Hisar: BJP banks on Devi Lal clan to woo Jat voters

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, March 29

Amid ongoing tussle between the JJP and INLD, which are claimants of political legacy of Devi Lal, the BJP has nominated the former Deputy PM’s youngest son Ranjit Singh as its candidate from the crucial Hisar Lok Sabha segment in an attempt to woo Jat voters.

Ranjit holds key

Ranjit Singh made electoral debut from the Rori Assembly segment in 1987. He served as agriculture minister in the Devi Lal and OP Chautala-led governments till 1990. Later, he got politically estranged from his brother OP Chautala and joined the Congress. Singh kept on losing polls from Rori in 2000, Adampur (Hisar) byelection in 2008, Rania twice (2009 and 2014) and from Hisar Lok Sabha in 1998 as a Congress candidate. In 2019, he won as an Independent from Rania.

Ranjit Singh, an Independent MLA from the Rania Assembly segment in Sirsa, has been supporting the BJP-led government in the state and serving as the energy minister.

Political analysts said the BJP has projected Ranjit Singh as the party’s Jat face by inducting him in the party and then nominating him as its candidate from Hisar Lok Sabha seat. “Jat leaders of the BJP have failed to make an impression in the community over the years. Even though some leaders, including Capt Abhimanyu, Subhash Barala and OP Dhankar, tried to establish themselves as the face of their community in the BJP, but without much success,” said an analyst.

The BJP used to play second fiddle to the Devi Lal-led parties that kept on changing the nomenclature as Janata Party, Janta Dal, Haryana Lok Dal and INLD in 1977, 1989, 1999 and 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

However, the BJP went with the Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Party in 1996 and 1998 Lok Sabha polls and with the Haryana Janhit Congress in 2014 Lok Sabha polls when the BJP got bigger share in seat sharing arrangement with the regional parties.

Prof ML Goyal, a political expert, said Devi Lal was the most prominent face not only in Haryana, but across the country in the peasantry segment. “Later, his son and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala emerged as legacy holder and Ranjit Singh joined the Congress which was a traditional rival of the Devi Lal’s parties in Haryana.”

“Devi Lal’s clan had been vying to share exploits of this segment in electoral politics. But a division in the INLD in December 2018 when Devi Lal’s grandsons Ajay Chautala and Abhay Chautala parted ways weakened the INLD as a political entity. Though JJP led by Dushyant Chautala staked claim for the legacy of Devi Lal. But the BJP has found the JJP as ineffective in this Lok Sabha elections and thus dumped it recently,” Prof Goyal said.

“With former chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda holding sway among the peasantry including the Jat community, the BJP has brought Ranjit Singh on the forefront. There is still a segment of Jat electorate who are sentimentally attached with the name of Devi Lal,” he said.