The Rise of a Jat Scion
Having bagged the post of deputy CM, is Dushyant Chautala set to become the new face of Jat leadership in Haryana?
On October 27, at the hurriedly organised swearing-in at the Haryana Raj Bhavan, all eyes were on new deputy chief minister, Dushyant Chautala. The 31-year-old Jat leader turned out to be the surprise factor this election when his 10-month-old party, the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), won 10 seats in the 90-member House. The great-grandson of Devi Lal, grandson of Om Prakash Chautala and son of Ajay Chautala, this management graduate from California State University chose to go with the BJP and took his oath of office beside Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
In his short political career so far— Dushyant entered the record books for being the youngest Lok Sabha MP at age 26 in 2014—the young scion has portrayed himself as “the first gentleman Chautala”, unlike the musclemen politicos of his clan. The public schooleducated, English-speaking Dushyant is the new face of Jat leadership in Haryana, one who talks about taking along all 36 biradaris, a departure from the community-centric politics of many of his elders. Yet, it was this land-owning community, nearly 26 per cent of the state’s population, that formed a major chunk of the JJP’s 15 per cent vote share this time; five of its 10 MLAs are Jat.
With the BJP six seats short of a majority and the Congress shy by 15, both parties set out to woo Dushyant. But when he went to meet his father the next day at Tihar jail, where Ajay Chautala is lodged with Om Prakash Chautala in connection with the teachers’ recruitment scam, Ajay advised his son against joining Bhupinder Hooda as it would damage his own chances of cementing his position among the Jats. Hooda was a beneficiary of the anti-Khattar sentiment among Jats this time. He not only doubled the Congress tally, from 15 in 2014 to 31 this time but also has nine Jat MLAs. However, Hooda remains embroiled in the ED and CBI cases against him. “The weaker Hooda gets, the more it will be advantage Dushyant. He also has age on his side,” says Abhey Kumar Dubey, professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.
The BJP, on the other hand, chose to wait for Dushyant before staking claim to form the government, even though it had the support of seven Independents, the Indian National Lok Dal’s Abhay Chautala and Haryana Lokhit Party’s Gopal Goyal Kanda. Union home minister Amit Shah was keen on Dushyant (despite a section of the BJP advising against it), as it would help the party reach out to the alienated Jat community, which the state leadership had been unable to do. The BJP opened
two channels of communication with Dushyant—former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal got in touch with him on October 24 afternoon; later, MoS for finance Anurag Thakur mediated on Shah’s behalf. Both Badal and Thakur’s father Prem Singh Dhumal had a strong bond with the Chautalas.
Following the meeting with his father, Dushyant told his MLAs which way he wanted to go. Then, he called up Thakur and told him his terms: the deputy CM’s post as well as a cabinet and MoS post for two MLAs. The pact sealed, Thakur and Dushyant went to Shah’s residence to formalise the deal.
In allying with the BJP, Dushyant may have taken a political risk, but then again, he is not new to risks. His decision to contest from Uchana Kalan was in itself a tough call. He had lost to Prem Lata, wife of former steel minister and Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh, in 2014. As it turned out, the risk paid off.