Updated: October 6, 2020 10:16:45 pm
Dushyant Chautala interacts with farmers in Sirsa. (File / PTI)
Haryana’s young Senior Deputy Minister Dushyant Chautala and his Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) have been much more in farmers’ line of fire and Opposition on the contentious new farm laws than the BJP, the largest partner in the state’s ruling alliance.
On Tuesday (October 6), farmers from all over Haryana Gheraoed Dushyant residence in Sirsa demanding his resignation.
Why is a leader who once drove to Parliament in a dramatic show of solidarity with farmers the target of your ire today? And why do Dushyant and the JJP receive more criticism than the BJP in Haryana?
What is Dushyant Chautala’s claim to be a leader in the farming community?
In December 2017, Dushyant, then the 29-year-old INLD MP from Hisar, drove a green-colored tractor to Parliament to protest against certain changes to the Rules of the Motor Vehicle Law, which he claimed were against the interests of farmers.
Dushyant argued that changing the status from tractor to simply “farm vehicle” vehicle would mean that tractors would become more expensive and farmers would have to pay a toll to use them on the roads.
As a young MP, Dushyant Chautala drew attention when he drove a tractor to Parliament in support of farmers on December 15, 2017. (File / Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey)
Dushyant’s action and the way he raised the issues of farmers in Lok Sabha brought him a lot of goodwill and support among rural Haryana voters.
So what has changed in less than three years, that the farmers of Haryana are now seeking his resignation?
Dushyant and JJP are offshoots of Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). The original party, bearing the legacy of Chaudhary Devi Lal, had a large vote bank in the rural town of Haryana. This bank of votes split after Chautala’s sons, Ajay and Abhay, decided to go their separate ways politically.
Led by their father Ajay, Dushyant and his younger brother Digvijay formed a new political group, the JJP, in January 2019, about 10 months before Haryana went to the Assembly elections.
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From the beginning, Dushyant and his party repeatedly proclaimed that farmers and youth would be their top priority, and they sought votes from the traditional rural vote bank of the Chautala clan on behalf of Devi Lal, who had been one of the highest agricultural leaders in the country. India.
However, when the Center passed the three agricultural ordinances and subsequently moved to bring in the Bills who were seen as anti-farmers, Dushyant, after initially remaining silent, defended the proposed legislation. This enraged farmers who expected the senior vice minister to protest the BJP’s decision, and perhaps even leave the government and join the protests.
And why is the Opposition targeting Dushyant?
The 2019 Haryana elections produced a hung Assembly; the BJP won 40 seats and Congress 31, and neither party was in a position to form a government on its own in the 90-member Chamber.
Farmers protest near the residence of Haryana’s Chief Deputy Minister Dushyant Chautala in Sirsa on October 6 (Express photo by Manoj Dhaka)
In this situation, the JJP with its 10 seats emerged as the kingmaker. Business was done and Dushyant got the post of Deputy CM, while one of his MLA, Anoop Dhanak, was appointed Minister of State in the government of Manohar Lal Khattar’s BJP-JJP alliance.
But things did not go well between the allies. At least two JJP MLAs, Ramkumar Gautam and Devender Babli, who used to be confidants of Dushyant, have opened fronts against the Deputy CM, and a few others could follow. Some of the Dushyant MLAs are being observed by Congress and the INLD.
An independent MLA, Balraj Kundu, who had withdrawn support for the government after accusing the BJP-JJP of protecting the corrupt, has backed the farmers. Kundu led the Dushyant residence farmers’ gherao on Tuesday.
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As the farmers’ protest continues and anger rises in the villages, the opposition Congress smells an opportunity to destabilize the coalition government. Congressional sources stated that at least five BJP MLAs are in contact with the congressional leadership.
“They (the BJP rebels) are waiting for the Baroda (Assembly) vote to conclude (on November 3). Of course, Congress will keep the seat. Once the verdict is rendered, the BJP’s days in Haryana will be numbered, ”a congressional leader told The Indian Express.
For the opposition, Dushyant and the JJP are a soft target in the ongoing farmers’ protest, far more so than the BJP.
But why didn’t BJP see the trouble coming?
Despite all their claims about doubling farmers’ incomes, ensuring the continuation of the minimum support price (MSP), disbursing the highest compensation ever seen for crop losses, etc., the BJP has failed to pacify the farmers. farmers. At no point were the BJP leaders in Haryana able to convey to the farmers the advantages that the agricultural bills, later the laws, would bring them.
BJP state chairman Om Prakash Dhankar admitted that “the way in which awareness should have been raised about bills or legislation could not be achieved.” This happened despite the fact that Prime Minister Khattar had said at a press conference before the bills were presented in Parliament that “the opposition will try to deceive farmers, but they must not let anyone deceive them and they must trust in government”.
What awaits Dushyant?
Dushyant’s situation is difficult because he represents the Jat community and has based his entire political campaign on defending the cause of farmers. The Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in Haryana are a long way off, but political observers feel that Haryanvis holds a grudge for quite some time.
Several BJP Jat leaders faced the ire of their community in the 2019 Assembly polls, when Jats voted against them.
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