Haryana khap leaders enter poll fray CHANDER SUTA DOGRA

Haryana’s khap panchayats, which often make headlines with their diktats on matrimony, women’s rights and personal freedom, have for the first time mobilised politically. Apart from a move to mobilise all khap panchayats to collectively support a pro-Jat party, several heads of khaps have also individually thrown their hats into the ring.

Last month, a spokesperson of the Sarv Jatt Khap Panchayat (SJKP), a powerful conglomerate of khap panchayats, tried to rally some 100 active khap panchayats behind one party, so that their votes would not get divided. These khaps command influence in the districts of Bhiwani, Hissar, Jind, Rohtak, Sonepat, Kaithal, Jhajjar, Mahendragarh, Palwal and Gurgaon among others.

But the initiative was abandoned when others connected with the SJKP felt that overt politicisation of these ancient social institutions would erode their respect in the countryside as they are meant to be apolitical. Other members opposed the move outright on the ground that since it was the Congress which got reservation for the Jat community, khap panchayats (mostly representing the Jat community) should not be supporting any other party.

From his office in the Jat Dharamsala in Jind, Kuldip Dhanda, convener of the Haryana Sarvkhap Panchayat, told The Hindu: “These social bodies are meant to solve the social problems of the community and we require the support of all parties for this. Khap panchayats are supposed to be non-political bodies and we will not allow anyone to participate in politics.” Notwithstanding this sentiment, at least two prominent faces connected with khap panchayats have bagged tickets from the INLD and the BJP. Others who failed to get ticket are in the fray as Independents.

Santosh Dahiya, heading the women’s wing of the Sarv Khap Mahapanchayat, is the INLD’s candidate from Beri, though she had recently expressed her aversion to politics. The BJP has roped in Shamsher Kharkara, leader of the Aithgama Khap from Meham. Head of the powerful Malik Khap, Baljit Singh has also joined the BJP.

In August, Tek Ram Kandela, heading the Kandela Khap, joined the Congress and sought ticket from Jind. When the party did not oblige him, he decided to contest as an Independent. “All the 28 villages of the Kandela Khap will vote en masse for him,” said a supporter in Kandela village.

Another khap leader, Sudesh Chaudhary, who shot into prominence as the first woman to be coopted into a khap panchayat as president of the women’s wing of Satrol Khap, left the INLD to join the BJP. The party has attracted many khap leaders in recent weeks.

The recent political churning in khap panchayats has prompted social activists to say that the “bogus social agenda of these so-called social institutions has been exposed.”