Focusing on Jats, dumping HJC: Here is why BJP slipping from its peak in Haryana

Hours after Narendra Modi finished his rally on the outskirts of Jind, inside the city a group of men who claimed to be non-Jat OBCs were busy dissecting his speech.They had all praise for the Prime Minister. Five months ago they had voted for him and going by their initial comments one could assume that this time again they would vote for the BJP.[caption id="attachment_1753633" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representational image. AFP[/caption]Few more drags of Hukka and a couple of questions later they opened up about the issue. Then came the surprise revelation — they wanted to vote for the BJP but they wouldn't. The lotus was an alternate, preferred electoral symbol for them in these elections and before the electioneering actually started the BJP appeared to be the clear winner, but things have changed since then.The BJP does not seem to have picked up much momentum in the thick of electioneering in Haryana. The atmospherics are in its favour, people are talking about it, Modi is drawing good crowds, but somehow the vigour that is associated with the challenger, out to throw an incumbent, is missing. The party is not coming up as a real and effective alternate."The BJP is not clear about what direction it wants to head. Tell me how the BJP is different from the INLD or the Congress. INLD is party of Jats, Congress (Bhupinder Singh Hooda) is a party of Jats and now the BJP is also posing to be the party of Jats," said one of the men.Out of 90 seats it has given tickets to 27 Jats, highest by any party. "Sari Jamin Jat ke pas, CM Inke pas, DM Inke Pas, SP Inke Pas, SHO Inke Pas, rojgar Inke pas, sari party Inke pas, aur phir bhi Jat ko OBC quota me arakshan, hamare pas toh insaf ke liye kuch bhi nahin. Hum jaye toh jaye kahan. (Jats have all the land, they have a CM, the DM is a Jat, the SP is a Jat, the SHO is a Jat, Jats have employment, political parties at their command, despite all this they have been categorised as OBCs, poaching into whatever little opportunity we had, Tell me where do we go?)”, says Ramvir Jangra in Jind. He had voted “for Modi” in parliamentary elections.Others sitting around dittoed his words. "That’s what we had been discussing when you came, We thought Modi, as the first OBC Prime Minister would address to concerns of our community but sadly his party leaders chose to pamper the already pampered," said Kalam Singh.The Jats may be only 22 percent of the population but since they are the dominant land owning community, they have a proven tendency to influence votes of weaker sections living under their social and economic command zone.The OBC, non-Jats look sympathetically or rather expectantly towards the BJP. Despite their complaints an overwhelming number of them would still vote for the BJP but not with same vigour as they had done in the Parliamentary elections. That could make a critical difference. The party is getting a bit from all, Jats included, but does not have substantive social support base to call its own. "BJP ka apna kuch nahin hai. Sab kuch Modi ke naam par chal raha hai par assembly me neta aur akryakarta ke abahv me woh kitna kar payenge. (The BJP does not have anything of its own. It is running on Modi's name, but how much can they gain from that in the Assembly polls?) they say.It has not been able to retain the support that it got in Modi’s name only few months ago. Moreover, giving tickets to so many turncoats has not gone down well with party workers who toiled long years and when the best chance came, for them or for their leader, they have suddenly been pushed to the edge."We have elected Modi as the PM. Please understand this election is for electing the CM," said Kalam Singh in Hansi. This is the common refrain.The Jats versus non-Jat batte lines are sharply drawn but since Jats are so dominant, voices of others are hardly heard. A chat with those on the fringe reveals how deep are social tension. Elections provide an outlet and also route to empowerment if they have the right platform and the leader.There is a wide belief, even a pre-election verdict that the BJP should not have broken its alliance with Kuldeep Bishnoi’s HJC. "If the BJP-HJC alliance had held together it would have got 60-70 seats," there are so many of them across Haryana who will make this statement.Ram Mehar Raparia who runs a school near Hissar made an interesting argument. The BJP and the HJC had come together to change the social and political situation (halat badalne) but when after the parliamentary elections the situation changed for the BJP, it told HJC to accept the changed reality and forget about their three year old agreement. "Shall a man desert his wife after marriage if situation changes for him and he becomes rich. How would you rate that man," he said. These are kind of earthly logics that are debated and discussed in Haryana over Hukka.There is a word to mouth impression about the BJP in Haryana – it is not a reliable partner, the one which dumps its friend without notice. It did that with Bansi Lal’s HVP, Om Prakash Chauatala’s INLD and now with Kuldeep Bishnoi. Not been very virtuous on fidelity count is no longer taken to be a great sin but its election time and the rivals would hammer with every stick that it could lay its hands on.The other argument is made against the BJP is leadership issue. Both Hoodas and Chautalas are making it an issue. The party workers and supporters of INLD and Congress elaborate it further — the two chief ministerial hopefuls, Ram Vilas Sharma and Capt Abhimanyu are locked in a very tough electoral battle in their respective constituencies. The third possible contender, Chaudhary Birendra Singh who quit Congress and joined BJP engaged in a fierce contest. His wife Premlalta is fighting against Dushyant Chautala, OP Chautala’s grandson.The BJP is well and truly dependent on its catchphrase Chalo Chalen Modi ke saath.