Haryana dynasties fight for survival in Uchana Kalan

Uchana Kalan (Haryana), September 9 (IANS): The Jat-dominated parliamentary seat of Uchana Kalan in Jind district of Haryana is witnessing a thrilling battle for survival between Haryana's two major political dynasties – both of them belonging to the fourth generation.

Former deputy chief minister and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala will have to contest the election for the second time to retain his seat, one of the coveted seats in the state.

The Congress has nominated former IAS officer Brijendra Singh, who had quit the BJP, as Hisar MP to join the Congress this year.

Both are multimillionaires and well educated, as their previous affidavits show.

In the 2019 general elections, Dushyant, a business graduate from California State University and great-grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, defeated his closest rival and then BJP leader Prem Lata by a large margin.

Prem Lata is the wife of former Union minister Birender Singh and mother of Brijendra Singh, who defeated Dushyant in the 2019 general election.

The ruling BJP has nominated newcomer Devender Attri for this seat. He claims that his father is a highly respected social worker with four decades of professional experience in the region.

Confident of his victory as a commoner, Attri told IANS that the MPs elected here in the past had worked either in Chandigarh or Delhi and that is why there was no development in Uchana.

“The people now need a citizen who will live with them. I am confident that the people of Uchana will ensure our victory and put an end to dynastic politics,” he added.

Dushyant filed his nomination papers for the assembly elections from Uchana Kalan constituency in Jind district last week.

After filing his nomination, he said that in the previous assembly elections, the wave of change was started by Uchana Kalan and the JJP became the kingmaker and this time too the constituency will lay the foundation for change.

Political observers told IANS that the assembly elections this time will witness a power struggle for the sixth consecutive year, largely between two prominent Jat clans – 36-year-old Dushyant, the grandson of five-time chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, and 51-year-old Brijendra Singh, the great-grandson of Jat icon Chotu Ram, who defeated Dushyant in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Hisar.

Dushyant won the 2014 Lok Sabha election as a candidate of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). He split from the INLD in December 2018 following a bitter split within the party and the Chautala family.

While the political battle for the seat is underway, residents are striving for better amenities and development.

A visit to the rural areas of this constituency reveals that despite the rule of the state's leaders, they lack basic amenities like drinking water, sanitation, electricity and sewerage.

“Despite being the deputy chief minister in the (outgoing) government for four and a half years, Dushyant has failed to provide investment in the development of basic amenities in villages. For the villagers, basic amenities are still a pipe dream,” octogenarian Nafe Rathee, a farmer from Alipura village, told IANS.

“We voted for Dushyant last time even though he was considered an outsider. After his victory, he never showed up again. Now we will question him on many long-standing issues like the still unresolved agrarian crisis and other election promises that are often forgotten,” said another villager, Ajaib Singh (80), who believes that the farmers' plight is casting a long shadow over the elections.

In the 2014 general elections, housewife and politician Prem Lata defeated Dushyant by 7,480 votes.

Uchana Kalan, a part of the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, is a traditional stronghold of her husband, former Union minister Birender Singh, who represented the seat five times since 1977.

Dushyant's father, Ajay Singh Chautala, is the eldest son of INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala, who defeated Birender Singh by 621 votes in the 2009 general election.

The Uchana Kalan grain market is known for trading wheat, cotton and rice.

“This time, there is an open fight between Dushyant and Brijendra Singh. Both are Jat leaders, but people trust Brijendra Singh more as he is considered a capable administrator and not a shrewd politician,” said local resident Ram Singh.

In 1984, Brijendra Singh's father Birender Singh, a Congress candidate, had defeated Dushyant's grandfather Om Prakash Chautala in the election campaign for the Hisar Lok Sabha seat. Later, Om Prakash Chautala defeated Birender Singh in Uchana Kalan in the 2009 general election by a narrow margin of 621 votes.

Birender Singh, who joined the BJP in 2014 after leading a revolt against then Congress chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, returned to his former party of over four decades in April along with his wife and son.

According to the caste system, Jats are the dominant group and account for one-third of all votes in the constituency, which has a literacy rate of 72 percent.

The assembly elections for 90 seats in Haryana will be held on October 5. The counting of votes will take place on October 8.