BITTER HARVEST

BJP is at the receiving end of the Jat ire in Haryana; Congress is cashing in on it

- MOHIT SHARMA

The farmers’ protests in 2021 and earlier this year dominate the Lok Sabha election battle in the Jat heartland. And it will have a bearing on the ten constituencies in Haryana that go to the polls on May 25. While the Congress is trying to make a comeback by consolidating the Jat votes, the BJP’s effort is to turn the contest into a Jat vs non-Jat fight by making sure that its primary vote banks of upper castes, dalits and OBCs stay intact.

The polls became wide open after three independent legislators withdrew their support to the Nayab Singh Saini-led NDA government on May 7. Although the political uncertainty caused by this is unlikely to have much impact on the Lok Sabha polls, it has further localised the general elections. “The developments in the state assembly have, in a way, gotten Haryana rolling for the state elections scheduled in October,” said Professor Rajendra Sharma, head of department of political science, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak. “Unusually for the state, there is intermingling of general and state elections with local and national issues with a lot of overlaps reflecting in the political calculations being done by the parties.”

At the heart of these strategic adjustments is one resounding question: who will the Jats vote for? They are a fourth of the state’s population and one of the most influential electoral groups. The community has a strong presence in about 36 assembly seats and at least four Lok Sabha constituencies.