HARYANA

Congress Regime Must Address The People’s Problems

Inderjeet Singh

THE electorate of Haryana threw out the despotic and corrupt mafia regime of Om Prakash Chautala with a vengeance even while refusing to oblige BJP. No one is surprised over the outcome of the polls held on February 3, 2005 though some psephologists might have disappointed a bit who were predicting 15 to 20 seats to Chautala’s INLD and between 9-13 for BJP in exit polls.

All populist and desperate sops announced by Chautala like enhancement of old age pension from Rs 200 to 300 per month and unemployment allowance etc. in the wake of INLD’s humiliating rout in Lok Sabha elections few months back, was of no much help as the ruling party’s tally ended up at a single digit of 9 only. On the other hand the BJP could get only 2 seats contesting on all 90 seats and these even by default.

Party wise break up of the 90 Vidhan Sabha seats is Congress 67, INLD 9, BJP 2, BSP 1 and others 11. The ‘others’ are mainly the Congress rebels who contested as independents but had the support of one or the other leader of Congress faction. In comparison to the last 2000 assembly elections the Congress got 42.5 per cent vote share an addition of 11.3 per cent, INLD got 26.8 per cent with a loss of 2.9 per cent, BJP with an addition of 1.4 per cent got 10.4 per cent and BSP secured 3.25 per cent with a reduction of 2.5 per cent points.

CPI(M) had put up candidates in five constituencies and CPI in ten. Out of these none could make it to the Vidhan Sabha. CPI(M) candidates Comrade Krishan Swarup got 5772 votes from Fatehabad and he came third. Here the Congress candidate Dura Ram, a Bhajan Lal nephew was elected. BJP got 3147 and BSP 1157 on this seat.

Com Harpal Singh got 3160 from Tohana and came fifth. From Hisar Com Satvir secured 1470. Noted industrialist O P Jindal of the Congress won this seat. The BJP got only 1087 and BSP got 800. From Julana Com Parkash Chander of CPI(M) got 1287 votes and in Kaithal Com Prem Chand of CPI(M) secured 777 votes.

The fate of INLD was obvious in the background of Lok Sabha polls when it had drew blank and while all 10 candidates of INLD including Chautala’s both sons were defeated. Despite high pitched development euphoria involving huge state exchequer, if the people punished Chautala with vengeance it was nothing more than the ruthless style of rule characterised by authoritarianism, typical arrogance, corruption and institutionalised criminalisation. Inspite of this, looking at the vote share of 26.8 still not less significant confirms to the role of caste in these regions & its deeper effect in electoral mobilistion. The impact of the caste element is also evidenced in another interesting phenomenon. Out of 9 INLD seats 6 are SC reserved constituencies. This again is due to the advantage of enjoying a solid share of votes in one particular caste getting added to another caste vote share of the SC candidate leading him or her to decisive victory.

BJP in this election had no other choice but to contest on its own. It had already broken off from Chautala during Lok Sabha elections and its another prospective ally HVP of Bansi Lal had got merged with the Congress party. HVP was reduced to irrelevance after undergoing opportunistic ventures for more than a decade. Meanwhile, the BJP had always been getting the seats disproportionate to its actual strength by aligning in the past with one or the other regional parties having better electoral chances against Congress party. It had been making claims of not only getting a majority this time but even went to declare its candidate for the chief minister’s post. It has lost all its 6 sitting seats in the dissolved house although BJP legislations did enact a drama by resigning their seats a few weeks prior to elections under the pretext of SYL construction. How can the people forget so soon that the BJP MLAs in Punjab Vidhan Sabha has supported the controversial Act mooted by Captain Amrinder Singh abrogating all previous accords on river water sharing.

After taking oath as next chief minister, Mr Bhupinder Hooda has declared that his government will give a transparent rule free from corruption. He  indicated that tackling unemployment and improving irrigation facilities were among his priorities. No one can disagree with him on this. But how serious & sincere the Congress party is towards the plight of various sections of the people and towards tackling the all round crisis Haryana is gripped with, is the real question. The Congress has not found it necessary to come out with clear cut alternatives during election with regard to crisis-ridden agriculture sector or regarding its policies to create jobs. Congress as a party has also not addressed the issues relating to social justice in the face of growing atrocities on Dalits & Women. It did not touch upon the health & education sector also which are in virtual shambles.

The Congress as a party was, instead depending during the elections upon wide spread anti Chautala anger. It found more assuring to get power especially after the parliamentary election results. The absence of a positive note and an assured electoral victory at its door, infact led to severe infighting within various Congress groups. There was not a single Congress nominee who was supported by all factions of Congress. Some of the congress leaders were openly supporting not only rebel independents but even BJP candidates in certain places. This continued well upto the election of the leader when the unsavoury drama played by Bhajan Lal was witnessed.

Jubilations & squabbles are already enough & the people now expect the government to do something concrete to ameliorate their pent up grievances.

The CPI(M) state committee has noted that notwithstanding the unimpressive performance of the party candidates in terms of votes the people had gathered in large numbers in the meetings organised by the party. It was mainly due to the issues the party was raising in the elections. These were focused around the real issues of livelihood and social security. Another important aspect was the praiseworthy work done by the women volunteers who worked for the party candidates. People from middle class sections extending financial assistance for the party too was encouraging. New workers have approached the party for enrolment in its ranks and the state committee thinks that the people will have to be mobilised in near future in a planned and sustained manner.

The state committee has also called upon its units to be prepared for the forthcoming local bodies elections and gear up for the 18^th Party congress to be held in Delhi especially to mobilise more & more people in the April 11, 2005 mass rally at Ram Lila ground. District committee and general body meetings are being attended by state secretariat members.

The party has decided to prepare a pro people narrative for the Panchayati Raj institution which has to be made the party’s plank during elections and expose the nexus of local vested interests and bankrupt politics which has worked as a mechanism for perpetuating corruption and socio-political hegemony over the deprived sections. The party has also expressed sympathy with the farmers whose crops have been destroyed by hailstorms. It has demanded adequate compensation and also support for the agricultural workers who would be deprived of earning some foodgrains through harvesting.

The state committee has also expressed concern over the distress sale of mustard crop much below the minimum support price and asked the government to intervene in the matter.