Maneesh Chhibber 
Jind/Hisar: The farm stir, the Agnipath scheme and lack of development – though not necessarily in that order, these are the three most dominant issues in the ongoing Haryana assembly election campaign.
For even the average BJP voter in the Jat-dominated state, the writing seems to be on the wall.
“Our farmers died; many of them killed by the police. Goondas were let loose on peacefully protesting farmers by the BJP government in the state as well as the Centre. Our youth don’t have opportunities in the armed forces due to the [Agnipath] scheme. There is no development. Look at the condition of the roads. Forget constructing new roads, even old roads have not been maintained. How long can we try and ask people to vote for us when they ask us uncomfortable questions?” asks a BJP leader of Jind.
The Congress, which unlike in the last assembly elections is putting up a united front, is upbeat about its chances. Sirsa Lok Sabha MP Kumari Selja, a Dalit face of the party, has now come around after being miffed earlier with the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led dominant faction in the state Congress.
Congress working committee member and Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala, another bete noire of Hooda’s, is also campaigning with gusto.
The scent of victory, possibly, does that to politicians!
The ruling BJP, on the other hand, is demonstrating signs of distress, with senior leaders like motormouth MLA and minister Anil Vij and at least one more senior leader openly rebelling against chief minister Nayab Singh Saini and asserting their right to be recogninsed as possible chief ministers in case the party wins again.
Such is the negative impact of assertions by these leaders that chief minister Saini was forced to assert last week from a public forum that there was “no infighting in the BJP”, something that very few even in the party are ready to accept.
Despite trying his best, Saini is hamstrung due to the larger-than-life presence of his predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar, who quit as chief minister just before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, contested and won from Karnal and is now a Union minister.
Voters say the real power in the state continues to be Khattar and not Saini.
Appointing Saini, an OBC leader in the state, where OBC voters constitute about 30% of the total, was supposed to be a masterstroke, especially since Khattar, a Punjabi, was increasingly losing the popularity contest.
What was supposed to be a masterstroke soon turned into political baggage due to the perception that Khattar remains the prima donna.
“Everyone knows who is running the show. The BJP shunted him [Khattar] out due to massive anti-incumbency against his government. Such was the anger against the BJP that in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won with the highest victory margins percentage-wise in Haryana compared to all states,” asserts Shiv Bhattia, a former adviser to Hooda and a Congress leader.
He adds: “The Khattar government was actually a khatara [ramshackled] government. Saini’s is no different. The fact is that all 36 biradaris are angry with the BJP. You wait and watch, Haryana is going to deliver a massive blow to the false assertions of the BJP.”
For those who don’t know, 36 biradaris refers to the 36 – many say the number is more – castes in the state.
In the last two assembly elections, the Congress was dubbed a party of Jats by the BJP, thereby leading to a consolidation of non-Jat votes in its favour. But this seems to be in the past now.
Even non-Jats in many parts of the state are openly opposing the BJP.
“Hooda may be a Jat. But he didn’t completely neglect others too. In the last ten years, the BJP government has only done lip-service, no development. We want to give the Congress a chance again,” says Anil Kumar, a Khatri, in Hisar town.
Compounding the BJP’s problems is the loss of trust in Brand Modi. Voters say Modi is no longer the force that he was earlier and the same was reflected in the loss of a large number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
“Modi can’t win Haryana for the BJP, especially since the state government is facing massive anti-incumbency due to its poor performance,” asserts Rajkumar Jhodka, a resident of Jind.