THIS time, the people of Haryana have foiled all the tricks of the BJP and voted to punish it in the Lok Sabha elections. In the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP had won all the ten seats in the state with huge margins except one. This time it has barely won five seats. However, considering the widespread dissatisfaction and anguish among the public towards the central and state governments, these five  seats rather seem more.

Congress state in-charge, Deepak Babaria, has said in an interview to a journalist that had there been Congress organisational structure in Haryana, eight seats could have been won. As an immediate comment it is absolutely appropriate. It is true that BJP has won three seats with a small margin of votes and the Congress organisation was missing everywhere. The announcement of the candidates was also made at the last moment due to which it was not possible for the Congress candidates to cover the entire Lok Sabha constituency for campaign. The BJP candidates had been announced well in advance. For the last ten years, organisational elections of various level committees could not be held in the Congress due to factionalism and feuds. The state president appointed by the high command and the legislative party, are the only organisational structures of the Congress in the state.

From the organisational point of view, AAP Party, which has contested one seat from Kurukshetra on behalf of INDIA bloc, is also in a very weak position in Haryana. Yet it lost by only 29,021 votes. Rather, the main reason for the defeat from Kurukshetra was the division in anti-BJP votes as the general secretary of Indian National Lok Dal, Ch. Abhay Singh Chautala, himself contested the election and got 78,708 votes.

In fact, if we compare the availability of organisational structure and resources, BJP was far ahead and other parties were no match to it. The fact is that the toiling masses of Haryana have fought this election against the BJP. Certainly INDIA bloc has made an important contribution in providing a platform to the public in this fight.

It would not be unfair to say that during the last ten years of BJP rule at the center and the state, the opposition seemed to be absent in Haryana. Mass movements have played the role of opposition in the state. Especially in the last five years, people's movements, especially the farmers' movement, by confronting the communal and pro-corporate autocratic power of the BJP, have contributed a lot in preparing the ground for the opposition.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP had received 58.2 per cent votes in the state. This time it has got 46.11 per cent votes. That means there has been a decline of more than 12 per cent; whereas Congress and AAP together got 47.61 per cent votes. Congress party alone has got 43.67 per cent votes which is 15.25 per cent higher than last time. This time it has contested one seat less while sharing it with AAP. In terms of assembly constituencies, in the last Lok Sabha elections, BJP had a lead in 79 of 90 assembly constituencies of the state, while Congress had a lead on only ten seats. At that time, the newly formed JJP, that broke away from INLD, led in one seat. This time BJP has shrunk to 44 seats and INDIA bloc has gained a lead on 46 seats (Congress-42, AAP-04).

POLARISATION TACTICS FAILED

The last Lok Sabha elections were held in the backdrop of sharp caste polarisation in the state. It is noteworthy that by instigating violence in the Jat reservation movement in January 2016, RSS-BJP, for their petty political interests, had created polarisation between non-Jats and Jats by giving the slogan of 35 versus one. The jingoistic narrative created by the Pulwama-Balakot incidents impacted the psychology of the people at large and the BJP was successful in garnering widespread public support.

This time too, BJP was overconfident that by its tactics of creating communal and caste polarisation, with Modi's face, immense money power, Godi media, subservient Election Commission, with the misuse of government and administrative machinery etc., it would be successful in duping the public opinion in the state again. But the toiling people, who were cheated in the last Lok Sabha elections and had struggled against with BJP's misgovernance all these years, learned from the experience, and became alert and have worked to break the arrogance of the BJP.

The BJP rule in the state, focusing on the Muslim dominated Nuh district, made all efforts to communalise the society. Under government and administrative patronage it created a network of communal organisations run and supported by RSS. An environment of hatred, violence and fear was created by running a massive campaign on cow protection, religious conversions, love jihad, offering namaz in the open, etc. There was a long series of heart-wrenching incidents of armed squads forcibly entering the homes, kidnappings, beatings, mob lynching, murders etc of people belonging to the minority community, which would not be appropriate to discuss in detail here as all this is well known. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the mass organisations, despite their modest organisational capacity, continuously raised their voice against these developments and tried their best to organise interventions and resistance. A petition was also filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court which is still pending.

With the Lok Sabha elections approaching, as part of a conspiracy by the RSS-BJP to create a communally charged environment on a large scale, violent incidents were carried out in Nuh on July 31 and then in the surrounding areas of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal etc and demonstrations were organised in the entire state with highly objectionable slogans to create tension and violence. But this time, instead of falling victim to their conspiracies, the public, aware of their experience, worked to thwart them. In this context also, the role of mass movements, especially the farmers' movement, was most effective.

 Alternative media also played a positive role in this. It exposed the BJP and brought the viewpoint of the opposition parties to the public. Its crucial contribution should also be recorded. Mass movements, especially the historic farmers' movement, helped in increasing its reach among the general public.

In fact, the historic farmers' movement from November 26, 2020 to December 2021 has made a significant contribution in making people aware about the communal and casteist politics of BJP. The fight against the three agricultural laws had emerged as a matter of life and death for the farmers of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan etc. This movement received wide support even beyond the borders of the country. The Modi government at the centre and the Khattar government of the state adopted various tactics to thwart this movement. Every effort was made to create divisions on communal and regional lines. Efforts were made to mobilise other castes/communities against it by branding this movement as a movement of a particular caste in the state. But the participation of farmers from all communities in this movement, continuous pouring of widespread support and solidarity actions from trade unions, employee organisations, women, and from national and international levels contributed significantly to this transformation, especially among the farmers. That is, awareness was created among them from the experience of fighting and facing the brunt of BJP's pro-corporate and communal politics. In this process, caste polarisation has also weakened to a great extent.

Along with this process, the truth of Pulwama was also revealed in this period. The then governor of Jammu and Kashmir and a BJP leader, Satyapal Malik himself brought the facts into public domain. At the same time, the policy of Agniveer added insult to injury and exposed the narrative of military nationalism of Modi government among the people of Haryana, especially among the farmers, from whose families most of the youth continued to join the army. Not only was the facade of fake nationalism shattered but Modi's image was also tarnished.

WIDESPREAD PUBLIC DISSATISFACTION

Apart from this, there has also been widespread public dissatisfaction against the pro-corporate, privatisation policies adopted by the BJP's central and state governments. Highest unemployment in the state, policy of temporary and short-term employment, contractualisation, repeal of labour laws, back-breaking inflation, online system adopted to reduce public access to various welfare schemes, services and facilities, complex and corrupt processes of governance adopted in the name of digitalisation, insensitive dictatorial tendencies etc contributed to the increasing dissatisfaction and anguish among various sections of the public. It was expressed in the form of various mass movements. Apart from the historic movement of farmers, there have been continuous movements on various local issues. Apart from this, there have been repeated and continuous mobilisations and movements on the issues of anganwadi workers and helpers, ASHA workers, gramin safai karamcharies, MNREGA workers-mates, construction workers, municipal employees, transport workers, clerks, restoration of old pension and regularisation of contract and non regular workers by their individual unions and from trade union and employees federation platforms. The sudden outburst of anger of the youth against the Agniveer Yojana, the spontaneous movements of students-teachers-parents on issues of fee hikes, closure of government schools in the name of merger, availability of teachers, for public transport facilities etc is noteworthy. Apart from these there were movements of commission agents and newly elected panch-sarpanches. It can be said that there would hardly be any section which did not conduct struggles.

In this context, the movement of women wrestlers and the protest actions against the attempt of forcible sexual harassment of a junior coach by the state sports minister have exposed the anti-women character of Modi and the BJP government.

In this background the BJP decided to break the alliance and distance itself from the alliance partner JJP and also to change the chief minister. The purpose was to neutralise the anti-incumbency and simultaneously creating divisions in anti-BJP votes and strengthening its support among other backward classes and effective caste polarisation.

MANEUVERS TO COUNTER ANTI-INCUMBANCY FAILED

Manohar Lal Khattar remained the chief minister of the state for nine and a half years. Discontent among people against him was also expressed in the assembly elections held in October 2019. After winning all the Lok Sabha seats by a huge margin in 2019, BJP failed to get majority in the assembly elections. The government was formed through manipulation and opportunistic alliance with JJP. Manohar Lal was made the chief minister again because he was Modi's favourite. This time, due to increasing public dissatisfaction, Naib Singh Saini was made the new chief minister on March 12 after Manohar Lal's resignation. Just five months ago, Naib Singh Saini was made the state president of the BJP by replacing Om Prakash Dhankhar. The Saini community belongs to the other backward class in the state and then BJP MP, Rajkumar Saini, was projected as a vocal opponent of the Jat reservation movement. In this way, an attempt was made to maintain caste polarisation by reminding of old wounds. But this time the people of Haryana remained alert and these designs of the BJP failed. The BJP had the illusion that breaking the alliance with JJP would lead to some division of anti-BJP votes. In political circles it was called divorce by mutual consent. JJP also had the illusion that being a descendant of Ch. Devilal, it will be able to get the support of a section of the farmers. But the people of Haryana have broken the illusions of both of them to such an extent that JJP could not get even 1 per cent votes even by contesting on all the 10 seats. It got 0.87 per cent votes.

Similarly, INLD has also been rejected by the people and it has received less votes than it received in the last Lok Sabha elections. Last time it got 1.89 per cent votes. This time it has got 1.74 per cent votes. The parties, JJP and INLD, while united, remained the dominant party of the state for a long time. After their split both these parties are now facing threat to their existence. Their status of being state level recognised parties is also under question.

There has been a continuous decline in the vote percentage of BSP in the state. This time it has got only 1.28 per cent votes which was 3.61 per cent last time. However, it can also be said that despite being silent, some vote bank of BSP is still intact.

In the end, inspite of all the above discussions, it is important to underline here that despite the setback that BJP has received, it would be suicidal to underestimate it. Assembly elections are to be held in October 2024. Despite the concrete conditions for BJP's defeat, any kind of complacency can be fatal. BJP has got 46.11 per cent votes. The difference between INDIA bloc and BJP is only 1.5 per cent. It is also a fact that the preference of voters in state assembly and Lok Sabha elections is not the same. The BJP-RSS have taken advantage of their rule in the last ten years and strengthened their organisational, political and ideological base.

Though to some extent, awareness has come among the people about its communal and casteist politics, one cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that among urban voters, backward classes and the so-called upper caste communities, BJP still remains a preferred party.

In such a situation, it is important for the secular forces to remain united and keep the task of defeating the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections on priority.akes...