Just ahead of the October 5 Haryana assembly elections, all sides are trying to woo the farmers who hold the key to power in the state.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is particularly concerned about getting the votes of this section of society. With massive anti-incumbency after a 10-year rule and recent protests by farmers, the BJP is keen to make amends.
While the key leaders of the party will ensure farmers’ participation in their rallies across the state, the major focus of the BJP will be on a big outreach effort at the grassroots level.
Sources aware of the development said that the BJP will hold door-to-door campaigns across the state for this reason. Leaders from the national to the state level will hold interactions with farmers and farmer leaders. Programmes like chaupals in villages and tiffin meetings with farmer leaders will be organised. The BJP leaders will also elaborately explain the work that has been done by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Haryana government in the state for the welfare of the farmer community. In fact, in their door-to-door interaction, the BJP leaders will also distribute pamphlets to these farmers, highlighting how past governments “failed to work for them and only used them as vote banks”.
“Not only has the government at the Centre ensured that farmer insurance helps the community in tough times but also the BJP government is the only one which is giving MSP on all 24 crops in the state,” said a party source. The BJP is so committed to the welfare of the farmers that despite the contentious farm laws passed by Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a decision to withdraw them in the interest of the community.”
Even during the April-June Lok Sabha elections, the BJP spoke about focusing on Annadata (farmers), women, the youth, and the poor. Prime Minister Modi had coined the term, GYAN, which is an abbreviation to describe these sections, which he termed the only castes in the country.
On Sunday, there was a Kisan Mahapanchayat In Kurukshetra, where farmers resolved to block the government of the BJP from retaining power in the state in the upcoming elections. They also announced that they would block trains across the country in an agitation against the saffron party on October 3 and will not vote for the BJP.
Keeping this in mind, the BJP has developed a fresh strategy ahead of the polls.
Union home minister Amit Shah at a rally on Monday once again highlighted the work done by the Modi government In the state and said that the Congress only used farmers to secure votes. He also reminded the farmers of Haryana how the Congress leadership in the state and Centre “snatched away the lands of the farmers and gave it away at cheap throwaway prices to the damad (son-in-law) of the family”, in a dig at Robert Vadra.
All 90 assembly seats in Haryana will have voting in a single phase on October 5. The BJP was able to form the government in both 2014 and 2019. In 2019, with a reduced tally, the BJP formed an alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) to form the government. However, just before the elections, the alliance split and chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar stepped down, replaced by Nayab Singh Saini. Khattar came to Delhi, contested the Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra, and is currently a cabinet minister in the Modi government. Saini is BJP’s chief ministerial face for the upcoming assembly polls.
The BJP is in a bitter battle with a buoyant Congress led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda. However, the Congress is also facing multiple issues like being a divided house. Lok Sabha member of Parliament Kumari Selja and Hooda’s differences have created unease in the party.
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