Caste polarisation overshadows issues

Sunit Dhawan

The Gohana Assembly segment in Sonepat district has mainly been represented by the Congress and INLD (previously Lok Dal) ever since Haryana came into existence.

Independent candidates have won on a couple of occasions and the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) nominee was elected once. No BJP candidate has been able to win this seat till date.

Gohana is famous for its “jalebis”, which are also referred to as “jalebs” owing to their huge size. However, the Jat quota stir of 2016 seems to have taken the sweetness off the social bonds and left the local voters divided on caste lines.

Residents of Gohana town and surrounding villages have been demanding district status for it, but there repeated requests have not been able to bear any fruit so far.

The town is plagued by rampant encroachments, nagging traffic congestion, a stinking sewage drain passing through it, and villages under the constituency continue to face scarcity of water, lack of proper health and education facilities and unemployment.

Public transport is grossly inadequate and students, especially girls, face grave difficulties in reaching their educational institutes located in Rohtak, Delhi or Sonepat. Connectivity to nearby villages is even worse.

The demand for a bypass in the town has also not been fulfilled due to which day-to-day commute and traffic-related issues get aggravated. The project to cover the nullah (drain) passing through the town also hangs fire. The Hansi-Butana link canal, constructed during the previous Congress government, remains dry due to the unavailability of water.

Residents of the constituency rue that successive governments have failed to get their concerns addressed and their repeated requests to the authorities concerned have fallen on deaf ears.

Nonetheless, caste-based polarisation of voters is likely to play a key role in deciding the poll outcome of the constituency. Hence, all political parties in the fray are considering the caste factor in the allocation of ticket.

“There has been a silent, but intense polarisation of voters on caste lines in the wake of the violent agitation for the grant of reservation to Jats witnessed in 2016. The division between the Jats and non-Jats is likely to play a key role in deciding the poll outcome on the Gohana seat,” says Chattar Singh, a retired government official.

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Total Voters: 1,69,314

Male: 92,050

Female : 77,254

Third gender: 10

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Legislatorspeak:

“I have addressed the concerns of the people or groups who approached me. However, the BJP government has a biased approach towards the constituency and even the projects announced by the Chief Minister have not been accomplished.”-- Jagbir Singh Malik, Congress MLA

Oppositionspeak:

"The allegations of discrimination are baseless. The BJP government in the state has ensured uniform development in all Assembly segments and there is a strong wave in favour of the ruling party owing to its performance and policies.” – Ram Chander Jangra, BJP leader

Probable candidates

Jagbir Singh Malik, Bhupender Malik, Jagmender Singh (Congress)

Ram Chander Jangra, Jai Singh Thekedar, Gulshan Virmani (BJP)