Jawan-Kisan-Pehelwan Challenge BJP In Haryana

Much to the consternation of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the Pehelwan (wrestler) factor has started working as a multiplier of the anger being voiced by the Kisan (farmer) and Jawan (aspiring soldiers) in poll bound Haryana.

Olympians wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia joining the Congress, and Phogat being fielded by the grand old party from Julana constituency has added to the BJP’s woes in the state. In Haryana BJP is battling heavy anti incumbency, the anger of the people, as well as infighting among its cardres.

An interesting scenario is on the cards in this state, which is known as the political barometer for the country. The anger of the farmers on the failure of the BJP regime at the Centre to address their concern, resentment against the Agniveer scheme of recruitment in the defence forces, and the anger over the treatment meted out to the women wrestlers from the state over their fight against their alleged sexual exploitation, have all combined to become a major headache for the BJP in the state.

Sources on the ground say that Vinesh Phogat’s entry into electoral politics has worked as a force multiplier as she is seen more as a face against the women’s suppression than as a mere woman sportsperson. She has gained traction for her role in the agitation against the Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

The perception among the people around ‘mishandling’ of her disqualification in the finals of the recent Paris Olympic that was accompanied by the massive trolling by the right wing elements is coming home to bite the BJP in the state where it has been in power for the last one decade.

“With your love we will win every battle. Just like I faced every challenge in the wrestling arena, similarly I will overcome this new battle with the blessings of my loved ones. The biggest medal for me now is to fulfil the responsibility of my community and my people. That pain was left behind the day I touched the soil of my country. Now, it is time to take every step forward with your love and blessings,” she posted on social media.

Responding to the appointment of Bajrang Punia in the Kisan Congress she tweeted, “Heartiest congratulations to my fellow struggler @BajrangPunia ji on joining the

@INCIndia party and becoming the working president of the Kisan Congress in the Indian National Congress.

“I have full faith that under your leadership, the Kisan Congress will work tirelessly to solve every issue of the farmers and for their progress. The fight that we have fought together for the rights of women and sports persons will continue in the future as well.

“With your support, we will fight a decisive battle in the interest of the people and farmers of the country, and will work to win it. All the best on this new journey and as always, you have my support.”

That Vinesh Phogat ‘s entry in the electoral battle is an important factor can be gauged from the reported warning given by the BJP to Brij Bhushan against commenting on her as well as Bajrang Punia.

“People see her joining the Congress as a logical culmination of what she and the other wrestlers were meted out by the BJP and the entire right wing ecosystem. They see it as a positive sign,” Kavita Vidrohi, an activist and a keen observer with an ear to the ground in Haryana, disclosed.

The saffron party already stood on the back foot ahead of these assembly polls when it lost five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the recent Parliamentary polls. The party along with its ally had won all the 10 seats in 2014 and by itself in 2019.

Observers, however, feel that the Congress needs to get over its ‘complacency’ and factionalism if it wants to come to power. The failure of the Congress to accommodate the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Left to fight as Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) is also being taken by a pinch of salt by many who feel that the goal should have been not to only defeat the BJP but to isolate it, a message that had gone down during the recent Parliamentary polls.

Observers further point out that the BJP’s game plan of caste polarisation does not seem to be working in the face of heavy anti-incumbency. It needs to be pointed out that the BJP had gone for a change of guard in March this year by replacing Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the Chief Minister in a bid to beat anti-incumbency on one side and play up the other backward caste (OBC) on the other. In the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly polls the caste polarisation that had followed the Jat reservation stir had worked to the advantage of the BJP.

Observers say that at this point of time massive unemployment followed by agrarian crisis and continuing deterioration of law and order have snowballed into a massive anti incumbency for the ruling party and anger against it. Things have come to a pass that the people are no longer looking at these in isolation.

The city of Hisar was witness to a well attended Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat that was jointly organised by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and trade unions.

“This was a unique event that also saw participation of farm labour including women as well as government employees. The response was very good and we plan to organise more such Mahapanchayats across the state,” disclosed senior All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) Inderjit Singh to this reporter.

The participants at the Hisar event expressed their firm resolve to teach BJP a lesson in the forthcoming assembly elections to the Haryana assembly. Singh added that the participants displayed their unity based on common issues related to livelihood and social harmony ‘under threat from the divisive and pro corporate policies of the BJP’.

The participants resolved to launch a statewide campaign to ‘oppose and expose the misdeeds committed during the ten year rule of BJP’. This campaign is scheduled to be launched on September 17 by holding village level Kisan Mazdoor Panchayats and making door to contact with all sections of the people.

Singh added that the ‘anti corporate and communal character of the BJP’ will be exposed.

The speakers appealed to the participants not to forget the 750 martyrs who had to sacrifice their lives during the 13 months agitation against the three farm laws enacted to ‘hand over agriculture to the corporate sector’.

The resolution at the event asked the farmers and workers to remain vigilant against the designs of the ruling party to polarise the electorate on communal and caste lines for diverting the attention of people from its ‘misdeeds’ and the deception in the matter of not honouring the M.S. Swaminathan formula on minimum support price (MSP) for legal guarantee of purchase of farm produce.

Pointing at the recent spurt in violent attacks by cow vigilantes in Badhra and Faridabad where an innocent youth Aryan Mishra was killed by the so called cow protection squads, the speakers said that this was a wakeup call to foil this nefarious game firmly maintaining the unity.

“The ten years rule of BJP denied the main demands of legal guarantee of purchase of all crops at MSP for farmers, loan waiver, minimum salary of Rs 26,000 for workers, recruitment for permanent jobs, regularisation of temporary employees including scheme workers, 200 days of work and Rs 600 daily wages in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), restoration of old pension scheme for employees, abolition of anti-people provisions in the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhitha (BNS) and an end to repression on the worker-farmer movements. These demands will also be further raised prominently in the upcoming assembly elections,” said an SKM spokesperson.

It was also decided to observe Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh’s Jayanti on September 28 as ‘Anti-Corporate, Anti- Imperialist Day’ during which seminars and symposia will be held besides torchlight processions in the evening.

Playing up on the issue of employment the Congress has assured the youth agitating for completion of pending recruitments that their wait will soon end. Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda who is leading the Congress charge said recently that “as soon as the Congress government is formed, the recruitments put on hold by the BJP will be completed with immediate effect.

“The pending results will be released without delay and the pending joining will also be completed promptly.” He was responding to the submission of a memorandum by the candidates demanding completion of recruitments.

Hooda said that this memorandum was not a demand for the Congress but a right of the candidates. Hooda further promised that the Congress government will also start the process of one lakh new recruitments.

Accusing the BJP of making the youth yearn for jobs, Hooda said ,“The few recruitments that have taken place have also been done by the youth through the courts. Despite this, the BJP often shows that it has done a favour to the youth. The Congress government will fulfil this responsibility with full honesty and will recruit qualified youth to more than two lakh vacant posts in different departments.”

Another emotive issue being taken up by Hooda is the rising menace of drugs. Holding BJP responsible for pushing the youth of the state into the quagmire of drugs, Hooda claimed that the youth of the state are dying every day due to drug abuse but the government is not taking any action against smugglers.

He claimed the government statistics show that more than one lakh people are reaching hospitals every year due to drug abuse. “In Sirsa alone, 65 people have died due to drug overdose in two years. More than 400 people have lost their lives due to drug overdose during BJP rule. Dozens of people have died due to poisonous liquor.

“The report of the Narcotics Control Bureau has revealed that 13 out of 22 districts of the state are badly affected by drug addiction,” he claimed in a recent interaction with representatives of different social organisations.

Hooda said that till 2014, the number of people reaching hospitals due to drug addiction was 1400 which has now increased to more than 35 thousand in Sirsa alone.

Senior Congress leader Kumari Selja has also been attacking the BJP on paper leaks. In a recent statement she said that Haryana is the only state where a record has been set in paper leaks and there is no such exam which has not been disrupted due to some reason or the other.

“The paper leak everywhere in government recruitments has exposed the BJP's examination system and corruption. It has ruined the dreams and hard work of the youth. The BJP is sure to be swept away on account of this,” she claimed.

Apart from the failure of the BJP to address the core issue of legal guarantee on MSP, she also attacked the saffron party on the increasing input cost of agriculture.

Selja, a former Union Minister pointed out that the Congress government never imposed taxes on agriculture while the Narendra Modi government reduced the weight of fertiliser bags from 50 kg to 40 kg and decreased the nitrogen content, leading to increased usage and expenses for the farmers.

She further said that the electricity prices for farmers have risen and despite cheaper crude oil, diesel prices have not been reduced further increasing the cost of farming. “This shows that the BJP government has consistently conspired to empty the pockets of farmers,” she said while accusing the BJP of deceiving the people.

Advising the people not to fall for such ‘tricks’ as in the past 10 years, she said the BJP government in the state has neither shown courage nor made efforts to advocate for the people of Haryana before the central government.

Selja went on to say that the BJP government first snatched employment from the people and now the rising inflation is not allowing them to live peacefully. She said the government is not taking any steps to curb inflation and people involved in black marketing are busy emptying the pockets of the public.

“The biggest reason for inflation is the price of petrol and diesel, when the price of crude oil is falling in the international market, the government does not reduce the price of oil and as soon as the price of petrol and diesel rises the prices are increased.

“This can only be called an atrocity on the public. The prices of food items, vegetables and fruits are increasing in the market. All this is happening due to the poor policies of the government,” she added.

Meanwhile, the BJP leadership is hitting back at the Congress in the same tone. Chief Minister Saini has been leading the charge till now as no central leader of consequence barring his predecessor Khattar has come to campaign in the state yet. Modi is expected to start addressing rallies later this week.

Saini has been claiming on social media, “Will take oath later after I make 25000 youths join their jobs.” He has also been claiming that the BJP government in the state gave employment to 1.43 government jobs without ‘Parch Kharchi’ (bribe).

The BJP has chosen to attack Hooda in particular in its campaign. The party has been attacking Hooda on every front. It is particularly on the offensive over the Congress warming up to the Dalits raking up the Mirchpur massacre where Valmiki community houses had been torched in April 2010 reportedly by the upper caste people.

The Delhi High Court had in 2018 reportedly held 20 people guilty of burning alive a 60-year-old Dalit man, and his differently abled daughter in the episode.

“The same Congress which is pretending to be pro-Dalit as the elections are approaching, is the same Congress which burnt a Dalit father and daughter alive in Mirchpur and burnt down Dalit settlements in Gohana.

“This is the same Congress under whose misrule Dalits were tortured every 18 minutes and no hearing was held anywhere. Haryana has not forgotten that terror-filled period of Bhupinder Hooda,” the party has posted on twitter.

There are a series of posts on the issue talking about Haryana not having forgotten the Mirchpur assault that had resulted in the people migrating from the village.

Interestingly Saini has been fielded from Ladwa seat in Kurukshetra district instead of his previous seat of Karnal. Meanwhile the state unit chief Mohanlal Badoli has announced that he will not be contesting the forthcoming polls given his organisational responsibilities. He is presently the first time MLA from Rai seat in Sonepat district.

The party that once claimed to be a disciplined force is facing problems in containing the rebellion in the ranks over the distribution of tickets. The phenomenon till now has mainly been associated with the Congress. Interestingly it has fielded some of the turncoats coming from its erstwhile ally Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) causing a lot of heartburn among the party ranks that feel that dedicated party workers have the first right over party tickets to contest elections.