Video Editor: Sandeep Suman, Vishal Kumar
Germany’s first chancellor and Europe’s influential politician Otto von Bismarck said:
Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable— the art of the next best.
Almost one hundred years later, these words by Bismarck hold true in north India’s small state of Haryana. It is being said that the alliance between BJP and Dushyant Chautala-led JJP is a partnership of opportunism and not the mandate. An alliance, in which both the parties are not just hiding their ideologies but also cheating on their voters.
Before the poll results, Dushyant Chautala was bashing the BJP. Eleven days before the elections, he had tweeted:
On 5 September, he tweeted:
In this Dushyant seems to be slamming BJP’s CM Khattar on the unemployment statistics.
Dushyant Chautala, who was sworn in as the deputy CM on 27 October, called Khattar a liar multiple times before the results. He also criticised BJP’s schemes throughout the election campaign and tried to cash in on Jat sentiments against the saffron party.
It was the first time JJP was contesting a big election. People called Dushyant and his brother Digvijay amateurs. But after winning 10 seats, everyone said that the Jat community has relied on the JJP against the Bharatiya Janata Party led by a non-Jat chief minister, who was indulging in non-Jat politics. But within just three days of the results, Dushyant took oath, sharing the stage with Khattar. Now the question is, why did he compromise his politics?
And the answer is a little political. Dushyant Chautala feared that his party might break if he does not ally with the BJP. The situation is such that out of the 10 MLAs who won, 6 had joined the JJP just a few days ago.
Jat voters may be angry but Dushyant Chautala had no choice but to join BJP.
There have been two poles of Jat Politics in Haryana – Bhupinder Singh Hooda of Congress and the Chautala family. Those who understand the politics of Haryana know that the non-Jat voter of BJP feel more distant from the Chautala family than the Hoodas. The Congress party also lures OBCs, Baniyas, Brahmins and Punjabis along with Jats, Dalits and Muslims. Thus, there is still some overlapping in the vote bank of BJP and Congress, but BJP and JJP's vote bank is completely different.
With this perspective, not only the JJP, but the BJP too has betrayed its voters.
If 6 independent candidates were brought in for alliance, then each of them would have had to be given a ministerial post or something equivalent to it. And there would be a constant fear that Congress with 31 seats and JJP with 10 seats may change the game. But by giving JJP the post of deputy chief minister with 1-2 ministers, all these problems have ended. And the power of bargaining of independent candidates is almost over.
In such a situation, if the voter feels cheated, then be it. However, this is not the first time when antagonistic parties have formed a government with a post poll alliance. It has happened from Karnataka to Kashmir.
Experts believe that by winning 31 seats, the Congress has done better than expected and the voters' displeasure with both BJP and JJP may benefit the Congress in the coming days.
The candidates of Congress have lost their deposits on 27 seats in areas like Ambala, Yamunanagar, Jind, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Bhiwani, Gurgaon and Sohna. If more precaution was taken in ticket distribution, it could have made the competition even more difficult.
Well, for now, let’s enjoy the politics of Haryana. It will be interesting to see whether this alliance manages to successfully complete their five-year term.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)