Once a key force, INLD to fight only on 51 seats
Once the dominant political force in Haryana, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), whose patriarch, the late Chaudhary Devi Lal, was India’s deputy prime minister, has fielded just 51 candidates for elections to the 90-member state assembly with its ally Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contesting another 38 seats.
Once the dominant political force in Haryana, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), whose patriarch, the late Chaudhary Devi Lal, was India’s deputy prime minister, has fielded just 51 candidates for elections to the 90-member state assembly with its ally Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contesting another 38 seats.
The INLD is the inheritor of the political legacy of Haryana’s towering Jat leader and former two-term chief minister Chaudhary Devi Lal, who became deputy Prime Minister in December 1989. Devi Lal was chief minister for 738 days (1977-1979) and 896 days a decade later in his second term (1987-1989). His son Om Prakash Chautala ruled Haryana for about 2,245 days in five different terms beginning December 1989. Chautala’s last and the longest term as CM was from March 2, 2000 to March 5, 2005, as per Haryana Vidhan Sabha records.
The INLD started weakening after it lost to the Congress in 2005. However, the party bounced back in 2014 by emerging the principal opposition party in Haryana Vidhan Sabha with 19 legislators and INLD general secretary Abhay Chautala became the leader of Opposition in the assembly, pushing the Congress to the third position with 17 seats.
In 2019, Abhay Chautala was the sole flag bearer of the INLD in the assembly. Experts say the reason for this was spilt in the INLD between two grandsons of Chaudhary Devi Lal, Abhay and Ajay Chautala before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls earlier that year.
Abhay retained INLD and his brother Ajay Chautala’s son Dushyant Chautala formed Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). The JJP contested 88 seats and won 10, allied with the BJP which came up short, and its leader Dushyant Chautala became deputy chief minister under BJP’s Manohar Lal Khatter.
The political vacuum created by the INLD’s decline has since been filled by rise of the BJP and the Jat dominated party has lost leaders both to the BJP and the Congress, the two main parties, in the state now.
According to an analysis of candidates of the BJP and the Congress, as many as 31 former INLD leaders are contesting on either BJP or Congress tickets. To be sure, some of these leaders shifted allegiances more than a decade ago.
INLD leaders say the exodus from the party is not a new phenomenon. “Our party has been a nursery for other parties and desertions took place during the era of Devi Lal and later when Om Prakash Chautala was in full command of the party,” said an INLD leader, who has been with the party for long.
According to Ashutosh Kumar, professor of political science at Panjab University, Chandigarh, a family run party like INLD is always prone to desertions. “In the case of INLD, there is no clear cut leadership. They are very badly divided and fighting among themselves. When the family members of Devi Lal are not united, how can they expect party workers to remain unaffected ?”
At least 16 of the 89 BJP candidates in the state are either former INLD MLAs or leaders. Prominent among them are BJP nominee from Barwala , Ranbir Gangwa, who was INLD MLA between 2014-2019 and was also Rajya Sabha member of the INLD between 2010-2014 ; former minister Rao Narbir Singh, who is contesting from Badshahpur ; cabinet minister Mool Chand Sharma, contesting from Ballabgarh, who was Haryana Staff Selection Commission member when INLD was in power; Leela Ram Gurjar, who is contesting from Kaithal; and Ram Kumar Kashyap , the cadidate from Indri, who was INLD’s Rajya Sabha member between 2014 and 2019.
At least 15 Congress candidates started their political journey in INLD. Prominent among them are Ashok Arora, who is contesting from Thanesar on Congress ticket , and was four- term former INLD MLA and assembly speaker when INLD was in power between 1999-2000; Meham candidate Balram Dangi, who is the son of former INLD stalwart Anand Singh Dangi, who was Haryana Staff Selection Board Chairman 1987-1989 when Chaudhary Devi Lal was CM.
Political analysts say INLD has seen its influence wane over the last decade and that it is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain its relevance.
“The INLD’s struggle to identify viable candidates highlights the party’s deep-rooted crisis. The party’s base has been chipped away by factionalism and defections. The split within the Chautala family, leading to the formation of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) in 2018, further diluted its influence,” Prof Kumar pointed out.