A first-time MP, Khattar was sworn in as a Cabinet Minister at serial eight after Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, J.P. Nadda, Shivraj SIngh Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman, and S. Jaishankar.  

Among the Ministers of State (Independent Charge), Rao Inderjit Singh was the first to be administered the oath. Krishan Lal Gurjar was fourth among the Ministers of State to be administered oath.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to induct three out of the five Haryana MPs into his Cabinet is being seen in the context of state elections due in October.

Khattar represents the Punjabi community who migrated from Pakistan’s Punjab after Partition and settled in various districts of Haryana. Rao Inderjit Singh is a prominent Ahir leader who wields influence over South Haryana, particularly in Rewari and Mahindragarh districts and parts of Gurugram district. Krishan Lal Gurjar represents the Gujjar community which comes under other backward classes (OBCs).

BJP MP from Bhiwani-Mahindragarh, Dharambir Singh, the the lone Jat MP from Haryana, has not found a place in the Union Cabinet.

Political analyst Hemant Atri said the choice of ministers as well as the number of ministers sworn in on Sunday has been carefully done with an eye on the upcoming assembly elections.

“Rao Inderjit Singh is a prominent Ahir leader with a family legacy. He wields a lot of influence on people of the Yadav community in South Haryana. He was MoS in Modi 1.0 and Modi 2.0, too. This time, people expected Modi to elevate him to the Cabinet rank given the influence he wields and the number of assembly seats he brings to the BJP’s kitty in every election. Krishan Lal Gurjar is also a senior BJP leader and comes from the old cadre of the party,” Atri told ThePrint.

He, however, was baffled by the decision of inducting Khattar into the Modi Cabinet as he was replaced “rather unceremoniously” by Modi in March because of discontent against him among people.

“If the BJP has lost five seats after making a clean sweep of 10 out of 10 in 2019, it is largely because of policies like e-tendering, property and family ID introduced by him. The new CM Nayab Singh Saini has already begun the process to amend these policies in view of the assembly polls,” he added.

Atri said that the development on Sunday left no one in doubt that the BJP wanted to contest with an aim to divide voters on caste lines.

He said that the party had deliberately kept the Jats at bay — it already removed BJP state chief O.P. Dhankar in October — so that it could project itself as the benefactor of the non-Jats and corner their votes.

He, however, said that the way Haryana had voted in the Parliamentary polls and rose above caste lines, it looked unlikely that the BJP’s “divisive plans” would work.

Another political analyst Yoginder Gupta echoed Atri’s comments but asserted that Haryana’s share in the Modi cabinet is higher than previous rounds.

“It is true that in 2019, Modi inducted three ministers initially – Rao, Gurjar and Kataria. However, Kataria was dropped during a reshuffle in July 2021, and only the first two remained ministers till the end. This time, three out of five have been made ministers, which seems largely because of the impending assembly elections,” Gupta said.

The choice of the ministers leave no one in doubt that the BJP planned to contest the polls on Jats versus non-Jat basis, he added. “The ruling party knows that Jats are not going to vote for it. Hence, it is deliberately keeping its Jat leaders out to attract the non-Jats.” 

BJP state spokesperson Sanjay Sharma, however, described the talks of Jat versus non-Jats as absurd.

“The BJP never believes in divisive politics. Experience and seniority has always been PM Modi’s criteria when selecting his ministers. Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar were ministers during Modi’s previous terms, while Khattar is two-time CM,” Sharma told ThePrint.

(Edited by Tony Rai)

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