OBC push: How BJP is making Haryana poll-ready for 2024

With just six months to go for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is realigning its presence in Haryana.

As a key step, the ruling party is trying to consolidate both its social and electoral position by going back to its core voter base that has helped it retain power for nearly a decade —the Other Backward Classes, or OBCs. Recently, the BJP’s central leadership decided to appoint Nayab Singh Saini, a senior OBC leader, as the head of its Haryana unit. This influential community has been instrumental in helping Prime Minister Narendra Modi win elections for the past 10 years and also transforming the voter base of the BJP.

The recent decision to remove senior leader OP Dhankar from the post of Haryana state president comes just months before the Lok Sabha polls. Dhankar, who was earlier a minister in the Haryana government, belongs to the dominant Jat community, which can play a decisive role in Haryana politics.

Jat power

“The appointment of Nayab Singh Saini as the party president of Haryana is a calculated step by the BJP because he belongs to the OBC community and has a good equation with Chief Minister ML Khattar. It is an election year, and the BJP will want to repeat its dominant electoral performance in Haryana by winning a majority of the seats. So, it is important that the two most important leaders, the chief minister and party president, have greater understanding between them, and there is no friction between the CM and the state president,” said a senior BJP leader in the know of the development.

The move to appoint a non-Jat leader in Haryana is interesting because, in the past 10 years, the BJP has successfully managed to change the politics of Haryana by relying on the support of a non-Jat voter base both in the 2014 and the 2019 Assembly elections. During the 2014 Assembly elections, of the 47 seats won by the BJP in Haryana, at least 29 MLAs were non-Jats.

“Earlier, there was a balance, as the chief minister belonged to a non-Jat community and the state president was a senior Jat leader in Haryana. But now, both posts have gone to non-Jats. However, it is unfair to say that Jats have not been given importance. The former state president, OP Dhankar, has been made national secretary and given a national role in the party. It is true that he has been removed from the post, but he has also been given a national role,” the BJP leader added.

Demand for caste census

The demand for a caste-based survey in the state is also gaining strength in Haryana before the crucial polls, as, apart from Congress, smaller regional parties are also demanding that the state government take the lead on the issue and announce a caste-based survey in Haryana.

Apart from Congress, the issue is being led by smaller regional parties like the Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP). Its chief, Raj Kumar Saini, is a former MP from the BJP. Speaking at a public meeting in Rohtak recently, Saini categorically stated that there should be a caste-based survey in Haryana, as it happened in Bihar, so that there is greater clarity on the population of different communities.

While the BJP leadership is struggling to deal with the growing demand for caste census by Opposition parties and members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), there is another challenge for the BJP in Haryana. Ahead of the election season, senior leaders of the BJP suspect that the issue of the Jat reservation is also likely to resurface in Haryana.

Members of the BJP feel that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys immense support from the Jat voter base, the votes of the community could get divided between the BJP, Congress, and smaller regional parties that also try to get votes from the Jat community. Senior leaders of the BJP feel that the charisma of PM Modi and the alliance with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), led by Dushyant Chautala, will be able to attract Jat voters towards the NDA.

“We know that there is a section that feels that our support base is limited to Jat, but it is very unfair to define us in such a manner. Our main voter base is the youth and women, with a clear focus on development. Our appeal to people has always been to support us irrespective of caste and religion,” said Prateek Som, senior leader and national spokesperson of JJP.

Challenges before BJP

Realising that the NDA alliance members are in favour of a caste census and that growing demand for reservation by the Jat and Maratha community in Haryana and Maharashtra could become a major challenge in the coming weeks, BJP leaders called a meeting of its top leadership in New Delhi on Thursday (November 2) evening to look for ways to reach out to the OBC community and consolidate its voter base.

During the discussion, the issue of caste census came up, and the senior leaders of the BJP believe that they are in a tricky situation nationally because the party had agreed to conduct a caste census in Bihar when it was in power with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, but in other states, BJP leaders are not in favour of such a move.

“The problem is that the BJP agreed to conduct a caste census in Bihar, but in all other states, the party leadership is not in favour. So, the problem for the BJP is that we cannot have different rules for different states on the issue of a caste census. The demand for Jat and Maratha reservations will again come back to haunt us because elections are coming and both of these groups know that political parties will ask them for their support. It is not an easy situation,” said a senior BJP leader in the know of the development.

Pan-India outreach

Taking note of the growing demand for caste census from allies and reservation demand by Jats and Marathas, the BJP has now decided to hold pan-India outreach for the OBC community to consolidate its core voter base before the crucial polls. Senior leaders of the BJP believe that it is important for people to understand that the Opposition was using the issue for electoral purposes.

“The fact is that caste cannot be included in the census as per the Constitution; so, the entire promise of the opposition parties is wrong. The census can only be carried out by the Union government and caste is not part of it, so this demand by opposition parties is being made to misguide people purposely. We will hold road shows, public meetings, and door-to-door campaigns in all the states to inform people about it,” the BJP leader added.