Haryana polls: Dynasts locked in four-cornered contest with greenhorns in Uchana Kalana

Haryana’s Jat heartland of Jind has seen intense political battles over the years. And Uchana Kalan assembly segment with 50% Jat population is no exception.

Flanked by a string of constituencies, Narwana (SC), Kalayat, Narnaund, Uklana (SC), where Jats happen to be the single largest population, the Uchana Kalan seat is readying to witness an exciting four-cornered electoral fight, involving two dynasts and two newbies.

Congress candidate and former BJP MP Brijendra Singh, 52, who quit the saffron party before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is locked in a quadrangular contest with an Independent and Congress rebel Virender Singh Ghogharian, 43, former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala, 36, of the Jannayak Janta Party and Devender Chaturbhuj Attri, 44, of the BJP.

Except Attri, a Brahmin, the other three are Jats, with Dushyant, who won Uchana Kalan in 2019, a relative outsider being originally a resident of Sirsa.

According to the caste configuration of the segment, Jats constitute a majority of 50%, Brahmins 12.3%, Khatri 3%, Jat Sikhs 1%, Vaish 1.6%, Kashyap 1.5%, Kumhars 1.3% and Scheduled Castes 21%.

Birender Singh clan vs Chautalas

Uchana Kalan is a stronghold of former Union minister Birender Singh’s family. Birender, a native of Dumarkha Kalan, holds the distinction of winning Uchana Kalan seat on five occasions on the Congress symbol in 1977, 1982, 1991, 1996 and 2005.

Birender’s wife Prem Lata Singh won the seat in 2014 as a BJP candidate, defeating Dushyant Chautala, then an Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) candidate.

Dushyant’s now estranged grandfather and former chief minister, Om Prakash Chautala of the INLD, won this seat in 2009 defeating Birender by a thin margin of 621 votes. As the Hisar INLD MP, Dushyant contested the 2014 assembly election from Uchana only to lose by 7,480 votes to Prem Lata (BJP).

However, Dushyant, who broke ranks to float his own political outfit, the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) in 2018, wrested the seat from the Birender Singh family in the 2019 assembly elections, defeating Prem Lata by an impressive 47,452 votes.

A career bureaucrat, Brijendra, quit the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 2019 to join the BJP and was fielded from the Hisar Lok Sabha seat. He won the seat, defeating Dushyant (JJP) by 3.14 lakh votes.

Brijendra, who is running a door-to-door campaign by meeting voters in Jheel village, says unemployment is the first and foremost issue to be addressed. “The trend of youngsters disposing of land holdings to migrate abroad, legally or illegally to find work is unprecedented,” he says. The Congress candidate says employment generation is low in the area. “This area does not have any industry even though it is well connected with a network of highways. Bringing investment and industry to Uchana Kalan will be priority,’’ Singh says.

Does being a former civil servant help Brijendra, a former MP, in getting his plans executed? “I have to confess that most of the works I have been able to do was at the officers’ level. I was in the civil service for over 20 years. I stayed in the district for the first 13 years of my career. It gives one a first-hand feel of the issues and how to negotiate them. Those advantages are there,” Brijendra says.

Former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala of the JJP, whose party broke ties with the BJP in March 2024, admits that anti-incumbency, primarily because of the farmers’ agitation, is an impediment the JJP faces. “But we are improving day by day,” he says after a poll meeting at Tarkha village.

“People also understand that the JJP did a lot for farmers, be it making hassle-free payment for crop procurement in two days, buying 14 crops on minimum support price, increasing the crop damage compensation amount to ₹15,000 an acre and depositing it in farmers’ accounts within 30 days of crop loss,” says the JJP leader.

Dushyant says it is a straight fight between Brijendra and him in Uchana Kalan. “The last three assembly elections (when the Birender Singh and Chautala families contested against each other) stand testimony,” he says.

Attacking the ruling BJP, Dushyant says the law and order situation deteriorated in the past five months under Nayab Singh Saini. “Saini did not have any control on the home department,” the former deputy CM says.

Congress rebel to Independent

Former Congress worker Virender Singh Ghogharian, who is contesting as an Independent, says that he was the flag-bearer of the party for seven years but it did injustice to him.

“I was the one who revived the Congress. The party was in the dumps since 2014 when its nominee got 1,838 votes in the assembly elections. I sacrificed everything to rebuild the Congress and even sold a part of my farmland,’’ says Ghogharian.

The rebel says he was a natural choice for nomination since Birender had quit the party in 2014. “However, Birender’s ghar wapsi ensured a ticket for his son and I was ignored. All party surveys favoured my candidature,” Ghogharian says, adding the dynasts who won from Uchana did nothing for the segment.

“Dushyant was the deputy CM but did nothing for the people of Uchana. Birender Singh’s family was in power for long but remained indifferent. Poora samaj mere saath khada hai. Mere rivals ko pasine aa rahe hain,” he says.

BJP’s Devender Attri blames the Birender Singh family and the Chautalas for ignoring the constituency. “Canal water is the biggest issue here. This area is dependent on farming but the canal water doesn’t reach the tail-end areas. There is no industry here,” he says after addressing a gathering at Alewa, Uchana’s biggest village in terms of population.

Enthusiastic BJP workers weigh him in jalebis and laddoos. The sweetmeats, however, disappear in minutes as the village crowd makes the most of the occasion.

The BJP candidate says the Birender Singh family and Chautalas had monopolised politics of Uchana. “But it’s time for change,” he says. Attri, whose father was an INLD leader, migrated to the BJP in 2019 after a brief stint with the JJP.

Responding to Attri’s remarks, Brijendra says his family belongs to Dumerkha Kalan, a village that is a part of Uchana Kalan. “We have worked hard to win from here on six occasions,” he says.

Dushyant says Uchana has showered his family with love and affection, and such arguments don’t hold ground.

Poor development indicators

Uchana Kalan is a story of poor development indicators. The constituency does not have any industry. Scarcity of canal water, over dependence on agriculture, unemployment and farmers unrest are key issues that will affect the polling pattern.

Udai Vir of Dumerkha Khurd village says though the people will vote for Birender Singh family in an overwhelming manner, the backwardness of the area needs attention. “The canal water does not reach our fields. We are in dire need of a carrier channel (rajwaha) to ensure irrigation water reaches the tail-end,” he says.

Satbir Singh of Budain says that government needs to focus on skill development and a good standard of education to make youngsters of this area employable.

“Unemployment is becoming a major problem. There are not enough government jobs. So, the youth need to be skilled to work in the non-government sector,” he says.

BJP’s caste polarisation

By fielding a Brahmin candidate, Attri, the saffron party has tried to execute its caste polarisation strategy. “The constituency has about 12% Brahmins. As compared to 50% Jat population, the non-Jat castes account for 27% including the backward classes. BJP’s game plan is to corner maximum non-Jat votes and hope that the majority Jat votes get split three way,” says a political expert.

Attri, however, dismisses the argument, saying that it is a canard being spread by his rivals. “All 36 castes are supporting the BJP. Kamal ka phool khilayenge is baar,” he says as he heads for another meeting at Alewa.