#dnaEdit: Land and its discontents

Lespite the Vadra-DLF land deal becoming synonymous with crony capitalism, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government has chosen to clear the deal in its last few days in power. The Gurgaon district administration has surprisingly acted on the report of an Assistant Consolidation Officer who termed his superior officer, former Director-General of Land Consolidation, Ashok Khemka’s order nullifying the mutation of the land deal as “illegal”, “void”, and “out of jurisdiction”. The rationale for this clearance is inexplicable, considering that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already made this a campaign issue in his speeches. Further, the state government’s nebulous handling of land-sale transactions, mining and forest diversion in the Aravalli hills, and land acquisition disputes had already earned much adverse criticism for the ruling Congress party in the recent Lok Sabha polls. If the general elections results are any indication of the changed political tide, the accumulated anti-incumbency of the two successive terms is set to undermine Hooda’s third shot at power. 

Rather than the Indian National Lok Dal, it has been the BJP, for long relegated to the margins of Haryana politics, which has benefitted from Hooda’s fall from grace. Attributing the BJP’s dramatic comeback in Haryana solely to the “Modi wave” does not factor in Hooda’s unpopularity with sections in his party. The exodus to the BJP has included Congress stalwarts, miffed with Hooda’s autocratic ways, and his former supporters like Venod Sharma. The BJP’s rise is also a signal to the Indian National Lok Dal, which had earlier hoped to be the natural beneficiary of the anti-incumbency against Hooda. The conviction of Om Prakash Chautala in a teacher’s recruitment scam has robbed the INLD of a charismatic campaigner even as the party’s hopes of making it an emotive poll issue among the Jat community yielded only limited results in the general elections. One of Hooda’s most effective campaign strategies in earlier polls was to remind voters of the misrule and the chaos of previous Chautala governments. But a series of attacks on Dalits, including sexual assaults against Dalit women through 2012-13, have alienated the 19.3 per cent Dalit votebank and questioned Hooda’s law and order credentials.

Despite alienating Ahir and Dalit leaders in the Congress like Kumari Shelja, Ashok Tanwar and Ajay Yadav, Hooda has deftly handled the politically influential Jat community. He has condoned khap panchayats, pressured the UPA government to introduce OBC reservation for Jats, and in an interesting gambit, backed Ajit Singh’s demand for a national memorial for Chaudhary Charan Singh in the national Capital. Haryana’s industrial development over the past two decades has tailgated on the state’s proximity to Delhi. While landed farmers have benefitted from increasing real estate prices, alleged state collusion has also deprived many farmers of land at throwaway rates, a charge that Hooda vehemently denies. The rising land prices have spawned a massive real estate and construction industry, which the state government has failed to properly regulate, leading to several instances of property owners being defrauded by builders. Much of Haryana’s development has centred around Rohtak, Gurgaon, and their neighbouring areas patronised by Hooda. However, Gurgaon, the state’s cash cow and prime driver of industrial growth, has been wrecked by chaotic planning. Despite lacking recognised local leaders and without resorting to communal polarisation, it is hardly surprising then that the BJP’s promise of providing a better alternative is appearing attractive to Haryana voters.