Haryana 2024: Election hustle, farmers' protests bookend sporting glory

For a state that witnessed two elections of great significance this year and accounted for more than 20 per cent of athletes in India's Paris Olympics contingent, it is only fitting that the year's top newsmakers came from two fields: politics and sports.

Add to the mix, the issues of farmers and farming -- farmers' protest remained a constant underrunning theme in the state's sociopolitical discourse through the year -- and Haryana's 2024 round-up is almost complete.

As Haryana seemed to be settling into the regular humdrum of daily politics after high-pitched election season came the unsettling news of the passing of its five-time chief minister and political stalwart Om Prakash Chautala. He died on December 20 at the age of 89.

The state entered 2024 with a great deal to look forward to for everybody: a BJP looking to repeat the 2019 feat of winning all 10 LS seats and also retaining power in assembly, a Congress emboldened by projections it would wrest back a large number of parliamentary seats from the BJP and also dethrone it in the state, an AAP hopeful of making inroads in a new territory; and a population in anticipation.

What nobody saw coming though was a change of guard in the government just months before the assembly polls.

So, when the BJP replaced its chief minister of more than nine years Manohar Lal Khattar with low-profile OBC leader Nayab Singh Saini (54) in March not only the BJP's rivals, but many in the party too were caught off-guard. And some were left angry too, like senior BJP leader Anil Vij whose chief ministerial ambition was all too known.

While the BJP gamble did not pay off in the Lok Sabha polls, losing five of the 10 seats to the Congress, it certainly reaped the rewards in the October assembly polls as it staved off a resurgent Congress to win a third consecutive term.

The AAP was decimated, drawing a blank.

AAP could not win from Kurukshetra, the lone LS seat it contested in partnership with the Congress.

Ajay Singh Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party, whose alliance with the BJP broke down in March, was also routed in the Assembly polls. The party faced a series of desertions after the alliance ended.

But the JJP was not the only party to face desertions. The BJP and the Congress also saw many of their leaders switch sides to pursue their ambitions in the election year.

In the BJP, Anil Vij voiced his displeasure publicly for not being kept in the loop while replacing Khattar with Saini. Congress leader and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja was apparently miffed with the party for giving a free hand to her bete noire Bhupinder Singh Hooda in ticket distribution for the assembly polls.

She stayed away from the poll campaign for days, giving the BJP ammunition to attack the Congress with "anti-Dalit" jibes as the October 5 polling neared.

The Congress infighting saw the departure of senior leader Kiran Choudhry, who joined the BJP with her daughter Shruti Choudhry, ahead of the Assembly election.

Kiran Choudhry, daughter-in-law of former chief minister late Bansi Lal, was made a Rajya Sabha member. Shruti won the Assembly poll and is now a minister in the Saini government.

The Congress too got a boost with the return of senior leader and former Union minister Birender Singh after a decade with the BJP.

But all these pre-poll churning didn't end in favour of the Congress in the assembly poll. The party ended with 37 seats in the House of 90, while the BJP got 48.

Experts believe the Congress was in ascendence but it failed to get the final push due to infighting, over-reliance on sitting MLAs and rebellion at some places.

Hooda later said the assembly poll outcome was opposite to what the atmosphere in the state was.

On the BJP's poll win, Chief Minister Saini said the people "put a stamp" on the government's policies under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

After he demitted the chief minister's office in March, Khattar fought the Lok Sabha poll from Karnal and won. He is now a Union Minister.

The Assembly poll results announced on october 8 brought not-so-good news for many top leaders including Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan, former assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta and former deputy CM and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala.

Other prominent leaders who lost included Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala, BJP's O P Dhankar, Bhavya Bishnoi and Capt Abhimanyu.

But one new entrant who emerged victorious was Olympian Vinesh Phogat who joined the Congress weeks after heartbreak at the Paris Olympics where she was declared overweight and disqualified from the gold medal match the night before the final bout.

The Congress fielded her from the Julana constituency.

Fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia also joined the Congress with her, but he did not fight the polls.

Punia and Phogat had been the face of fierce protests against former Wrestling Federation of India head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by women grapplers.

The state sent 24 of the 117 athletes the represented India at the Paris Olympics. And of the total six medals India won, four were by the athletes from Haryana -- Neeraj Chopra (Silver in javelin), Manu Bhakar (Bronze in 10m air pistol and Bronze in mixed team 25m pistol) and Aman Sehrawat (Bronze in men's freestyle 57kg).

Chief Minister Saini expressed pride in the achievements of Haryana's athletes, saying they have brought glory to both the state and the country.

The farmers' issue proved to Achilles' heel for both the Khattar and Saini governments.

Farmers under the banner of SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha have been camping at Punjab's Shambhu and Khanauri, both bordering Haryana, since February 13, after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.

The forces did not allow them to enter Haryana for their onward march to Delhi in support of their various demands from the Centre, including legal guarantee to MSP.

Between December 6-14, three more attempts made by Punjab farmers, which were in smaller groups, to march to national capital from Shambhu border in December were also blunted.

The Haryana government has said several farmer welfare initiatives have been taken including the decision to procure 10 more crops on Minimum Support Price, taking the total number of such crops to 24.

Among other subjects, Haryana's ruling BJP and Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party were engaged in a war of words on water and some other issues. In November, a Bill ensuring job security to the contractual employees till the age of superannuation was passed by the state assembly.

The INLD's state unit president Nafe Singh Rathee was killed in Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar in February.