA,” said Jaffer Ali, a Congress worker who is working in Singh’s campaign.
The congress office at Pipli Road office, Ladwa. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
The Saini community, which is now voicing their support for the incumbent caretaker chief minister, too are also said that Singh, a Jat leader, has remained among the people in the last five years but has not been able to do much work because he has been in the opposition in a BJP-ruled state.
“We all voted for Singh in 2019 even though he is a Jat. But he wasn’t able to work because it was not his government. Upar aur neeche ki sarkar ek ho toh hi vikas ho paaye (if the government at the centre and the state is the same only then can development take place),” said Sravan Kumar Saini, who runs a fruits and vegetables shop in Gudha village.
Manjeet Kashyap, who belongs to the OBC community and sells vegetables on his motor cart across several villages in Ladwa said that the fight is tight.
“The Sainis may want their man to become CM, and the Jats theirs (in Singh). But the fact is that Singh has been here for five years and not done any work saying that it is not his government. Upar aur neeche ki sarkar ek ho, toh hi thik hai,” he said.
Saini, who was elected as MP from Kurukshetra (which includes Ladwa) in 2019, and then fought and won the by-polls from Karnal after being made chief minister in March, is also facing allegations of being an absentee MP, while Singh is known in the area for his visibility.
“Saini has not visited any village in the area since he became MP in 2019. He only comes during elections. Has anyone seen him anywhere in non-election time? He has not been a part of anyone’s lives, in their happiness or their struggles,” said Jagwinder Singh, a farmer from Jainpur Jattan village.
Residents who voted for Saini in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, said that while he has been absent, Singh has been seen regularly in villages.
“After winning the 2019 elections, Saini came to our village and I even shook hands with him. But after that he has not been seen even once. In comparison Singh, has come to my village alone hundreds of times,” said Sajjan Singh, a farmer from Lohara village.
“We want all communities (biradris) to live peacefully together. But Saini has not come even once. Mewa Singh has visited all villages in the area, weddings, childbirth. Sabke sukh-dukh mein wo hai,” said Salinder Singh, a farmer from Jainpur Jattan village.
Unemployment leading to youth leaving country via ‘Donkey route’
While Ladwa is locked in a tight contest between Saini and Singh, conspicuous by its absence are the area’s youth. Every street in Ladwa is lined with row after row of IELTS coaching centres, advertising easy access and better lives in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and other countries. Locals say that the youth is not there in Ladwa due to large scale unemployment.
“The two main issues in Ladwa are farmers’ demands for MSP and unemployment. Zabardast fight hai iss bar (it is a keen contest) but the silent voter will decide which way the election will go. There is a negative perception against Saini because he has not been around. But Ladwa has always been different from the rest of Haryana. If BJP forms the government, Congress will win here. That is why developmental work comes to a halt. There is an unemployment crisis. Youth think that if they have to go to Delhi or Gurgaon or Bangalore to work, it is better if they move abroad,” said Pradeep Sharma who teaches English at an IELTS centre in Ladwa.
According to Harvinder Singh, a farmer from Gadli village, 90% of youth have left Ladwa.
“Why have they left? Because there are no jobs. They are all going abroad. Farmers are selling their land to send their children abroad. People are even paying as much as RS 50 lakh to leave the country via the Donkey route,” he said.
The “Donkey” route refers to youth using illegal means to migrate to developed countries amid rising unemployment and rural agrarian distress.
Yogesh Khubbar, who is working as prominent farmer leader Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)-Charuni leader Gurnam Singh Charuni’s poll campaign as the IT-cell head said that it is not just the youth who are ready to use any means to go abroad.
“There are at least 300 IELTS centres here in Ladwa. About 10-15 years ago there were hardly any. But in the last seven years they have come up everywhere. Farmers as old as 35-45 years old are also selling their land and leaving. They are not getting fair price for their produce or even MSP, their income is not guaranteed against crop loss or a bad yield. On top of that they take loans from arthiyas (middlemen who aid transactions between farmers and buyers) for farming equipment, seeds, fertilizers, machinery. Cost of production is increasing every year,” said Khubbar.
“If a farmer has spent Rs 20,000, he is getting only Rs 5,000 after selling his produce. They think that might as well sell the land and go abroad and earn for a few years by some means, and come back. They are even ready to go on tourist visas, arrange for work permits and work there for a few years till they are caught and forced to return or take the ‘Donkey’ route.”
Salinder Singh, of Jainpur Jatta village, said that both his son and daughter live abroad. He sold 2 acres of his 6 acre farm land to send them abroad to study. While his son works as truck driver in New Zealand, his daughter works as a tailor in the UK.
“They said if we stay here we will never get a job. My daughter had even done a B.Ed. But did not get a job for three years. Now they have got work permits to work there,” he said.
Mohammad Gulsher, who runs a tyre repair shop said that the biggest issue remains unemployment.
“We don’t want any government to give free rations. The main issue is unemployment. If you give jobs, people can run their households themselves and won’t need free rations. Earlier youth would get jobs here in the Army. But after the Agniveer scheme they will become unemployed after four years. If you have to give jobs, give pakki naukri,” he said.
While the Congress has crafted its campaign in Haryana around the Agniveer scheme both during the Lok Sabha elections and the upcoming assembly elections, residents said that the BJP’s course correction by promising guaranteed government jobs for Agniveers has also come too late.
“They are saying they will give government jobs after four years to Agniveers. But why not let them continue in the Army itself as it was before and they can give the government jobs to others who need it,” said Jasbir Singh in Ladwa town.
Farmers’ distress
With nearly 70% of Haryana’s population dependent on agriculture, both the Congress and the BJP have announced competing promises on MSP. While the Congress has promised to provide a legal guarantee for MSP, the BJP has promised to provide MSP on 24 crops.
Farmers from Haryana also participated in large numbers in the 2020-21 agitation against the three farm laws. Farmers in the area, say that while their paddy produce for the season is ready, the government delayed procurement and the crop is still lying in mandis with no one to buy them.
“The paddy is lying in the mandi and no one is buying it. Is anyone talking about that?” said Jangsher Singh in Ladwa town.
“If the chief minister himself is contesting from here, then why hasn’t he visited the mandi. Why isn’t he addressing the farmers’ concerns?”
A truck full of paddy at a home in Jainpur Jattan ready to be taken to mandi. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
The paddy procurement by the government which was earlier scheduled for September 23 was changed to October 1, and was then brought forward to September 27. However procurement has been slow with the new custom milled rice (CMR) policy.
According to a report in The Tribune, of 15.43 lakh quintals of paddy brought to grain markets across the state, only 1.22 lakh quintals have been procured by government agencies.
“The government knows that the crop would have been ready by September 15 as production started on June 15 and it take three months. Why did they delay it then? I take my crop to the mandi but the arthiya says it has not been purchased yet. Now the government has started procuring but it has been slow. We have already fought this fight in 2020-21 yet we are still struggling,” said Amreek Singh, a farmer from Jainpur Jattan village.
“Neither the BJP nor the Congress care about farmers. We are just a vote bank for them.”