The three farm bills brought in Parliament to replace the three Ordinances notified in June this year have become a friction point between the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The BJP's oldest ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has withdrawn from the Narendra Modi cabinet over the issue.The move comes in against the backdrop of intensifying protests by farmers in Punjab.
A ripple-effect is being seen in neighbouring Haryana, which has also seen protest by various farmers' organisations resulting in a clash with police at least in one instance.In Haryana, the BJP lacks a majority of its own and is in power with the help of 10 MLAs of Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
In the bargain, the BJP gave Dushyant Chautala the position of the deputy chief minister.HARYANA HASSLES Becoming deputy chief minister was significant for Dushyant Chautala, who campaigned with the ambition of becoming the chief minister of Haryana to bring back the political glory of Chaudhary Devi Lal.But in the deputy chief minister's chair, Dushyant Chautala has found his party MLAs openly calling for his head.
At least two JJP MLAs -- Ram Kumar Gautam and Devender Babli -- have gone public with demanding a change in party leadership.Pressure mounted on Dushyant Chautala to part ways with the BJP after reports of police lathi-charge on protesting farmers at Pipli in Kurukshetra district Haryana.
The alleged incident took place on September 10.The JJP MLAs called for changing the party leadership forcing Dushyant Chautala to seek a probe into the incident.
He did not order a probe as deputy CM but demanded one.Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, also the chief of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), is under pressure from party MLAs over his alliance with the BJP in the wake of protest by farmers over three farm bills brought by the central government.
(Photo: PTI)THE BADAL CONNECTIONSoon after, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij, the powerful state BJP leader, refuted the claim of police action against protesting farmers.
Vij said there was no lathi-charge on farmers.
Dushyant Chautala, under immense pressure, issued an apology for an incident that the state home minister said never occurred.Reports suggest Dushyant Chautala is reconsidering the nature of his party's alliance with the BJP.
This holds particular significance since the Shiromani Akali Dal has now withdrawn from the BJP-led government at the Centre.The Badals of the Shiromani Akali Dal were the "key" players in getting Dushyant Chautala to tie up with the BJP in Haryana after the 2019 assembly election.
The BJP has 40 seats in the 90-member assembly and the Congress 31.Sukhbir Singh Badal, the Shiromani Akali Dal chief, has in the past referred to Chaudhary Devi Lal, the former deputy prime minister and the great-grandfather of Dushyant Chautala, as one of the greatest leaders of the farmers.
And, Dushyant Chautala claims the legacy of Devi Lal.
This explains his dilemma of choosing between the politics of farmers and opportunity to stay in the government as deputy chief minister.Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal has withdrawn from the Modi cabinet at the Centre over the three farm bills.
(Photo: PTI)The Congress has made Dushyant Chautala's position even more difficult with Randeep Surjewala comparing his continuation as the deputy chief minister with the resignation by Harsimrat Kaur Badal over the three farm bills.
Surjewala said, "You [Dushyant Chautala] are more attached to your chair than [to] farmers."Incidentally, both Badals and Dushyant Chautala appeared to support the three farm bills or the Ordinances that they are meant to replace.
Both the SAD and the JJP have revised their stand seeing the gathering momentum in the protests by farmers over the farm bills.SPILLOVER WORRY FOR BJP The worry for the BJP is that the farm bills may turn into a "cause" forcing other allies [read Lok Janshakti Party] to part ways.Bihar is on the cusp of assembly elections.
The BJP's allies -- the Janata Dal-United (JDU) of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the LJP -- are fighting in the open.
LJP chief Chirag Paswan and his father, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan are unhappy with CM Nitish Kumar.The Paswans want a greater share in seat allocation, something for which the JDU is not ready.
Instead, the JDU has irked the LJP leaders by roping in rival Dalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) in the alliance.
This prompted Chirag Paswan to say that he is ready to field candidates on all seats contested by the JDU.Incidentally, after resignation of Harsimrat Kaur from the Modi cabinet, Ram Vilas Paswan is the only non-BJP leader with a cabinet rank.
Ramdas Athawale came to the Rajya Sabha on the BJP's quota and is an MoS rank minister.Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan with his son and LJP president Chirag PaswanThe BJP had alliance trouble in Ramdas Athawale's home state, where the Shiv Sena parted ways after 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election despite contesting the polls together.
The Shiv Sena wanted the chief ministerial position.
The BJP was not ready to give it back.THE BIG PICTUREMaharashtra, Bihar, Punjab and Haryana are the states that gave credence to the BJP's claim of cohesion in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).The BJP has always claimed that it strives for consensus in the alliance and cited its acceptance of the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab and the Janata Dal-United (JDU) in Bihar as senior partners for long as proof of its assertion.That claim appears to be crumbling in past the six-seven years during which the BJP has seen surge in vote power across the country.The first to desert the BJP was the Janata Dal-United (JDU) of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who after an experimental alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad and the Congress, returned to the NDA fold in about three years.The friction with the Shiromani Akali Dal has at least one other background than the farm bills.
The BJP is asserting for a greater share in alliance for the Punjab Assembly election due for early 2022.With farmers' protest intensifying, the SAD does not wish to be seen with the BJP, which plans to go the Punjab polls with a non-Jat Punjabi vote bank in its scheme.With Harsimrat Kaur's resignation, the Shiromani Akali Dal has tried to shoot two birds with one stone -- separate messages to the farmers and the BJP -- well in time for Punjab Assembly election.
And, if Ram Vilas Paswan continues to feel suffocated in Bihar NDA, the farm bills could be a departure lounge for him as well.
A repeat of 2002.