Dhankar’s appointment as Haryana BJP chief: Central leadership keeps caste balance intact

Calculated move: The party is trying to woo the Jat community ahead of the bypoll in Baroda assembly segment

The appointment of OP Dhankar as Haryana BJP chief is being seen as an attempt by the central leadership to balance the caste equations in the state, where politics revolves around Jats and non-Jats.

OP Dhankar

By giving the baton to Dhankar, the BJP bosses have sent a conciliatory message to the politically boisterous Jat community that has been nursing a plethora of grouses against the BJP after 2016 violent Jat quota agitation. The Jat community constitutes about 25 % of the state’s population, making them a singular dominant vote-bank.

The BJP has maintained a status quo on the delicate issue of caste by replacing Barala (a Jat) with Dhankar. But, the move primarily points towards BJP attempting to woo the Jat community ahead of the bypoll in the Jat-dominated Baroda assembly segment.

According to Prof Ashutosh Kumar, department of political science, Panjab University, the Jats of Haryana will back “outspoken” Dhankar more than “non-performer and controversial Barala.

Dhankar’s elevation should also be seen in the light of growing perception that the central BJP leadership ignores the dominant caste, he says. “The BJP has been cutting down to size the leaders of the dominant caste. That’s the perception... It’s a kind of status quo, but Dhankar is a dynamic leader, certainly a better choice than Barala.”

There are no immediate electoral challenges before Dhankar, barring Baroda bypoll.

Political analysts say electoral calculation is not what alone appears to have catapulted the former minister to the top post. “Khattar was backing some other leaders,” a Haryana watcher said.

The key task before Dhankar will be to expand the base of the party and bridge the gap between the government and the people at the grassroots level even as he will have to maintain a delicate balance between the party and the state government.

Unlike his predecessor, who was “unpopular “ even in his own constituency of Tohana, Dhankar is tactful — a trait that could come in handy to make inroads into the hearts of the Jats in the hinterland.

Dhankar, a crowd-puller

Inside the Vidhan Sabha, Dhankar, a former agriculture minister, often came across as an aggressive speaker who would hit back at the opposition with biting remarks.

Outside the assembly, Dhankar is known for regaling the crowd by singing Haryanvi ragni (a traditional folk song) from public platforms.

Before jumping into the active politics, people close to him say, Dhankar had served as a geography teacher in Bhiwani for over a decade. Born in Dhakla village of Jhajjar district in 1961, Dhankhar did his postgraduation and MEd from the Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak.

Subhash Barala

BARALA’S EXIT WAS ON THE CARDS

The ouster of Subhash Barala as the Haryana BJP chief was on the cards. Somehow, he managed to not only complete his term, but also stay at the helm of affairs despite the BJP’s inability to cross the halfway mark in the October 2019 assembly elections, forcing the party to form a coalition government.

Barala’s political troubles began with the alleged stalking case involving his son, who was then a law student at Kurukshetra University. The BJP backed him despite the raging controversy.

A close aide of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Barala, 52, a Jat leader, went up the ladder quite quickly.

He won his first-ever election in 2014 after losing twice. Barala remained the state BJP chief from December 2014, when he replaced Ram Bilas Sharma, who became a cabinet minister in the previous Khattar government.

As Jats, the largest and very volatile vote bank of Haryana, were angry with the BJP, the task before Barala was to woo them in the October 2019 assembly polls.

But the BJP, which was aiming at a lofty ‘Abki Baar 75 Paar’ (this time, it will be over 75 seats), fell short of a simple majority (46 seats) in the 90-member state assembly, securing just 40 seats. The BJP had swept the Lok Sabha polls in May.

Barala himself lost the assembly polls from the Tohana segment by 52,302 votes. Since then, the knives were out demanding his ouster.