Gurugram: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has directed BJP MLAs in the state to conduct a minimum of five Jan Samvad meetings to address public grievances. But there’s a twist: the MLAs have to conduct these meetings outside their own constituencies.
This development, notably, comes just two months after the Khattar government officially prohibited MLAs from convening “open darbars” or arranging meetings with government officials.
The change in policy was communicated to MLAs Tuesday, a day after Khattar met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to Praveen Attreya, media secretary to the Haryana government, the MLAs have been instructed to select assembly segments other than their own for these Jan Samvad meetings so that the government can reach out to the maximum number of people.
The decision, he said, aims to expand the government’s outreach and connect with a broader cross-section of the population in order to better understand their concerns.
“The MLAs have been told to hold a minimum of five meetings, though they can hold more if they wish. They will be accompanied by local officials to redress people’s grievances on the spot,” he added.
However, the directive for MLAs to step outside their own constituencies to hold grievance meetings raises questions. Would it not lead to MLAs encroaching on each other’s turfs and potentially causing political tensions?
Dura Ram, a BJP MLA representing Fatehabad, explained that the reason behind this directive is to allow the BJP to expand its influence, even in constituencies held by MLAs from other parties.
“The BJP has only 41 MLAs in the 90-member state assembly. We have 49 constituencies where the MLAs are either from other political parties or they are independents. We have been asked by the CM to concentrate on all the 90 assembly seats,” he said.
Haryana-based political analyst Pawan Kumar Bansal offered another reason for the move too.
“MLAs often have a good idea of who supports them and who opposes them in their own areas. When an MLA conducts a meeting in their own constituency, it tends to attract their supporters. They may not pay much attention to the grievances of their opponents, and those opponents might be reluctant to approach the MLA,” he said.
“However, when neutral MLAs hold Jan Samvads, there’s a better chance that those who disagree with the local MLA will attend these meetings and voice their grievances. This provides the party with a valuable opportunity to understand why some constituents are dissatisfied and address their concerns,” he added.
Authentic insights, Bansal pointed out, would be valuable for the party ahead of the 2024 parliamentary and assembly polls.
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The ‘open darbar’ ban
So far, CM Khattar has been conducting grassroots-level Jan Samvad meetings throughout the state and is expected to continue to do so, Attreya said.
A press note released Wednesday by the state’s information and public relations department extolled the CM’s Jan Samvad meetings.
“From immediate action against corrupt practices to on-the-spot distribution of pension certificates and financial aid, Manohar Lal’s Samvad initiatives are turning the fortunes of those who never imagined that their Chief Minister would personally address their concerns,” it said.
Now, MLAs are set to follow the CM’s lead just months after an official directive prohibited them from doing so.
A 25 August letter issued by the political and parliamentary department of the Haryana government explicitly said that “no MLA can call a meeting of officers or chair Open Darbar”.
The letter, accessed by ThePrint, added that an MLA may visit government offices and officers on matters concerning the public only after “reasonable intimation”.
A government official told The Print on condition of anonymity that this letter was issued in the wake of some MLAs openly humiliating some officers and ordering their suspension.
One such incident transpired in May during a “Janata Darbar” where Tohana MLA Devender Babli of the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) reprimanded a power utilities sub-divisional engineer, coupled with threats to file an FIR against him and suspend him from his job. This incident set off protests among officials in the power department, prompting a reconsideration of the public outreach activities of MLAs.
But party sources said that with both state and Lok Sabha elections around the corner, outreach is key.
A BJP MLA who attended the meeting with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Tuesday told The Print that it lasted for over two and a half hours and focused on the 2024 polls.
“The CM asked us about our views on the roadmap to victory in the 2024 elections,” the MLA said, requesting anonymity. “Many of us handed over the lists of constituencies we would like to visit for Jan Samvads to the CM’s staff on the spot.”
He added that Khattar also asked legislators to provide lists of 50 people from each constituency who have benefitted from the Haryana Government’s welfare policies.
“The CM’s office plans to contact such people so that they could be presented as vocal faces of beneficiaries for others in the run-up to the next year’s elections,” said the MLA.
State BJP President OP Dhankar told ThePrint said that though he was not present in the meeting, he welcomed the new Jan Samvad initiative as the party will be able to reach out to a greater number of people before the polls.
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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