Haryana:Social Coalitions, Political Strategies and the Capture of State Power

Historically, Rajputs and Brahmins have been a dominant force in several South Indian states and states of UP Bihar, Post independence, this trend has been bucked wherein democratic politics has seen the empowerment of the lower segments in these societies.This has not been the case with Haryana wherein democratic elections have converted the social dominance of the numerically preponderant middle level peasant castes especially the Jats in to their political control. Related to this is the story of the decline of Congress party in Haryana politics from the position of dominance it earlier enjoyed. Congress party had emerged as the dominant player in Haryana electoral politics immediately after Haryana attained statehood in 1966 and continued to be so till 1977 when as a result of Janata wave, the Congress party was completely wiped out in the Lok Sabha elections in 1977. After 1977, there has been a steady decline in the Congress performance. The only two exceptions to this trend being post Indira Gandhi assassination Lok Sabha elections and post Rajiv Gandhi assassination assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The social support for political parties, class background for political parties, education background of party support and the party performance in rural and urban areas further enables to understand better this kind of electoral politics in Haryana.