Frank Hebert rightly said, “Absolute power attracts the corruptible.” The fractured assembly election 2019 result in Haryana shows that the foundation of collapse in the BJP turf has been laid down by the Congress Party. The result also shows that Congress has emerged as a strong opposition party with 30 MLAs despite the NDA`s government anti-congress, anti-dynasty 24×7 feisty & marooned corporate media propaganda & meager financial resources.
There is no denying the fact that Modi`s popularity has been dropped obliquely. The Congress party has succeeded in making a dent in the Modi turf within five years. It will be quite difficult for the Modi 2.0 in the coming years to rebound after Haryana assembly election plummet to win a clear cut majority in the upcoming elections in two states: Jharkhand & Delhi, as happened in 2019 provided the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) do not tamper. Enough entertainment has been made by Modi 1.0 to befool the people of the super-poor country. Now the people of India understand subterfuges of the BJP.
Sunday is always a holiday. No government department works for the welfare of the people on Sunday. The BJP is so greedy, insecure & desperate to hold power that even the top party leadership could not wait till Monday for Swearing-in-Ceremony of Manohar Lal Khattar as the Chief Minister of Haryana for the second inning. It reflects the sneaky mentality of the BJP. It is really disgusting to think.
Post-poll alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) shows that the BJP can stoop to any sneaky level to retain & sustain political power. It does not make any difference for the BJP if a leader of a political party, who is willing to extend support, is a corrupt, lacerated, squinted, black or white, deaf or dumb. The legacy that Dushyant Chautala will follow is reprehensible. His great- grandfather Om Prakash Chautala & his father Ajay Chautala both have been convicted in the 2000 Junior Basic Teachers recruitment scam[i] and were sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. Dushyant Chautala`s love for his father, who is already on 15 days furlough from Tihar jail, strikes the right political cord with two purposes in mind while shaking hands with the BJP. One is to rule the state & the other is to protect his family.
A young, tall, smart, US-educated Dushyant Chautala, Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana understands better how he can protect his beloved and respected father Ajay Chautala under the thumb of the BJP. He also understands that the BJP is a ‘Nirma Washing Powder ’now- a -days for all the corrupt political leaders in India.
Some of the erstwhile exceedingly corrupt Congress party leaders and other various political party leaders have joined the BJP to save their skin from the law-enforcing agencies. For instance, BJP Mukul Roy, BJP Narayan Rane, BJP Sushil Modi, BJP Giriraj Singh, BJP Janardhan Reddy are facing charges due to financial scams. They all defected their parent political party & joined the BJP. It is also a fact that the BJP that claims a party with difference seems to be a Heaven for all the corrupt political leaders. Social critics assert that whosoever will embrace the BJP, his or her sins will be washed away in the Maili Ganga. His or her corruption cases will be withdrawn or partially closed or no CBI or ED will be sent to his or her house to make a raid in the future. The NDA government under Prime Minister Modi did not dare to touch these BJP corrupt leaders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not get tired of blaming Gandhi Family until today for all ills of the country. Of course, there is a vast difference between speech and action.
Dushyant Chautala, 31, having Business Administration degree from California University will be the first young, dynamic Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana who earned unhappiness of the voters of Haryana by taking a stupid decision to shake hands with the BJP. The young, inexperienced Dushyant Chautala is not fully aware of the dirty, divisive politics of the BJP. Two things are certain, one is that Dushyant Chautalas Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) will be treated as a Junior Partner and the other is that the JJPs MLAs will be co-opted by the BJP sooner or later. It is certain that the BJP will encourage factionalism within the JJP.
Past track record of the BJP shows that the Regional political party Chiefs are not treated well by the BJP. Two examples are pertinent to refer here; Ram Das Athawale, President of Republican Party of India (A) once a loyal dog to Sharad Pawar, President of Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra and Mayawati of Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) swallowed by the BJP. Both shook hands with the BJP. Ram Das Athwale is an agent of BJP-Shiv Sena in Maharastra. Mayawati not only lost Dalit vote bank but also respect among the Dalit communities. The BJP powerful machinery backed by the rich businessmen and corporate houses in connivance with the RSS workers works day & night to use acid to destroy the roots of an opposition political party. Today both are a political trophy to be kept in the corner of a home.
The state of Haryana is sui generis, a sociological term used by Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist, in itself. The Jat community dominates the socio-cultural, socio-economic & socio-political spheres in the state. The Jat caste has a reasonable representation in almost all sectors like education, government services, police, etc. Agriculture landholding by the Jat community in Haryana rules the roost. Literacy among women in Haryana is still an issue to ponder over. Only 29 percent of women age 15-49 in the state have completed 12[ii]. 34 percent of women age 15-49 in Haryana have experienced physical or sexual violence[iii]. There is a substantial increase in crime under the Khattar BJP government in the state. According to National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), the state recorded 57.1 percent increase in crime rate in 2016(The Tribune, 23 Oct 2019). The practice of patriarchy in the state poses several challenges to the state social harmony. Honor killings in the state are quite prevalent. “Even marriages into the same gotra(same descendants & same lineage clan) have emerged as the causes of honor killings in the state. The role of community members, community elders & particularly the community Councils (such as Khap Panchayats) can be observed as patronizing the honor killings & protecting the killers. Honor Killings are majorly executed by the Jats in the state”[iv]. Despite, Betti Padhao, Betti bachao flagship programme, the girl child is not at all welcome by the members of the Jat community in New India of Narendra Modi.
The state of Haryana has been always in the headlines due to atrocities by the Jats against the Scheduled castes. The socio-economic conditions of the Scheduled Castes in the state of Haryana are worsening day by day. According to NCRB 2017report, a 19.24 percent increase has been reported in crimes against Scheduled Castes in Haryana. Surinder Singh Jodhka, teaching Sociology at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University explains, “Politically also the locally dominant communities did not care for support of Dalits. A Jat leader from the Haryana region, Sir Chhotu Ram of the Unionist Party, who acquired quite a prominence in the regional politics of Punjab during the pre-independence period, had once told some Dalits that he could not do anything for their welfare as it might offend the landowning Jats. He reportedly said:
I cannot annoy my own brothers to benefit you. If the zamindars do not stop these practices, I cannot do anything. If on this basis you want to deprive us of your votes do so, for it does not matter. The zamindars are numerically stronger than you in the villages[v].
The members of the Jat community practice caste discrimination against religious minorities. The communal threat, particularly to Muslims in the state, has increased manifold due to the existence of several Gau Rakshak Dals aided and abetted by the Bajrang Dal, VHP and the RSS. On 10 June 2016 in Faridabad district, Haryana, two Muslim men allegedly found transporting beef were forced to consume dung, urine, milk & curd by vigilantes who uploaded footage of the incident[vi]. Khattar during his first tenure, implemented Hindu holy text, the Bhagwad Gita in the Haryana school curriculum. The BJP under the Khattar government in the state succeeded to a larger extent to suppress the Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs & Christians in the state and pampered the vigilantes. Brahmins, Khatris get social preferences under the Khattar government in the state. Unemployment is high among the members of the religious minorities. Haryana is not a safe place for the poor Dalits, Muslims & Christians.
Real Estate market is quite volatile in the state of Haryana. The land prices in Gurugram are comparatively higher than in other districts of the state. The presence of multinational companies (MNCs), chain of foreign Five Star Hotels attracts the attention of wealthy people across India & abroad to invest money in the real estate market. In contemporary times, the Real Estate market in Gurugram especially get stuck up because of a larger number of court cases against Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) filed by the farmers.
Due to a perpetual rise in land prices, the farmers who sold their land to the HUDA 10 years back or their land acquired by the HUDA to redevelop the city of Gurugram, are coming back to reclaim more financial compensation for their land. Although, all the farmers were fully compensated by the HUDA as per the officials. In the hope of getting more money through the court cases, the farmers in connivance with the local lawyers or property dealers have made HUDA administration notorious. In addition to that, the Jat and Gujjar big landholders put pressure socially & politically on the ruling government to compensate more if they want their votes.
The majority of the residential sectors in Gurugram is under litigation. The nexus between the lawyers & property dealers have caused havoc in the life of the plot owners. For instance, Ill-reputed sector 57 in Gurugram District is again in the headlines because of litigation between the HUDA and Farmers. 10 years back, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) got land from the farmers and paid full financial compensation to them. After having full compensation, some farmers filed a court case against HUDA for more compensation. Under pressure, HUDA sent letters to the plot owners in Sector 57 Gurugram and demanded heavy enhancements two times which all the plot owners paid.
HUDA won the case in 2017 from the farmers. After winning the court case from the farmers, some plot owners were offered possessions in Sector 57 in 2018. After taking physical possession from the HUDA administration, some of the plot owners started construction. As ill-luck have it, the farmers and some unscrupulous, cunning lawyers provoked the farmers & filed once again a fresh court case against HUDA in 2019 and the Judge passed the STAY orders against the whole Sector-57, Gurugram, Haryana. After stay order by the court, the innocent plot owners are running from pillar to the post. The officials of the HUDA issued letters to all the plot owners to stop construction leaving behind all of them in the lurch. God knows when the Judge will remove this stay order and the innocent plot owners will resume construction and fulfill their dream of a sweet home[vii]. The intervention on behalf of the Khattar Government in the matter did not yield any positive result to date.
The state of Haryana has been facing great challenges due to the lethargic & prejudiced attitude of the public system. The general people in the state are the worst sufferers. Some of the issues such as the land mafia has been active in the state under the nose of Khattar government. Youths are frustrated due to the high rate of unemployment. Corruption is high despite the digitization of the public system. The touts are active in every government department of the state. Police administration is found prejudiced. The attitude of Police officials towards poor, helpless Dalits, Muslims & Christians is partial. These are some of the burning issues that need to be addressed on priority. Against this backdrop, voters of Haryana including poor Dalits, Muslims,Sikhs & Christians expect of a young, US graduate Dushyant Chautala with impartial mind and heart to focus on these issues. It is hoped that Dushyant shall make sincere & honest efforts to provide a clean and corruption-free administration. I further hope that the BJP will not disown this young man like Mehbooba Mufti of PDP (Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party).
Dr. Rahul Kumar is an independent researcher and senior media columnist. His research & writing interest extend to macro social, economic, political & international affairs. The views expressed by the author in this article are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the paper.
REFERENCES
[i] https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/jjp-leader-dushyant-chautala-s-father-ajay-chautala-granted-furlough/story-YhF4iHE85UnymxIGyNlwUL.html, accessed on 27 Oct 2019.
[ii] National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), published by International Institute for Population Sciences, Haryana (2015-16), Deonar, Mumbai.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Deol, Satnam Singh. (2014). Honor Killings in Haryana State, India: A Content Analysis, International Journal of Criminal Justice (IJCJS), July-Dec issue, Vol.9(2), pp.192-208.
[v] Jodhka, Surinder Singh & Dhar, Murli. (2003). Cow, Caste, Dalit Killings in Jhajjar, Economic & Political Weekly, Jan 18-24, pp.174-176.
[vi] ‘Muslim beef transporter, beaten forced to eat cow dung by Gau Rakshak Dal. Available at https://www.india.com/news/india/muslim-beef-transporters-beaten-forced-to-eat-cow-dung-by-gau-rakshak-dal-1293215/, accessed 27Oct, 2019.
[vii] ttps://www.hindustantimes.com/gurgaon/after-10-years-huda-offers-possession-of-plots-in-sector-57/story-zhfCoT2Q0uivDKjevy2CJP.html, accessed on 27 Oct 2019.
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