Gurugram: Alarmed by Jat and Scheduled Caste (SC) voters coming together in support of the INDIA bloc candidates in Haryana in this year’s Lok Sabha polls, Chief Minister Nayab Saini has initiated measures to reach out to the Dalits, including speedy implementation of government schemes, as assembly polls are due in the state this October.
The BJP, in power in the state and at the Centre, won five of Haryana’s 10 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress, which is leading the INDIA bloc, won the remaining five. The BJP had previously swept all 10 seats.
Now, with just three months left for the assembly polls, both parties have launched urgent efforts to target those voters who have drifted away but can be won back.
Former CM and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda is said to have told party MLAs to increase efforts to win over especially urban voters who chose the BJP in large numbers this election, as well as the OBCs. Focus on the latter comes in the wake of the BJP’s OBC push — induction of two OBC ministers (Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Lal Gurjar) in the third Modi cabinet, and replacement of Manohar Lal Khattar with Saini, an OBC, this March.
Saini Tuesday posted pictures on social media showing him presiding over a meeting with officials, reviewing the implementation of schemes for the SCs.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Saini said he had given orders to convene a joint meeting of officials from the Social Justice, Empowerment, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes and Antyodaya (SEWA) department and the higher education department at the earliest to release the pending amount of the post-matric scholarship for SC students from the previous year.
From this year onward, the scholarship amount should be disbursed at the time of admission to prevent students from facing financial difficulties in continuing their education due to delay in disbursement, he told officials.
Under the Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme, SC students with an annual family income of less than Rs 2.5 lakh are eligible to apply. The scheme is implemented in a 60:40 ratio between the central and state governments.
The Haryana CM also said that under the Mukhyamantri Vivah Shagun Yojna — in which SC families are provided financial aid of Rs 71,000 for their daughters’ wedding — Rs 61,000 should be disbursed at the time of registration itself.
Saini said that under the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Awas Navinikaran Yojna, the state provides financial assistance of Rs 80,000 for the repair of houses for poor families. He said he had directed officials to complete the verification process of applications received under this scheme promptly and to release the financial aid soon.
Saini Monday handed over possession letters of 100-yard plots to 7,500 poor, deprived and Dalits. He also posted pictures of the event on X.
According to Saini, Khattar had announced in the 2024-25 budget speech that under the Mukhyamantri Gramin Aawas Yojana, possession of plots would be given to 20,000 beneficiaries. He said that those left out would be compensated with Rs 1 lakh each due to the paucity of plots.
Reacting to the Saini government’s outreach, Hooda, Leader of the Opposition, told ThePrint Wednesday that fearing a complete washout in the assembly polls, the BJP had been reminded of the 100-yard plot scheme.
“The scheme was started during the Congress government (under Hooda), and free plots of 100 yards were distributed to about 4 lakh poor, SC and OBC families,” he said.
He further said that the “Congress planned to give these plots to more than 7 lakh families, but the BJP stopped the scheme as soon as it came to power (in 2014)”.
“For 10 years, the BJP deprived poor people of their plots. By stopping this scheme, the BJP snatched the right of 100 square yards plots from more than 3 lakh families. The BJP should apologise to all the poor, SC and OBC families for this,” he added.
The former CM assured that if the Congress came to power in Haryana, the scheme would be relaunched and “beneficiaries would be given a two-room permanent house on a 100-yard plot”.
While a Congress legislator had told ThePrint that Hooda directed party MLAs at a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party Monday to check the BJP’s OBC push and reach out to urban voters, the former Haryana CM played it down.
“All sections of society irrespective of the urban and rural divide and cutting across castes and religions want the BJP government in Haryana to go because they are fed up with its misgovernance,” he told ThePrint.
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Dalit worry, Jat anger
The SCs in Haryana are believed to have voted against the ruling party in large numbers this time because of apprehensions over changes in the Constitution if the BJP-led NDA came to power with 400-plus seats.
The anger of Jats against the BJP government, on the other hand, is because of multiple factors, including farmers’ unrest, the Agnipath scheme for recruitments to the armed forces, and the wrestlers’ protest against alleged sexual harassment by a party MP.
According to various estimates, Jats comprise 20-22 percent of the population in Haryana while Dalits make up 20-21 percent. Together, the Jats and Dalits account for over 40 percent of the electorate.
Speaking to ThePrint on condition of anonymity, a senior BJP leader said that the party was to blame for the Jat anger because issues like farmers’ unrest and wrestlers’ protests could have been dealt with on priority basis and in a different manner.
“The BJP has never given indications that the party wants Jat votes. Had the party wanted Jat votes, it would not have removed its state president O.P. Dhankar months before the parliamentary polls when he was performing well. The party didn’t consider one of its senior-most Jat leaders Captain Abhimanyu for the Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha ticket from his home district of Hisar,” he said.
The leader added that any political party can’t afford to ignore the Jats in Haryana if it wants to win an election.
“Jat voters are the deciding factor on nearly 40 assembly seats in Haryana. In 2014, the INLD and Congress won 19 and 15 seats, respectively, mostly those where Jats were the deciding factor. At the same time, the BJP’s Jat leaders Captain Abhimanyu, Dhankar, Subhash Barala, Naresh Kaushik, Raghbir Singh, Prem Lata, and Mahipal Dhanda also won from Jat-dominated seats. In 2019, the Congress won 31 seats, of which nearly 25 were in Jat-dominated seats. The JJP won 10, INLD 1, and 3 went to Independents in Jat-dominated seats,” said the leader.
“This time, the (former BJP ally) JJP and INLD are at their lowest with just 0.87 percent and 1.84 percent vote share, respectively, in the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP will have a tough time in stopping the Congress on the seats where Jats are the deciding factor.”
Sanjay Sharma, Haryana spokesperson of the BJP, however, told ThePrint that the party had the support of all communities.
“The BJP believes in taking all 36 biradaris (36 communities living in Haryana) together and the state government’s policies are aimed at benefitting all. The BJP got the support of all 36 biradaris in the Lok Sabha polls, and in the assembly polls, the party will perform even better,” he said.
In the parliamentary elections, BJP candidates had got huge leads in urban assembly segments. Except for Congress leaders Deepender Hooda from Rohtak and Kumari Selja from Sirsa, who led their rivals in rural as well as urban assembly segments, all other Congress candidates trailed behind their BJP rivals in urban assembly segments despite winning their seats.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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