At a public rally in Garhi Sampla in Rohtak district, the birthplace of Sir Chhotu, PM Modi went all out showering praises on the “great leader” and the Jats for their contribution in various fields, including in the Army.
Eager to mend fences with the angry Jat population of Haryana before crucial 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday squeezed time from his busy schedule to unveil the statue of Sir Chhotu Ram, perhaps the tallest Jat leader of the pre-Independence era.
Feeling the heat from Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) that has been agitating for unveiling the 64-foot-tall iron statue for past several months, the BJP preponed PM Modi’s rally in Haryana that was supposed to take place on November 1 in Karnal.
At a public rally in Garhi Sampla in Rohtak district, the birthplace of Sir Chhotu, PM Modi went all out showering praises on the “great leader” and the Jats for their contribution in various fields, including in the Army.
To woo Jats, PM Modi in his speech not only tried to speak in the native tongue Haryanavi but also invoked Sir Chhotu Ram, who was knighted by the British for his social work, several times. Recalling Sir Chhotu’s contributions, PM Modi referred to him as Deen Bandhu and Rahbare Azam, which translates as the messiah of the poor. Jats as most powerful community account for nearly 23% of the voting population in Haryana.
Aware of the Jat-Punjabi rift in the state, Modi took special care to mention the name of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on minimum occasions.
Khattar, who comes from minority Punjabi Khatri community, has been accused of mishandling of the Jat agitation and not able to rein in his party leaders from making anti-Jat remarks on various occasions.
All the three major political parties in Haryana — BJP, INLD and Congress — have been trying to usurp Sir Chhotu Ram’s legacy for their political gains since Haryana was carved out of erstwhile Punjab on November 1, 1966.
The Jat leader as revenue minister of undivided Punjab was responsible for starting several pro-farmer initiatives. These included Punjab Relief Indebtedness Act of 1934 and the Punjab Debtor's Protection Act of 1936, which helped farmers to free from the clutches of the moneylenders and restore the right of land to the tiller.
In this legacy battle, the BJP has a little advantage too, as Cabinet minister Chaudhary Birender Singh (former Congress leader) happens to be the maternal grandson of Sir Chhotu Ram and has been specifically invoking him on the occasion of Vasant Panchmi every year.
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