Here are five factors that look like to have helped the saffron party, which appears to be making a stunning comeback for the third consecutive term. Initial trends of the Haryana assembly election results indicate that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is defying anti-incumbency to score a hat-trick. Here are five factors that look like to have helped the saffron party, which appears to be making a stunning comeback for the third consecutive term.
Change of guard
Strong anti-incumbency, voters’ fatigue, disillusioned youngsters and angry farmers were issues that led the BJP to break the alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and replace Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the chief minister.
Snapping ties with its 2019 post-poll ally on March 12 and appointing Saini, an OBC leader, as chief minister have turned out to be gamechangers, contrary to what political pundits were claiming. Saini is the first leader from other backward classes (OBC) to become the chief minister of Haryana. Apart from the most vocal 30% Jats and 34% BCs of Haryana, Dalits are 16%, and 23% are Punjabis, Brahmins, Rajputs and Aggarwals; while Ahir, Gujjar and Sainis are around 11% in Haryana.
The BJP’s worry was the consolidation of Jats and Dalits in favour of the Congress. The more the Jats became vocal about favouring the Congress, the more the BJP exploited the situation by consolidating non-Jat voters. The belligerent Jats had started celebrating Congress’s return to power much before the votes were cast, while the non-Jat voters remained mum about their next political move. What further helped the BJP was the series of 126 decisions taken by the Saini’s government during his 70-odd days in office.
Backing of backward class
During a Backward Classes Samman Sammelan in Mahendragarh on July 16, Union home minister Amit Shah highlighted Haryana’s move to increase the ceiling for the so-called creamy layer of other backward classes (OBCs) to ₹8 lakh from ₹6 lakh. The state government’s focus on BCs, which account for just under a third of the population of the state. The Haryana government enhanced reservation for Group-A and Group B of the BCs in local administrative bodies. Saini had announced that the reservation for the BC in Group-A and Group-B posts would be increased to 27% from the present 15%.
