Why PM Modi keeps bringing up a caste clash of 14 years ago in Haryana

On October 1, addressing his last scheduled rally for the Haryana elections, PM Modi repeated the charge while raising Mirchpur.

Haryana had a Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda when the Mirchpur violence, that also saw the death of two Dalits, happened. If the party wins, Hooda is expected by many to return to the post. That, and the need to ensure that the Congress narrative on Dalit reservation isn’t successful, like it was in the Lok Sabha polls, mean Mirchpur is a potent weapon for the BJP.

Besides, Rampal’s ardent claim notwithstanding, the divide between the Balmikis or Dalits and the Jats, who are in a majority in Mirchpur, is palpable even 14 years after the violence.

A view of houses at Balmiki colony at Mirchpur in Haryana. (Express Photo by kamleshwar Singh)

Rampal’s house is part of the Balmiki mohalla that stands apart from the rest of the village. Over on the other side, sitting among a group of Jats smoking hukka, is 52-year-old Joginder Singh, who was released on September 9 after serving 14 years in prison for the 2010 attack on Dalits. Sure there is “harmony”, he agrees with Rampal, “but the damage has already been done”. “What peace are they (the Dalits) talking of?”

The lingering Dalit-Jat divide is also evident in their voting choices.

Mirchpur village falls in the Narnaund Assembly seat, which is also dominated by Jat voters. But, in 2019, a non-Jat fielded by the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), Ram Kumar Gautam, had defeated senior BJP Jat leader Captain Abhimanyu. Gautam is now a BJP nominee from Safidon, while Narnaund is seeing a Jat vs Jat fight between the BJP’s Abhimanyu and the Congress’s Jassi Petwar.

The Jats of Haryana are angry with the BJP due to the farmer protests as well as the wrestler agitation against senior BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. In Mirchpur, they are leaning towards Petwar, saying the Congress candidate has “been among the people” the past five years.

The Dalits, meanwhile, are moving to the party as they are still angry over what happened in Mirchpur under the Congress. Like Ramphal.

He says they have few complaints against the BJP government. “We have got our BPL cards. We are getting free rations. At least 12-14 youngsters from our village, including some from our community, have got employment without any parchi-kharchi (connections or bribes),” Ramphal says. “In the Congress, we have no hope.”

As for the JJP, the Jats are not ready to forgive it either for tying up with the BJP. Karan Singh, 63, says, “We voted against the BJP and trusted Dushyant Chautala’s Ram Kumar Gautam. But Dushyant went and sat in (Manohar Lal) Khattar’s lap. This time, we are not going to commit the same mistake. The entire Jat community will vote for Hooda.”

Baru Ram, 81, adds: “Dushyant could have been CM if he had stepped down from Deputy CM’s post during the farmers’ agitation. He chose not to, and will pay the price.”

Sandeep, 30, is agitated about the Agnipath recruitment scheme for the Army introduced by the Modi government at the Centre. “Once these Agniveers come back after four years, they will be skilled with arms training and shall become jobless. What will they do? They will become gangsters in frustration. Captain Abhimanyu is himself an ex-Army officer. Where was he when the government was formulating this scheme? He claims to be a farmer, too. Where was he when this BJP government was mercilessly assaulting farmers on Delhi’s borders? Where were he or Khattar or Saini when 750 farmers lost their lives on Delhi’s borders?” he says.

About 10 km away, in village Koth, Abhimanyu is on the ground canvassing. He appeals to people to vote for him, pointing to the fact that he was not a part of the government the past five years. “In 2019, I promised you that I will work for the uplift of the infrastructure of this village, for funds for the choupal. This time I promise that I shall implement my earlier promises, with interest,” he says. He is also promising employment for youths.

Congress candidate Jassi Petwar, just 34 and making his electoral debut, has the Jats behind him as well as the might of Hooda, as he is considered a close aide of Hooda’s son and Rohtak MP Deepender.

Mirchpur’s Jat sarpanch Rajni’s husband Ashok asserts that peace prevails now in the village, while claiming that the authorities did everything they could for the displaced Dalits. “The Dalits were given 217 plots in Dhandoor on Hisar city’s border, about 40 km from here. They could have been rehabilitated in the village, but they said they would prefer going to Pakistan than returning to Mirchpur,” Ashok says.

Accusing the BJP government of neglecting villages, Ashok says the overwhelming sentiment is for “change”. “Thirty panchayats fall under Narnaund. Go to any… At least 60% of the people want change. It could be the Congress, BJP or anybody else.”