Sravasti Dasgupta 
Yamunanagar (Haryana): While the Haryana assembly elections are shaping up to largely be a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, it is in Yamunanagar district which includes four assembly constituencies, that the Indian Nationalist Lok Dal (INLD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) combine is looking to make its presence felt by making the fight triangular.
After the Jats, comprising about 27 per cent of Haryana’s population, Dalits are the second largest community at about 21 per cent. Both the regional Jat-dominated parties – Abhay Singh Chautala’s INLD and its offshoot former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) – have tied up with the BSP and the Azad Samaj Party (ASP) respectively to woo the Dalit vote in the state.
The Dalit vote is crucial in Yamunanagar district which has a sizeable Dalit population and who form a deciding part of the electorate in Radaur, Yamunanagar, Jagadhri, Sadhaura assembly constituencies. It is also here that the BSP has historically performed well and remained among the first and second runner up candidates.
While Mayawati herself has announced that Abhay Singh Chautala is the chief minister’s face for the alliance, she has also said that if the alliance forms the government a Dalit will be made the deputy chief minister.
At a campaign rally in Jagadhri, she accused the BJP and the Congress of not advocating in the Supreme Court against the sub-classification of SC/STs. She has also asked Dalits to not waste their vote by choosing the Congress and BJP, and targeted the Congress for neglecting Dalits, and urged Dalit leaders in Haryana to break away from Congress and “other casteist parties.”
‘Reserved candidate on a general seat’
In Radaur, an unreserved seat, the alliance has put up a Scheduled Caste (SC) candidate in the form of the BSP state president Dharmpal Tigra to take on sitting Congress MLA Bishan Lal Saini, and the BJP’s Shyam Singh Rana. Dalit voters in the constituency say that the move to prop up a “reserved candidate on a general seat” has enthused the community.
“This time there is a lot of support in the community because behenji has given us a SC candidate in a general seat. The Dalit votes are guaranteed in our favour but it’s not just our community, other communities are also with him. He will work for everyone. Whether we vote for BSP or not, BJP and Congress always call us BSP voters. Now we have a candidate to call our own in the area,” said Vikram, a BSP worker in Radaur.
The move to make Tigra the candidate in an unreserved seat has given reason to the Dalit voters to move back to the BSP.
“Dalit votes will go to the BSP in Radaur because we have already voted for the Congress and the BJP and nothing has happened for us. Whether it is unemployment or price rise, our issues have remained unaddressed. This time we will vote for someone from our own community,” said Rahul Kumar, a student who is preparing for civil service exams in Radaur’s Sudhel village.
Sudhel village, part of the Radaur assembly constituency. Photo: Sravasti Dasgupta
In Yamunanagar, the alliance has fielded the INLD’s Dilbagh Singh who won the seat in 2009, and narrowly lost to the BJP’s Ghanshyam Dass Arora in 2019. While Arora is looking to secure a second term in 2024, Congress’ Raman Tyagi is also in the fray.
“Unlike the rest of Haryana, here the fight is between the Congress and the INLD. People are familiar with Dilbagh Singh because he has been MLA in the past. This time people want change, ten years is a long time. What has the BJP done in this time apart from giving unemployment and inflation?” said Jitender Singh, who drives an auto rickshaw in Yamunanagar city.
That the BJP is facing anti-incumbency in Yamunanagar district is also clear from its performance in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year in the area. While Radaur is under the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency which was one of the five seats won by the BJP in the state, the remaining three assembly constituencies in Yamunanagar – Yamunanagar, Jagadhri, Sadhaura – come under the Ambala Lok Sabha seat, won by the Congress in the general elections.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP won only two of the four seats in Yamunanagar. While Ghanshyam Dass Arora won from Yamunanagar, Kanwar Pal Gujjar won from Jagadhri. In both seats the winning margin was close between the INLD (Dilabagh Singh) and Congress (Akram Khan) runner up candidates respectively.
The Congress has once again fielded Akram Khan in Jagadhri, who has won the seat on a BSP ticket in 2009. Khan, who is known to have a large support base in the area, will once again face Gujjar in 2024 alongside the BSP’s Darshan Lal Khera.
In Sadhaura, Brijpal Chhappar who was denied a ticket by the Congress and joined the BSP has been fielded by the alliance from the reserved seat. Chhappar will take on the BJP’s Balwant Singh and sitting Congress MLA Renu Bala.
‘INLD-BSP alliance won’t make enough difference’
For the BSP and INLD, the alliance has meant that it can put up a fight in Yamunanagar.
“The alliance is making a difference for us in this election, as we have all the communities’ voters with us and can put up a good fight in all these four seats in Yamunanagar,” said Arjun Sudhal, state spokesperson for the INLD.
While workers of the INLD-BSP in the area feel that the Dalit and anti-BJP vote that had gone to the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections will return to the alliance, the Congress’ top leaders like Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda has been asking voters not to vote for “B-Team” parties.
In Yamunanagar, the Congress and the BJP have however, dismissed any real difference that the BSP-INLD combine can make in wooing Dalit votes.
“The Dalit population is more here but that does not mean that our MLA won’t win again. It might make a difference of a few thousand votes but not enough for him to win. People in Haryana want change. They have seen how the BJP government has treated farmers by beating them up, and not giving in to their demands. Inflation is rising every day. Now people only want change,” said Rajesh Kamboj, a Congress worker at the party’s office in Radaur.
Amit Garg, Yamnunanagar district vice president of the BJP, who is part of the party’s campaign in Radaur and Yamunanagar said that the Congress’ campaign in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections alleging that the constitution is in danger had resulted in losses in the area.
“The negative campaign run by the Congress which claimed that the BJP would end reservations cost us five seats in the Lok Sabha elections. But this time even though the Dalit population is substantial in the area, we have gone to the people and assured them that as long as Modi is there no one will change the Constitution,” he said
“The BSP-INLD candidates will only cut the Congress’ votes. It won’t affect the BJP’s votes in any way.”
‘Triangular contest’
With the BSP-INLD candidates squarely in the race in Yamunanagar, the fight has become triangular in the area.
“It is a triangular contest in all four seats of Yamunanagar,” said Dalbir Singh in Sudhel village.
“In the Lok Sabha elections it may be the BJP versus the Congress but in the assembly elections here at least regional parties become important and both these parties will see losses because of this.”
Despite facing anti-incumbency, the prospect of a clear majority for either the Congress and the BJP is appearing slim.
“This much is clear that the BJP is not winning here. It is a three-cornered fight and no party will have a majority and will need the support of other parties to form the government,” said Dilbagh Singh, who runs a motor business in Yamunanagar.
That the BSP-INLD combine will look to make its presence felt, but is unlikely to significantly change the bipolar contest at the state level is also not lost on voters in the area who are also looking for change but have not ruled out the BJP from the fight.
“The ultimate fight is between the BJP and the Congress. People want change, yes, and that is why there is a sense that Congress is ahead in the state but the truth is it might go either way, both have a 50-50 chance,” said Rinku, a farmer in Jubbal village.