Will new Haryana CM Khattar usher a wave of pracharak CMs?

Manohar Lal Khattar is not such a unique BJP chief minister after all. He is a first-time MLA alright. But Modi was not even an MLA when he took over Gujarat. From Karnal, for MLA, it was Khattar's electoral début too. But again, so was Modi's, from Rajkot, that too after he ascended the throne. Khattar is a Sangh pracharak loaned to BJP. Just as Modi was, again. (To stretch point a little...) It will be interesting to watch how many more pracharaks take to direct electoral politics and high public offices in the Modi era.

Modi himself was a huge exception when he became the CM of Gujarat in October 2001. Pracharaks, until then at least, were meant to be the organisational steel-frame, not the electoral face or occupy public offices. That norm continues but now with two very emphatic exceptions. It will not be an exaggeration to expect more such exceptions in the near future.

Coming back to the similarities between Modi and Khattar, there is another uncanny one. Khattar is a non-Jat CM of Haryana. As was Modi, a non-Patel CM of Gujarat. Also, both belong to communities that are not too significant numerically, electorally or politically, in their respective states. As well as that both were nominated to be the CMs by the party, in an Assembly which had a ready-majority. They did not become chief ministers by leading the party in the polls as the projected choice for the job. Of course, NaMo went on to win three subsequent general elections as an incumbent CM, and how! With so many similarities, will Khattar prove to be another Modi in the making?

Unlikely. First of all, the Modi phenomenon is not so commonplace as to occur every now and then. Modi isn't looking larger than life just because a billion of us were driven to desperation by a cabal that ruled for ten years. His promise appears to be a once-in-several-lifetimes one. Secondly, Modi and Khattar are two most unlike personalities. Khattar's demeanour, style and manner is not just different, it is a 180 degrees opposite. And, that is not all. But, the most important factor that will keep Khattar's trajectory most dissimilar to Modi's is something else. His enormous success in Gujarat, that showcased his prolific capabilities, appeared when the Centre was floundering. Centre as in the Central Government as well as the centre of the BJP. The huge contrast was there for anyone to see. Khattar is unlikely to get such an opportunity, any time soon.

Khattar has other challenges too. He is also the first Punjabi to become the chief minister of Haryana. That shouldn't be odd though. After all, Haryana was a part of the undivided Punjab till a few decades back. Though born in a village of Haryana, Khattar is also the first urban face to lead the state as its CM. All his predecessors came from a rural background even if some were not actually farmers. On the face of it, he also symbolises triumph of a caste neutral formation over a hugely caste driven politics, in a caste-sensitive state. But, look a little closer for the fault lines: Jats have always been a dominant pole in Haryana's politics. Their aggression and domineering nature has often brought the “others” together. That is what happened this time too. A discredited Chautala was not forsaken by the Jats. In fact, this time they mobilised even more aggressively in his favour. This alienated most other castes.

The Congress, after ten years of miserable governance, was not an option. The appeal of a Modi-led BJP continued to work like a charm. The “others” flocked to the BJP to give it a historic mandate. Not projecting a CM helped glue together a rainbow coalition. The BJP had at least five serious contenders for the top job, pulling in their respective castes. Khattar as CM seems to take away that glue which the ambiguity about the likely CM generates aplenty. He is an urban Punjabi. Rivals brand him as an outsider. Unkind ones pull out that dead and gone pejorative epithet – “refugee” – that was used for the Punjabis who migrated from the West Punjab in the wake of Partition.

The Gujjars, the Ahirs, the Banias, the Brahmins and the Dalits, though resent the domineering Jats, live with them cheek-by-jowl, as the cliché goes. They are a part of the tapestry of Haryana that is still essentially, rural and agrarian. They may not prefer a Jat CM but are not unfamiliar or not reconciled to such a scenario. But a Punjabi who does not even speak the way they all do, is going to be painted a bit of an alien. The Hoodas and Chautalas now have an issue to murmur about in the non-Jat ears of Haryana. However, with the next election five years away, Modi has enough time to rewrite the rules of Haryana politics. Just as, indeed, he is doing in so many other states too.

With the Modi-phenomenon showing no signs of abating, Chautalas on the wane, and Congress even faster so. The future is anybody's guess.