Devi Lal legacy in tatters, INLD makes revival bid

Gurugram: Once a dominant force in Haryana, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), which represents former deputy prime minister Chaudhary Devi Lal’s political legacy in the state, is gearing up for a ‘Samman’ rally on 25 September in Rohtak, the stronghold of former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The ‘Samman Rally’, as it is named, to be held on the birth anniversary of the party’s founder, Chaudhary Devi Lal, is being viewed as a desperate attempt by the INLD to reclaim relevance not only after failing to regain power after 2005, but also seeing its worst electoral performance in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the past decade.

While the INLD drew a blank in the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 and 2024, it could win just one assembly seat in 2019 and two in 2024.

Fall from grace

The INLD’s current plight is in stark contrast to the towering stature Devi Lal enjoyed between the 1970s and 1980s and his elder son Om Prakash Chautala from 1989 till 2005; that is the reason INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala’s announcement to hold this year’s rally is being seen as a bid to regain Devi Lal’s tattered political legacy.

Once hailed as one of the tallest leaders of the country when he passed on the PM’s crown to V.P. Singh in 1989, Devi Lal’s political legacy has crumbled under the weight of electoral defeats, family feuds, and changing political dynamics.

In the assembly elections held in 2024, the INLD received just 4.14 percent of the votes, managing to win only two seats out of 90—a humiliating defeat for a party that once ruled the state.

Abhay Singh Chautala lost from Ellenabad, a seat he had not lost since 2009. His son Arjun Chautala’s victory from Rania and his uncle late Jagdish Chander’s son Aditya Devilal’s victory from Dabwali was the only saving grace for the party.

Devi Lal’s golden era

Chaudhary Devi Lal, who earned the sobriquet of ‘Tau’ (father’s elder brother) due to his popularity with rural masses, began his journey in 1960, but he emerged as a force in the 1970s.

The breakthrough for Devi Lal came in 1977 when the Janata Party after sweeping to power at the Centre, routed the Congress in Haryana too with the party winning 75 of 90 seats, and Devi Lal became chief minister.

He, however, couldn’t cling to power for long, as in 1979, Bhajan Lal, a minister in his Cabinet, dislodged him through defections of MLAs.

In 1982, an alliance of Devi Lal’s INLD and BJP had more seats (37) than the Congress (36), and had a majority with the support of Independents, but the then Governor G.D. Tapase administered the oath to Congress’s Bhajan Lal.

In 1987, riding on people’s anger against this injustice, and in support of Devi Lal’s Nyay Yudh against the water accord with Punjab brokered by then PM Rajiv Gandhi, the Lok Dal-BJP combine stormed to power with an impressive 76 seats out of 90.

Devi Lal’s brand of agrarian politics and his image as a champion of farmers’ rights made him virtually unbeatable in his home turf.

During his tenure as CM, Devi Lal was credited with several major decisions, the biggest being the old age social security pension, making Haryana the first state to launch such a scheme, and waiving road tax for tractors.

Devi Lal was at the peak of his political career in 1989 when he achieved the unprecedented feat of contesting Lok Sabha elections from three different states—Rohtak in Haryana, Sikar in Rajasthan, and Faridkot in Punjab—and winning in the first two.

He lost Faridkot because it was the era of terrorism in Punjab, and separatist leader Simranjit Singh Mann’s SAD (Mann) had fielded candidates; the party won six seats, creating an atmosphere of fear and terror.

Devi Lal retained the Sikar seat that he won by defeating then Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar and his stature catapulted him to the national stage as deputy prime minister in V.P. Singh’s government.

The beginning of the end

As he switched to national politics, Devi Lal handed over the reins of power to his eldest son Om Prakash Chautala. However, Chautala’s feud with his younger brother Ranjit Singh became evident and it came to a head during the Meham byelection contested by Chautala to enter the state assembly.

The bypoll ended in the infamous Meham violence leading to the death of death of six villagers and in the process tarnishing Devi Lal’s legacy, even though he had contested most elections in Rohtak and Sonipat districts in Haryana’s Deswali Jat belt.

The family was routed from power in 1991, marking the beginning of a long political decline.

To nip the infighting among his sons, Devi Lal restrained both Chautala and Ranjit Singh from contesting elections that year, while he himself lost both seats he contested—Devi Lal lost Rohtak Lok Sabha seat to Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the Ghirai Vidhan Sabha seat to greenhorn Chhattarpal Singh.

The Chautala era and gradual decline

Once again, the reins of the party went to Om Prakash Chautala, who worked hard to strengthen the INLD and after failing to come to power in 1996, he got an opportunity in 1999 when the BJP withdrew support from Bansi Lal’s HVP-BJP government, and along with some HVP legislators extended its support to Chautala.

He won a midterm poll announced in 2000 and remained in power till 2005 when Congress defeated his INLD and Bhupinder Singh Hooda took over the reins. Hooda’s elevation to the chief minister’s post further weakened the INLD’s influence in Rohtak district, traditionally considered Devi Lal’s political stronghold.

In the 2005, the INLD could get just 9 seats while the Congress won 67 seats. Since 2005, the INLD has not been able to come to power again and Devi Lal’s legacy has been on the wane. Earlier, in 2004, the INLD had not won a single Lok Sabha seat—all ten went to the Congress.

In 2009, the INLD failed to win a single Lok Sabha seat for the second time in a row. However, in the Vidhan Sabha elections held later that year, the INLD managed to secure 31 assembly seats, showing some resilience.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the INLD managed to win two Lok Sabha seats despite a strong wave for Narendra Modi but its fortunes continued to decline as the party won just 19 seats in the Vidhan Sabha in October 2014.

In 2019, the INLD drew a blank in Lok Sabha and won a single seat in the 2019 Haryana assembly elections, with only Abhay Chautala managing to retain his Ellenabad constituency.

The party won two Vidhan Sabha seats in the 2024 assembly polls and drew a blank in the Lok Sabha, marking a slight improvement from 2019 but still reflecting the party’s marginalised status.

Family feuds accelerated decline

In January 2013, a verdict by a Delhi court came as a huge blow for Devi Lal’s political legacy when Om Prakash Chautala and his elder son Ajay Chautala were convicted and sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in a recruitment scam for JBT teachers during Chautala’s regime from 1999 to 2005.

The situation worsened in 2018 when, during a rally at Gohana to mark the birth anniversary of Chaudhary Devi Lal, the family fight between Chautala’s sons became public. Chautala expelled Ajay Chautala’s sons Dushyant Chautala and Digvijay Chautala from the party for indiscipline, and they eventually launched their own political party, the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).

While the INLD managed to win just one Vidhan Sabha seat in 2019, Dushyant Chautala’s JJP won 10 seats, and he joined the BJP-led coalition government under Manohar Lal Khattar as deputy CM.

While both INLD and JJP drew a blank in the 2024 Lok Sabha, in the assembly elections held in October 2024, the JJP drew a blank, while the INLD finished with just two seats.

The Rohtak gambit

Abhay Chautala’s decision to organise a rally in Rohtak, Hooda’s political bastion, is being viewed as both a strategic move and an act of desperation. Rohtak holds special significance in Devi Lal’s political journey as it was his parliamentary constituency and the heart of the Deswali belt where his influence once ran deep. However, the region has sided with Hooda in the past two decades.

Jyoti Mishra, an assistant professor of political science at Amity University, Mohali, told ThePrint that by choosing Rohtak, the INLD seems to be attempting to reclaim the narrative in a region where Hooda’s Congress has established dominance.

“If the rally is successful, it serves multiple purposes: Honouring Devi Lal’s memory, demonstrating the party’s continued presence in the former deputy PM’s traditional stronghold, and potentially laying the groundwork for future electoral strategies,” she said.

Mishra said that one must not forget that Hooda failed to win the Vidhan Sabha election for the Congress in 2024 when odds were in his favour, and the Congress has so far not revived his status of leader of opposition.

“In case the Congress decides to ignore Hooda in the restructuring of the party, Abhay Chautala’s INLD can see an opportunity for itself, but if Hooda or his son Deepender Hooda are empowered by their party in some manner, the gambit may not work for the INLD,” she added.

(Edited by Viny Mishra)

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