Haryana under ML Khattar: Directionless drift, misplaced priorities

Huge investment on verge of getting scrapped; Jats up in arms; no let-up in crime against women

In the autumn of 2014, when Haryana went to the polls it was the Om Prakash Chautala-led Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) that was expected to come to power. Narendra Modi’s campaign in the state — and the small matter of INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala being in jail for corruption — changed all that. Modi was lavish in his praise for Haryana and its people and mocked the Chautalas fighting the elections from jail, the Robert Vadra-DLF land deals and politics of dynasty and entitlement. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not name its candidate for chief minister and Modi conveyed the strong impression that he would be the one really running Haryana. He asked people to have faith in him.

They did. Then Manohar Lal Khattar came on the scene.

Khattar and Modi have known each other since the days Modi was the “prabhari” (in charge) of Haryana. Khattar came into contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) during the Emergency in 1975 and joined it in 1977. Impressed by the RSS ideology and conduct of swayamsevaks during Emergency, he became a full-time RSS pracharak by 1980. He was engaged in Haryana politics and liaised with Modi  who was “lent” to the BJP. When Modi became chief minister of Gujarat and the earthquake struck Bhuj and Kutch, Khattar was invited to lead the committee for reconstruction and rehabilitation. In 2002, he became poll in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir. And he was made chairman of the election campaign committee for Haryana in 2014.

Originally from West Pakistan, Khattar’s family was very poor and migrants to Haryana. Modi spotted him as a kindred spirit. His plus point was deep and wide knowledge of the RSS organisation and the BJP’s support structure. The other plus was and continues to be total personal honesty. For Haryana, reeling from the cumulative effect of extortion and rent-seeking by successive governments Khattar represented the light that needed to be shined in the darkest corners of the government.

But there were problems, which manifested themselves almost immediately. Khattar may have won elections for the BJP. But he himself became member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the first time in his life when he contested and won the Karnal seat. The BJP won 47 MLAs out of 90 in the Haryana Assembly. The chief minister needed to be a person who had the moral authority to sort out squabbles swiftly, given the party’s narrow majority. Party President Amit Shah was said to have favoured young Jat leader Capt Abhimanyu. The most experienced MLA was Ram Bilas Sharma (who had worked with Bansi Lal) and the one with extensive legislative experience was Anil Vij. But it was Khattar who got the job. The angst of the others was barely hidden and manifests itself as internecine warfare between ministers as a helpless CM looks on

Khattar did what he knew, understood and trusted the most — the advice of the RSS or those connected with it. Top bureaucrats were not appointed on the basis of merit: They were given charge because of their connections, family or otherwise, to the Sangh. In a perfect world, this would have trumped caste and other linkages. But in Indian society and politics caste is ever present.

The worst happened. Incompetent bureaucrats and inexperienced ministers ignored repeated intelligence warnings that restive Jats were accumulating kerosene and other incendiary material. How could the state government have been so unprepared or so ignorant? It was, and Haryana went up in flames. The police and intelligence chiefs should have been replaced immediately. Today, one is the chief information commissioner of the state and the other is heading the power board, both plum postings. Officers in CM Cell have been changed twice or thrice. The director general of police has been changed thrice. The current home secretary in the state is the fourth in Khattar’s tenure. Crucial posts have been manned by  wrong people at wrong times, at wrong places, for all the wrong reasons.

Molestations in Murthal were among the issues investigated by the Prakash Singh Commission. It gave a report, which indicted officials by name. The recommendations of the commission have not been acted on. 

It is no crime to be a novice chief minister: Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal were both novices. But they had a supporting team of dedicated bureaucrats. Bansi Lal transformed Haryana because of the sterling contribution of S K Mishra, his trusted aide who thought up the idea of leveraging Haryana’s roads to entice tourists from nearby Delhi for weekend tourism. Ashok Pawha contributed tirelessly. B S Ojha was Bhajan Lal’s right-hand man as chief secretary. These men left an imprint in the Haryana bureaucracy that made up for the inefficiency or worse of the political leadership.

Khattar is on a short fuse these days. He is reportedly pulling up colleagues during Cabinet meetings. Last month, 12 MLAs petitioned party President Amit Shah to counsel the CM. Shah reportedly promised them he would look at Haryana after the Uttar Pradesh elections. Meanwhile, how much new investment has Haryana got in any field? In the 2016 Invest Haryana event, more than Rs 5 lakh crore was committed. The China-based Wanda group had promised to invest USD 10 billion in Sonipat. That project is now on the verge of being scrapped because of differences between the state government and the group. Someone needs to tell Khattar some home truths.