As former Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar, 46, joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the presence of its supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday, his supporters feel that this move may mark a “turning point” in his political career. Tanwar, who belongs to the Dalit community, was once considered to be a rising star among young Congress leaders. He was close to top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. After heading the Congress's students wing, the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) for two years from 2003, he became the Indian Youth Congress (IYC)'s president for a five-year period in 2005 at the age of 29. 🗞️ Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to access the best Election reporting and analysis 🗞️ Born in Chimni village in Haryana's Jhajjar district, Tanwar completed his Master's in History and then his PhD. He joined student politics when he was studying in the Jawaharlal Nehru University. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, he was fielded by the Congress from the Sirsa reserved constituency that he won with a massive margin. In 2014, the Congress leadership appointed Tanwar as the president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC). His principal detractor within the state Congress was heavyweight leader and ex-CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, but even he could not get Tanwar removed from his post due to the latter's proximity with Rahul. However, barely a couple of months ahead of the October 2019 Assembly polls, the Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi, in a bid to avert a split in the state unit, replaced Tanwar with ex-Union minister Kumari Selja, another Dalit leader, as the HPCC chief. She also selected Hooda as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) as well as the chairman of the party's State Election Committee. An upset Tanwar along with his supporters had then staged a protest in front of Sonia Gandhi's New Delhi residence, notwithstanding the overwhelming support he had received from the Gandhi family for years. Tanwar’s wife Avantika Maken Tanwar had been close to the Gandhi family ever since her parents Geetanjali and Lalit Maken were gunned down by extremists in 1985, when she was six years old. However, the Tanwar camp felt that his removal from the state Congress chief's post just ahead of the Assembly polls was “humiliating leaving no scope for him to continue in the party”. Subsequently, barely a fortnight before the polls, Tanwar resigned from the grand old party. His exit dented the Congress's prospects in the polls as the party's opponents projected it as “an injustice to an emerging young Dalit politician”. It was a setback for Tanwar too, who found himself relegated to the margins of Haryana politics after having been on its centre stage for several years. But Tanwar carried on with his attempts to keep himself relevant. He extended support to some candidates of Dushyant Chautala's Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) in the 2019 polls, which boosted their prospects, especially in Tohana seat in Fatehabad district. In February 2021, Tanwar formed his socio-political outfit Apna Bharat Morcha (ABM). “The morcha is a value-driven initiative, which will work with a three-pillared approach of dialogue, debate and discussion to add not only verve to Indian ethos of unity in diversity but will also lay the foundation for truly making our country the land of hope and fulfilment,” he had then said. His supporters however wanted Tanwar to join a mainstream party. In November 2021, he joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the presence of TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee. His innings with the TMC however remained a non-starter. The AAP's stunning sweep in the recent Assembly elections in neighbouring Punjab is now also fuelling the party's bid to spread its wings in Haryana, which is Kejriwal's native state. Currently, the AAP does not have even its state unit in Haryana. But it has now suddenly increased its activities in the state. Looking for its face and leadership in Haryana, the party may take advantage of Tanwar's inclusion in its ranks there. Besides his relatively young age and long political experience, Tanwar's identity as a Dalit leader may come in handy for the AAP in the state which accounts for 20 per cent Dalit population. Given that the next Assembly election is nearly two-and-a-half years away, they would have the time to build the party organisation and reach out to the people in the state. Tanwar had earlier told The Indian Express that he was in search of “alternative politics”. “I am sure that Haryana will give leadership not only to the state but the entire country in the coming days. There is just a need to polish such leaders. There is a need for a third alternative in Haryana,” he had said.
