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Karnal: In 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose his old friend Manohar Lal Khattar to head the government in Haryana, it was seen as a masterstroke. In a state with an estimated 28 percent Jat population – largely aligned with the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal – the experiment of appointing first-time legislators belonging to the Punjabi Khatri community was expected to mobilize non-Jats in favor of it. . Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Though the party failed to garner a majority in the 2019 assembly polls, it stuck with Khattar, who had a clean image among voters.
However, now seven years after Modi’s experiment, the BJP finds itself on slippery ground in Haryana.
It is not just the farmers’ agitation against the three controversial laws of the Modi government that has queued the pitch for the party. Local newspapers are full of advertisements of private companies that offer jobs but question paper leaks, water-logging in villages and cities, and boycotts of political activities by agitating farmers dominate the front pages.
ThePrint visited Haryana’s Rewari, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Jind and Karnal districts to assess the ground situation. As it turned out, CM Khattar is facing a crisis of credibility. There is growing resentment against him not only in Jatland, but across regions and caste groups.
But the BJP seems unaffected, with leaders saying the party has faith in Khattar’s governance and track record.
Read also: Haryana CM Khattar exposes Modi-Shah’s biggest flaw – as talent-hunters
‘No control over officers’
Siyaram Sharma, 65, of Muana village in Jind, complains about Khattar’s alleged lack of authority over government officials. “Any Work I have heard that this officer Suspended done? Khattri Even my buffalo is not afraid of it. Wow Khattri does not eat sai (Have you heard of any officer taking action against him or suspending him? Even my buffalo is not afraid of Khattar. He is not Khattar, he is just sour),” says Sharma.
A young man standing next to Sharma, who does not wish to be identified, says: “If you go to any district department, it looks like we don’t have a government.”
Ram Niwas Bura of Ghogiran village in Jind recalls the “old days” when Bansi Lal and Devi Lal used to sit in the chief minister’s chair and make surprise visits to villages.
“in the same place give job. Even if someone is illiterate, that too roadways I conductor jai karta to get job (They used to give jobs on the spot. Even if someone was illiterate, he would have got a job as a conductor in the roadways),” says Bura.
He also recalls a common joke that was told across Haryana during the election season. “Once Bansilal went to a village and a young man approached him. CM asked, how much have you studied? The man replied that he was illiterate but wanted a job in the roadways. The CM replied, ‘then then roadways not any Department NS director Banana will pay‘ and offered him a position.
Asked whether earlier CMs had offered jobs like Bura Recall, district officials admitted that they did, but were quick to dismiss such offers as “bypassing the rules”.
“These tricks won over the voters, but they hindered the process of fair selection,” a senior district official Says on condition of anonymity.
Governance issues, corruption
Villagers of Jind, Karnal and Rohtak are also angry with Khattar over the delay in allotment of agricultural electricity connections and gather in large numbers to complain. Some see this as corruption and Khattar’s inability to rein in it despite his anti-corruption stand.
“The biggest problem is that the commission which used to be Rs 2,000 in the days of Bhupinder Singh Hooda has increased to Rs 10,000. I have given Rs 5 lakh for agriculture electricity connection, but my slippers got damaged from walking from this office to that office,” alleges Raghuveer Singh, 69, of Rohtak’s Hasangarh village.
Balbir Singh, who till last year served as the sarpanch of Bhainsru Kalan village in Rohtak and was associated with the Congress, says: “Now the entire village has to run (for work) to the district. In government departments, bribery has increased even for small work. Pension is pending for three months. Funds are not released. There’s a lot of chaos. “
However, a senior government official, who wishes to remain anonymous, points out that the delay in electricity connections is part of a plan.
“In the backdrop of rising water crisis in the state, the Khattar government is far-sighted about discouraging farmers from growing paddy. Under the ‘Mera Pani, Meri Virasat’ scheme, the government offers Rs 7,000 to farmers to switch from paddy to other crops. This is being seen as a reason for the delay in electricity connection.
delayed panchayat elections
Khattar’s Haryana government has been postponing panchayat elections for over a year now. In September this year, the government filed an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it wants to conduct these elections in a phased manner.
But on the ground it is also being held against the government.
“People are very angry that the panchayat elections are being delayed due to farmers’ agitation. Now people say that Khattar is CM in name only, says Balbir Singh of Bhainsru Kalan.
‘It’s not about caste, it’s about Khattar and his deputy’
The big question when Khattar became the CM was that how would a non-Jat be on the hot seat. But now, people from his own caste have turned against him, while Jats say they will have no problem accepting another CM from a non-Jat caste; Their problems are with Khattar himself and Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, who is a Jat.
Prem Singh Saini, who claims to be a BJP supporter in Rohtak’s Hasangarh village, says he is against Khattar’s politics. Saini runs a shop which supplies farm equipment to the farmers in the village.
“The Congress system is back. Khattar claimed that the jobs would be transparent, but why were our Saini boys not selected for the jobs? I can give you an example from a neighboring village where only Jats were elected,” he says angrily.
At Jhajjar’s Rohar toll plaza, 52-year-old Wazir Singh, one of the protesting farmers, mocks the leadership of Khattar and Dushyant Chautala.
“It is clear that Khattar cannot take any decision without taking Dushyant along,” he says, pointing to the numbers in the assembly. “And this time, we won’t let Dushyant get away with it.”
Rajendra Singh Bura of Ghogiran village, a retired army man who is now a farmer, echoes the sentiment. “We voted for Dushyant in an unprecedented manner, but now he is sitting on Khattar’s lap. Khattar said the Congress system will be thrown out, but the old, corrupt system is back in the last one year,” he says.
People seem to be more impressed than the state’s home minister Anil Vij. public court and concepts of ‘immediate justice’ as compared to Khattar’s style of functioning.
Ramniwas Bura of Ghogiran village says: “Anil Vijo weigh decides (Anil Vij decides early).”
Wazir Singh says: “They say Jats have a problem with a Punjabi CM. We say make Anil Vij CM. He is also a Punjabi. But Khattar and Dushyant do not have the means to think about the farmers of Haryana.”
BJP is not worried
In response to all these issues raised by the public, Jawahar Yadav, the party spokesperson and former OSD to Khattar, says that there is no need to change the face of the CM in the state.
“He is going to complete his term. The previous CMs were caste leaders, but Khattar belongs to everyone,” says Yadav. “Khattar is not unpopular. He is being praised for transparency in jobs across the state. There has been only one paper leak in the recent past and it is being investigated.
However, another BJP leader, who did not wish to be named, says “Haryana BJP has no other face, so there will be no change in the chief minister’s post”.
(Edited by Shreyas Sharma)
Read also: Anil Vij – Clash with Haryana BJP minister Boss Khattar for cracking down on IPS officers
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