Agrarian woes may have led Jats to drift away from BJP

NEWDELHI: An improved performance by the Congress and the emergence of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) as a force to reckon with in Haryana elections appear to be largely a reflection of the Jat voters consolidating in their favour in the southern and western parts of the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on the other hand, maintained its hold over the Punjabi and Bania (trading community) vote bank, resulting in the ruling party winning 15 of its 40 seats from urban areas. The BJP fell way short of its target of 75 of the total 90 seats in the assembly. It also failed to touch the 2014 tally of 47 seats. The dip in the number of seats came just five months after the party swept the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, securing 58% of the votes polled.

In the assembly polls, Hooda helped the Congress regain some of its lost ground. Apart from the Jats, the Congress also received support from the Muslims and Dalits. It won all the three seats from the Mewat belt, dominated by the Muslims, and also seven of the 17 Dalit seats.

The JJP of Dushyant Chautala performed well in late former CM Devi Lal’s bastion of Hisar, Sirsa and Bhiwani districts, winning seven out of the 10 seats.

In some seats in the region, such as Bhadra in Charkhi Dadri district and Tosham in Bhiwani district, the JJP was in a direct contest with the Congress, with the BJP dropping to third.

While the Jats account for 25 % of the state’s population, the scheduled castes make up about 21% followed by Punjabis at 8% Brahmins 7.5%, Ahirs 5.14%, Vaishs 5%, Gujjars 3.35%, Jat Sikhs 4%, Rajputs 3.4%, Sainis 2.9% and Kumhars 2.7%. Meos and Muslims are about 3.8%, Rors 1.1% and Bishnois 0.7%.

Political analysts said an economic slowdown and rural distress impacted the BJP’S overall performance and the Congress received support from castes disenchanted with the BJP.

“Jats, Muslims and Dalits have clearly rallied behind the Congress. While Jats were already feeling sidelined, Dalits were disenchanted with the BJP because of Bhima-koregaon and other incidents,” said Rajendra Sharma, head of the political science department at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. “BJP was also hoping for a major division between Jats and nonjats but that did not happen.”

The agrarian crisis was also a major concern for farmer voters.

The BJP’S campaign, pivoting around the nullification of Article 370, created little impact. The common refrain was that they have voted for PM Narendra Modi in the national elections and now was the time to judge the performance of the chief minister.

Ramji Lal, former principal of the Dyal Singh College in Karnal, said the vote was on local issues and national issues did not have resonance. “The voters judged the performance of local MLAS and that of the Khattar government. This is as it should be in the assembly elections,” he said.