Battle of castes in Karnal

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, December 14

All issues pertaining to development have taken a back seat in the Karnal Municipal Corporation elections, as the contest has taken a caste colour.

Even the social media is abuzz with caste-related posts. Followers of the Mayoral candidates are posting caste-related posts on social media to lure voters on the basis of their castes. They are trying to divide the contest between the Punjabis and non-Punjabis. BJP candidate Renu Bala Gupta belongs to the Aggarwal community, while the INLD-BSP alliance and the Congress supported Independent candidate Asha Wadhwa is from the Punjabi community.

After Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar allegedly played the Punjabi card and sought votes on the basis of caste for Gupta on Thursday, the Opposition parties and candidates accused the CM of playing divisive politics by keeping aside his development agenda and slogan of ‘Haryana Ek, Haryanvi Ek’.

“The Chief Minister should have avoided caste politics,” said Yashvir Singh, a resident of Model Town on social media.

Manoj Wadhwa, former Deputy Mayor and husband of Asha Wadhwa, said that it was unfortunate that the CM was seeking votes on the basis of caste. “I never sought votes on the basis of caste as the whole city and the district is my home. The residents are contesting my election,” he added.

Defending the Chief Minister’s statement, Renu Bala Gupta said that Khattar never indulged in caste politics and gave the slogan of ‘Haryana Ek, Haryanvi Ek’ with the vision of overall development of the state. “The Chief Minister’s vision is of inclusive development of the state, instead of exclusive development agenda of the previous governments,” she added.