Ground Zero: Congress holds an edge in Rohtak; khap continue to hold sway in Sonepat

ROHTAK/SONEPAT: Rohtak is a rare Lok Sabha constituency in Haryana where the ruling Congress holds an edge despite facing anti-incumbency in large swathes of the state while in adjoining Sonepat the traditional khap panchayats continue to hold sway over the electorate.

The Congress seems to have taken care to build bridges in Rohtak, both literally and figuratively. “In the 100 years to 2005, Rohtak got only one railway overbridge,” says the party’s sitting MP, Deepender Hooda, “In the past eight years of my term, we have built 20 such overbridges. It got highways worth Rs 3,200 crore. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself termed the Rs 2,200-crore National Cancer Institute here as the biggest such facility in India.”

Hooda, son of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, is vulnerable to allegations of dynasty politics but his inability to campaign due to injury could cost him more. He faces two other Jats,

INLD’s Shamsher Singh and BJP’s Om Prakash Dhankar, who faced considerable opposition within his party as local BJP workers felt national spokesperson Captain Abhimanyu had been cheated of a ticket. INLD’s Singh was runners-up during the assembly elections in 2009, when he contested as an independent.

Then there is Naveen Jaihind, of the Aam Aadmi Party, who has aroused much curiosity. Son of a farmer, Jaihind has become a recognisable figure in his blue WagonR, loaned to him by his party chief Arvind Kejriwal. Analysts say he may well get the backing of the Brahmins since he is the sole Brahmin candidate in the fray, along with votes of farmers.

Many voters, however, swear by the Hooda father-son duo. “Around 10 years ago, during the INLD regime, this place was a den of criminals. Extortion was a profession and criminals roamed freely at nights and returned to jail by morning,” says Rakesh Sangwan, a cloth merchant at Shori market.

The Congress has changed the face of the region with its big-ticket projects. Even within the party, Rohtak is considered a pocket borough of the Hoodas, something that the sitting MP vehemently denies. “At times, you get unjustified criticism. Who benefits from these projects? All of Haryana,” says Deepender Hooda.

Neighbouring Sonepat could well be a world apart as it is ruled by the two khaps of Malik (the largest in the country) and Dahiya. As a result, both Congress and INLD are relying on Jat candidates, with the former having fielded sitting Gohana MLA Jagbir Malik. Also a former minister, Jagbir has won the assembly elections thrice. INLD’s candidate is former MLA Padam Singh Dahiya.

BJP has put up another Congress defector, Ramesh Kaushik, a non-Jat who may influence Balmiki, Baniya, Dhanak and Saini votes. “The Dalits are dead against Congress after Gohana. The government did nothing to appease them,” claims BJP’s Suharu Kumar, referring to the Gohana caste rivalry that saw Jats allegedly burning down 55 to 60 Dalit houses in 2012.