BJP hopes development, aces caste vote

In Haryana it is said that caste plays an important role. But the BJP is hoping that the electorate thinks of good governance and development (like they did during the Lok Sabha polls) on October 15. The BJP’s star campaigner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been highlighting how the state has gone down many notches and is definitely not “Number 1 Haryana” as promoted by the Congress.

BJP leaders, including Mr Modi, are highlighting a range of issues from dynastic politics to the law and order situation to crime against women to misrule of Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s government for 10 years. The BJP is also relying on the “anti-incumbency wave”, which its poll managers claim is “very much evident”. The BJP is also highlighting “irregularities” in Congress president’s son-in-law Robert Vadra’s land deals and how the Hooda government bent rules to benefit “one family”.

The caste factor is being seen as a major hurdle for the BJP. Not only this, lack of effective leadership and hardly any saffron presence in rural areas is also giving its poll managers some unease. The BJP’s opponents are questioning opinion polls, most of which are showing it as the largest party, saying if it was such a major player it would not had to “borrow” a candidates from other political outfits.

“The BJP is committed to provide good governance and development. Look at the development graph of BJP-ruled states. Time has come to end 10 years of malgovernance and corruption of the Congress,” said BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

While the Jats are considered as one of the dominant castes, dalit votes play an important role. The BJP has no prominent leader in either community. Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD, which made an impressive comeback in 2009, has a strong support base among the Jats. Hooda, a Jat, is concentrating the party’s campaign in the Jat-dominated areas but analysts feel the Jat vote, this time, will fluctuate more towards the INLD. Former chief minister Chautala senior is convicted for 10 years in the teachers’ recruitment scandal and campaigned while out of jail on health grounds.

For the BJP, the INLD’s strong support base is seen as a “major trouble”. While the BJP leaders are leaving no chance to attack the INLD over corruption, nepotism, dynastic politics during campaigning, poll pundits see it as the BJP’s strategy to woo the INLD’s “disgruntled” Jat votes.

There is speculation that the BJP might have to go for a post-poll understanding with the INLD, which also happens to be its former ally. “We might not have a strong base among Jats or even dalits in the state but one thing is for sure, the crowd which comes to listen to our leaders, mainly Modiji, is ever larger than what we had seen during the Lok Sabha elections. Feedback that we are receiving from our cadres has shown that people want the same level of development, employment, opportunities and facilities that other states are getting. Modiji himself is a shinning example of what the BJP government can provide the state, which is mostly in news for wrong reasons,” said a senior BJP leader involved in the party’s poll strategy in Haryana.

Interestingly, the BJP ally SAD is campaigning for the INLD in the state as both have common core votebank.The SAD had in fact campaigned against Kuldeep Bishnoi’s HJC during the Lok Sabha elections. The HJC later quit the BJP-led NDA-fold and is now contesting alone. There are other small players as well.