LAST OCTOBER, the BJP surprised everyone by beating anti-incumbency and winning a historic third term in Haryana. It was not only a lesson in political management, but also an endorsement for the party to push forward its governance model.
With Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini completing six months in office, on April 17, his stamp on governance is visible. This month, Saini announced a significant step. Haryana became the first state to announce 20 per cent reservation in the state police for Agniveers after their stint in the Army. The first batch of Agniveers will complete its tenure in 2026, and the recruits will have to look for jobs again. This has the potential to snowball into a social and political issue country-wide.
As Haryana sends a significant number of youth to the Army, it will have to provide incentives to the Agniveers. “There is also a provision of 10 per cent reservation for Agniveers in the jobs of forest guard, jail warden and mining guard in the forest department,” Saini said.
The state is also offering attractive packages to the industries that could provide employment to Agniveers. The Haryana government plans to create a separate portal for their recruitment. More than 5,000 Haryana youth have been recruited as Agniveers since the inception of the scheme in 2022. If the model is successful, other state governments might feel pressure to replicate it.
Saini, who was then state party president, replaced chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in March 2024, ahead of the assembly elections. Many were sceptical of the decision, but the BJP’s stunning performance came as an endorsement for Saini. Ever since, he has strengthened his position. Keen to build an image of an accessible chief minister, Saini has met more than 1.5 lakh visitors at his office residence in Chandigarh in the past three months.
What has helped the BJP and Saini is the disarray in the opposition camp, where the Congress has yet not picked its leader of opposition. Also, the potential of the farmers’ agitation in neighbouring Punjab spilling over has subsided as the Bhagwant Mann government cracked down on the farmers’ groups last month.
Haryana is known for its jawans, kisans and pehelwans (soldiers, farmers and wrestlers), each of whom forms formidable pressure groups that can influence the government. The Congress had built its campaign on this slogan along with highlighting the expected plight of Agniveers.
Since then, Saini has made sure the key communities were addressed. According to the government, Haryana is the first state to buy 24 crops on minimum support price. For wrestlers, the government decided to give Vinesh Phogat, now a Congress MLA, the same incentives as an Olympic silver medallist (she was disqualified from the Olympics final for being overweight by 100g). She had a choice to pick one from Rs4 crore, government job or a plot; she chose the cash.
However, by the government’s own admission, only 19 of the 217 promises made in the party manifesto have been fulfilled. Saini hopes 90 more will be completed this year.
The key promise of giving Rs2,100 a month to eligible women under the Lado Lakshmi Yojana, a poll promise that proved to be a massive hit, is being rolled out, said officials. Saini, who also holds the finance portfolio, announced in his maiden budget that the government had earmarked Rs5,000 crore for the scheme. This is estimated to be 4 per cent of Haryana’s revenue receipts. The scheme draws from the highly successful scheme of the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, which helped the party beat anti-incumbency.
The cash schemes, often derided as freebies, are attractive during the election season, but cause a drain to the state budget. How Haryana manages its finances in this regard could set an example for smaller states.
Another first from the state government was the announcement that it would implement the Supreme Court’s order on the sub-classification of scheduled castes. This means that, of the 20 per cent quota for schedules castes in Haryana, 50 per cent would be reserved for deprived scheduled castes and the other half for other scheduled castes. The BJP claims this will uplift the weakest among the marginalised communities.
Also, to explore Haryana’s needs and potential, the state budget proposed a “department of future”. The fancy name apart, the new department will act as a think tank to propose changes and policies to help the state stay in touch with disruptive technological and social changes that challenge traditional policy making. The government has announced the setting up of AI hubs in Gurugram and Panchkula. These will train over 50,000 professionals from Haryana in new technologies.
“Saini is focusing on increasing the happiness index of the state,” said Prof Vidhu Rawal, state BJP spokesperson. “Haryana could have been a model state had not the Congress governments looted it for long. Haryana has been scoring over several other states since the BJP was voted to power. [About] 80 per cent of our villages have 24-hour power supply. Our state has the best per capita income among the northern states. Our contribution to the GDP has also increased to 4.3 per cent. The government is defining how a welfare state is run.”