BJP needs a new strategy in Haryana

The Khattar government has been plagued with incompetence, but the man himself has the full backing of the party. That might not be enough to win elections

Two days after a person threw black oil on Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Hisar a few weeks ago, a group of men and women showed black badges and flags to the CM during his roadshow in Kurukshetra.

What is going on?

First things first. Whatever his standing with the people of Haryana, his party demonstrated that it was solidly behind Khattar. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah’s visit to Haryana a few months ago to lead a bicycle rally elicited enthusiastic participation but also signalled to detractors of the CM that there were few takers for their campaign.

The CM has many detractors. Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections, 12 MLAs had come to Delhi to petition the high command that they were finding Khattar’s control of the bureaucracy and fellow MLAs, shaky. This despite the fact that in the 90-member assembly, BJP itself has 47 MLAs and the support of five MLAs (four independents and one from the BSP). But none of this has had any traction because Khattar continues to enjoy the confidence of two crucial people: Amit Shah and Narendra Modi.

Khattar and Modi have known each other since the days Modi was the prabhari (in charge) of Haryana. Khattar came into contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) during the emergency in 1975 and joined it in 1977. Impressed by the RSS ideology and conduct of swayamsewaks during emergency, he became a full time RSS pracharak by 1980. He was engaged in Haryana politics and liaised with Modi who was ‘lent’ to the BJP. When Modi became chief minister of Gujarat and the earthquake struck Bhuj and Kutch, Khattar was invited to lead the committee for reconstruction and rehabilitation. In 2002, he became poll in charge for Jammu and Kashmir. And he was made chairman of the election campaign committee for Haryana in 2014.

Originally from West Pakistan, Khattar’s family was very poor and migrants to Haryana. Modi spotted him as a kindred spirit. His plus point was deep and wide knowledge of the RSS organisation and BJP’s support structure. The other plus was — and continues to be — total personal honesty. For Haryana, reeling from the cumulative effect of extortion and rentseeking by successive governments, Khattar represented the light that needed to be shone in the darkest corners of the government.

But there were problems which manifested themselves almost immediately. Khattar may have won elections for the BJP, but he himself became MLA for the first time in his life when he contested and won the Karnal seat. The most experienced MLA was Ram Bilas Sharma (who had worked with Bansi Lal) and the one with extensive legislative experience was Anil Vij. But it was Khattar who got the job. The angst of the others was barely hidden.

Khattar did what he knew, understood and trusted the most — the advice of the RSS or those connected with it. Top bureaucrats were not appointed on the basis of merit: They were given charge because of their connections, family or otherwise, to the Sangh. In a perfect world, this would have trumped caste and other linkages. But in Indian society and politics, caste is ever present. Administrative failures of the Khattar government were blamed on caste ( jats, a significant caste group, went on a rampage in the state that the administration was unable to control) and lack of experience (the militant resistance when police attempted to arrest self-styled godman Rampal after he failed to appear in court 43 times and later, the Dera Sacha Sauda build up). But the people, by and large, put it all down to incompetence.

The latest evidence of the Khattar government’s standing in Haryana is cited by The Tribune. He is reported to have commissioned a secret pre-election survey which says that between 80 per cent and 90 per cent MPs and MLAs should not be given the nomination as their chances of winning are bleak. Acccording to the report, only four of Khattar’s council of ministers are likely to win. Of the 10 MPs from Haryana, only two — Krishan Pal Gurjar from Faridabad and Rao Inderjit Singh from Gurugram — will be returned to the Lok Sabha. Possibly to make the bad news a bit more bearable, the survey adds soothingly that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Khattar’s personal popularity is undimmed.

This cannot be good news for the BJP. If the survey is accurate, the party needs a new strategy in Haryana. There is no time to lose.