Farmers, athletes, soldiers: BJP upset Haryana’s 3 pillars, and they can decide polls

Farmers, sportspersons, soldiers — Haryana has three major pillars of strength. And the BJP has managed to hit each one in a place that hurts. Dhan Prakash Singh, a 53-year-old farmer, perfectly summed up the mood in the state ahead of the October 5 Assembly elections.

“First, our farmers were attacked. Then, our athletes were beaten up at Jantar Mantar. We cannot forget it. The athletes win medals for the country. They do not belong to any political party,” said the farmer from Teya village in Gannaur constituency.

And though the BJP-led central government has taken measures in the past two months to control the damage inflicted by Agnipath, the anger and confusion over the controversial military recruitment scheme are yet to die down.

BJP’s downward slide

The downward slide of the BJP’s fortunes in Haryana was already visible during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, when the party could win only five of the state’s 10 seats.

It was the BJP’s worst performance in Haryana since 2014, when it could not win all the seats but formed a majority government on its own for the first time in the state.

In 2019, it went on to win all 10 seats in the Lok Sabha battle and retained the majority in the Assembly polls despite losing seven seats compared to 2014.

Uphill task

Now, with only 15 days to go for the state polls, protests by farmers, athletes, and aspiring soldiers are haunting the BJP leadership.

The BJP leaders may be fervently hoping for a third consecutive term in government, but the task will be an uphill one for the ruling party, which is facing a 10-year anti-incumbency plus the ire of the people because of its decisions taken in the past few years.

Battle over MSP

Seven months after farmers laid siege on the outskirts of Delhi to demand a law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for their produce, those in Haryana feel the Centre did not act on their demand and they only got fake assurances from both the state and Union governments.

“It would be wrong to say that only farmers from Punjab protested outside Delhi and demanded a legal guarantee for MSP. Even the farmers of Haryana want a legal guarantee for MSP,” said Surendra Singh Rana, a rice farmer at the Gharaunda wholesale market for grains.

“The government claims that all farmers get MSP. If that is the case, there should be no harm in giving a legal guarantee for something the farmers are already getting! Even the government knows that farmers do not get MSP all the time. Sometimes, the price of our produce, such as wheat and rice, is much lower than the MSP,” he added.

National heroes

The road between Delhi and Ambala grabbed the attention of the entire country two years ago and again earlier this year when farmers from Punjab and Haryana marched towards Delhi to demand a legal guarantee on the MSP. The cities that lie on NH-1 have given two BJP chief ministers to Haryana in the past 10 years. Now, people are asking what those chief ministers did when the wrestlers were protesting at Jantar Mantar last year.

“How can we forget that our athletes were beaten up at Jantar Mantar? How do we forget our daughters — our pride and national heroes — were dragged on the road when they were protesting? The statements of BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh still hurt us,” said Raghubir Singh Deswal, a 28-year-old farmer from Karhans village in Samalkha constituency.

Several female wrestlers, including star athletes such as Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, had accused Brij Bhushan of sexual harassment last year, and their fellow Olympian wrestler Bajrang Punia had been at the forefront of the protest along with them. Both Phogat and Punia are Congress candidates in the forthcoming polls.

Anger over inaction

Though Brij Bhushan was removed as the Wrestling Federation of India chief after prolonged protest, no other action was taken against him. “The BJP leadership should have taken action against Brij Bhushan. He should have been arrested. Our daughters were beaten up; it is obvious that people will be angry,” Deswal added.

Villagers believe that former chief minister ML Khattar and present chief minister Nayab Singh Saini should have raised their voice against their fellow BJP leader, Brij Bhushan.

“Athletes are our national heroes. They do not have any caste, nor they do not belong to any political party. They win medals for the country. It is not about any political party, but the protesters were our children. We expected the Haryana government to protect our athletes but it did not happen. These days, television shows everything live and the entire state saw our athletes being beaten up,” said Jasmer Singh Dhiman, a 62-year-old farmer from Samalkha.

Agniveer row

Coming to the contentious Agnipath scheme, the road ahead for the short-term recruits in the armed forces seems far from clear despite several remedial measures taken by the Centre and BJP-ruled states. With the Centre declaring that only 25 per cent of Agniveers will be allowed to continue in the force after serving for only four years, there is widespread disillusionment about the scheme.

“I have told my son not to try to join the Army. He will instead try to join the Haryana or Delhi Police. What is the point of becoming jobless after four years? It’s better to join the police. There is no pension benefit; how will my son get married? The government should end this scheme,” said Ranjit Singh of Bastara village in Gharaunda constituency.

To limit its losses, the Centre has taken some measures in the past two months after receiving suggestions and complaints from senior BJP leaders and also from partners in the NDA. It has now decided to reserve 10 per cent posts in paramilitary organisations for retired Agniveers. Some BJP-ruled states, including Haryana, have also followed suit with this reservation plan.

But that has failed to impress the people. Some feel the recruits themselves should have the choice to either continue or leave. “I am in favour of compulsory army training to all youth. It is done in some countries and should happen in India also. After serving in military for a few years, these soldiers should get the option to either continue or leave. But the government has reserved the right to decide who can continue and who will be asked to go. This is not fair,” said Anil Kumar, a 30-year-old wheat farmer in Gharaunda.

BJP’s worry

Senior BJP leaders are also a worried lot. They fear that if the party cannot return to government on its own or as part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition in Haryana, opposition parties, especially the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), will use these issues to create problems for the Centre for the next five years at least.

“We are confident that the BJP will form the government on its own in Haryana,” claimed Harjit Singh Grewal, senior BJP leader from Haryana. “The government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked for farmers, and there has been a record increase in MSP. The new Haryana chief minister, Nayab Singh Saini, has done good work in the state, and our situation is improving every day. PM Modi’s popularity is immense in Haryana,” he told The Federal.

Anti-incumbency factor

However, political analysts believe anti-incumbency is a major roadblock for the BJP barring the three major factors.

“Just before the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, the BJP leadership removed ML Khattar and brought in Saini as the chief minister. The decision was made to tackle anti-incumbency. However, the move has not given the desired results to the BJP. The problem is even more severe for the party because of the protests by farmers, wrestlers, and Agniveer aspirants,” Balram Sharma, political science professor at DAV College, Karnal, told The Federal.

“All these issues can decide the outcome of the elections,” he signed off.