Today, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi talks about equal distribution of wealth and the demand for caste census in any forum in the country and abroad. But how Rahul Gandhi’s politics changes in every state, you can see it in the context of Haryana. The campaign for the Haryana Assembly elections is at its peak. It is said that there is a head-to-head fight going on between the Congress and the BJP. Whatever the reports are so far, it is said that the Congress seems to be taking the lead in the state. The biggest reason for the growth of the Congress is the support that the party has received from the Jat party. Now the Congress has talked about caste census in its manifesto. Apparently, there is talk of completing the caste census so that resources can be redistributed in future according to the population ratio. The question is whether former Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda, who leads the Congress in Haryana, will accept Rahul Gandhi’s formula of “as many shares as population”. Obviously, if the Congress makes this an issue in the elections, the dissatisfaction of the Jats is certain. Let’s see why the Jats will never accept this formula from Rahul.
1- Land ownership and annual income of Jats
According to a report published by Economic and Political Weekly, Jats are 30% to 77% more likely to own or cultivate land than other social groups in Haryana, including Brahmins. According to a report by Dainik Bhaskar, 25% of the Jats in the state own 55% of the total cultivated land in Haryana. This means that in terms of real estate, Jats own more than twice as much land as their numbers. According to Rahul Gandhi, Jats must give more than half of their land to other castes. Will Jats in Haryana accept this?
The Economic and Political Weekly also provides information on income. Even in terms of money, the Jats’ spending on goods and services, which is a rough indication of their income, is similar to that of the Brahmins in Haryana. Jats’ consumption expenditure is significantly higher compared to all other groups in the state, including the upper castes.
According to the Indian Human Development Survey, in 2011-12, the per capita income of Jats in Haryana was higher than that of Brahmins, lagging behind only one group. The income of Jats in Haryana is much higher than that of Marathas in Maharashtra and Patels in Gujarat. The poverty level of Jats is similar to that of Brahmins and much lower than that of other groups.
2- Jats’ Work Engagement
According to a report by Dainik Bhaskar, if we talk only about Jats in Haryana, their employment share is 28.28%, while according to Jat leader Hawa Singh Sangwan, the Jats’ share in Haryana’s population is 25%. The lowest representation is in the Backward B category at 12.05%. This was revealed in the list of caste representation of officers and employees provided by the Haryana government to the Other Backward Classes Commission.
Following an order of the Punjab-Haryana High Court, the commission had sought caste data of government employees from the state government. According to this, the data sent by the commission on behalf of Chief Secretary DS Dhesi showed that there are 2.58 lakh posts in the state. Of these, the government has been able to collect data of 2.42 lakh employees. If we talk about the backward C category, then from category 1 to category 4, the share of the Jat community is better than other communities. This means that out of the total 75,840 posts for this group, people from this category are handling 68,427 posts. This accounts for 28.28% of the total government jobs. The number increases more if Sikhs, Maula Jats and Muslim Jats are added.
The government is unable to collect caste data for 16,000 officials and employees. If contract and temporary workers under outsourcing policies are also included, the number could be higher.
3- Rahul Gandhi has different views on the same issue in different states.
Rahul Gandhi has now become a mature politician. They know that the public memory is short. This is not just applicable in Haryana. They have the same policy in other states. Just as Rahul Gandhi talks about equal participation across the country, he does not talk about it in Haryana. Similarly, the Congress, which was against Article 370, was silent on Article 370 during the Kashmir elections. Rahul Gandhi went to Kashmir but not once spoke about restoring Article 370. Because they knew that the Hindu votes in Jammu would be in trouble. He had a similar attitude towards CAA. In Kerala, where he had to seek Hindu votes, he did not even talk about opposing CAA. And the state Chief Minister Vijayan kept goading him to speak out on CAA.
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