In Jat heartland, Cong, JJP gain foothold, saffron party loses sheen

ROHTAK : The results of Haryana assembly elections have made it evident that voters in Rohtak, Sonepat, Jhajjar and Jind districts, who had backed the BJP in parliamentary polls held earlier this year, changed their mandate by switching to the Congress and the Jannayak Janta Party.

Known as Jat heartland, these four districts comprise 19 assembly seats of which the Congress managed to secure 11, the BJP four and the JJP three.

Termed Haryana’s most political significant seat, Meham went to independent candidate Balraj Kundu.

In 2014 assembly elections, the Congress had won 10 seats while five had gone in the BJP’s kitty. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had got three seats and an Independent, Jasbir Deswal, won from Safidon in Jind district.

This time, the Congress won all four seats in Jhajjar district, three out of four in Rohtak and four out of six in Sonepat, but failed to open its account in Jind.

While the BJP won two seats each in Jind and Sonepat districts, it had to bite dust in Rohtak and Jhajjar.

All three BJP ministers from here — local bodies minister Kavita Jain from Sonepat , agriculture minister OP Dhankar from Badli and minister of state for cooperatives Manish Grover from Rohtak — lost the battle this time.

The Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) secured three seats in Jind district with its founding member Dushyant Chautala defeating sitting MLA of Uchana Kalan, Prem Lata, wife of former cabinet minister Birender Singh, by about 47,500 votes.

The BJP had a lead on 12 assembly segments out of 19 in this Jat belt earlier this year while the Congress held seven seats.

BJP LOST ON ALL RESERVED SEATS

The Congress and the JJP have managed to turn Jat and Dalit votes in their favour as of four reserved seats in these districts, the former won three and the latter dominated one.

The BJP had fielded eight Jat candidates this time of whom all, but one (Nirmal Rani), faced poll drubbing.

The Congress had pitted nine Jat candidates, who got the party five seats.

The JJP had given tickets to 12 Jat candidates, two of whom secured a win.

Sunit Mukherjee, assistant professor of mass communication at MDU, says among the main reasons behind the shifting of Jats and Dalits away from the BJP may be rural distress, atrocities against Dalits and saffron party’s ‘moving the goalpost’ approach.

“Jats and Dalits chose the Congress and the JJP in the Jat heartland this time because they have a strong bonding in rural Haryana. Both the communities voted against the BJP as they held its leaders responsible for dividing people on caste lines and damaging the social fabric,” he adds.

“BJP’s strategy didn’t work in Jat land. They also voted against the BJP to avenge former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender Hooda’s defeat in the Lok Sabha polls,” Mukherjee says.

VOTERS IN ROHTAK, SONEPAT, JHAJJAR AND JIND DISTRICTS BACKED THE BJP IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS HELD EARLIER THIS YEAR