Former Haryana chief minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) founder Om Prakash Chautala was on Friday released from Delhi’s Tihar Jail. He was serving a ten-year term in connection with a teachers recruitment scam. At a time when the farmers’ agitation in Haryana against the three farm laws is gaining strength, Chautala’s release has raised questions on whether the move would end up strengthening or weakening the ongoing agitation.
While Chautala’s younger son and INLD general secretary Abhay Singh Chautala had about a week ago stated that his father’s release from the prison would strengthen the farmers’ agitation, the machinations which went around the release pose a different set of questions.
Both O.P. Chautala and his elder son Ajay were convicted in the case, but they later fell apart, leading to the formation of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
The two were convicted along with 53 others, including IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar, and sentenced in the case of illegal recruitment of 3,206 junior basic teachers in 2000. Chautala was imprisoned in 2013 but was out on emergency parole since March 26, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was scheduled to surrender on February 21, but his parole was extended by the Delhi high court.
Chautala was released Friday as the Delhi government had in June passed an order granting a six-month special remission to those who had served nine-and-half years of their ten-year prison sentence. The government’s move was aimed at decongesting prisons in view of the pandemic. Since Chautala had already completed nine years and nine months of his sentence, he qualified for the release.
Also read: Farmers Gradually Returning to Protests against Farm Laws in Haryana
How COVID-19 criteria suited Chautala’s release
On Friday morning, 86-year-old Chautala, who was undergoing treatment at Medanta Hospital, Gurugram, reached Tihar Jail to complete the formalities. As per the director general (Delhi prisons), Sandeep Goel, he was released “after necessary formalities”.
What gives credence to the belief that the Centre intervened in the situation is that a “nine-and-a-half month” criteria was set by the Delhi government for the release of prisoners. The period was too close to Chautala’s term in the prison. In the normal course, the decision could have been for nine or ten years, or less or more.
The Centre’s role in releasing Chautala appears plausible since in 2019, Ajay Chautala was also released on furlough from the central prison, just a day after his son, Dushyant, who along with his father had floated the JJP, had decided to support and join the BJP-led government under Manohar Lal Khattar in the state.
JJP leader and Haryana’s deputy CM Dushyant Chautala. Photo: PTI
Chautala holds significant sway among Jat community
The release of O.P. Chautala is crucial since the farmers’ agitation has been targeting both the BJP and the JJP. Chautala has a major say and control among the Jat community in the state which has been largely supportive of the agitation. Since the agitation has also been targeting JJP leaders in order to force them out of the alliance, it is likely that attempts may be made to bring about some kind of rapprochement.
However, on the face of it, the INLD claims that Chautala would only be lending strength to the agitation. Abhay – who does not get along well with his brother Ajay or nephew Dushyant – had even resigned his MLA seat in January this year in support of the protesting farmers. Last week, he had declared that after his release, Chautala would go to the Tikri and Singhu borders to boost the morale of farmers who have been opposing the Centre’s new laws.
“The government has adopted many methods to defame the protesters but it failed to do so. Our party has always raised its voice for farmers and labourers and Chautala sahab’s release will give new momentum to the agitation,” he had claimed.
Abhay, who is hoping that Sharad Pawar would be able to form a third front to take on the BJP and Congress at the national level, also made it clear that his party would not be allying with the Congress – which too has been supporting the farmers’ agitation – in any form. In fact, he appears to have been hurt that former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has often taken digs at him saying he should get a competent lawyer to ensure the release of Chautala. “If Hooda goes to jail, I will provide him a long list of advocates,” he added, saying there were many corruption charges against the former Congress chief minister.
Abhay had also claimed that Dushyant and senior JJP leader Digvijay did not care for Chautala’s well-being and never even visited him in the hospital.
Meanwhile, Dushyant had last week also stated that his grandfather’s imminent release from jail was “a matter of happiness”. His brother and Digvijay too had stated that Chautala remained a “role model” for the family members. This clearly showed that in difficult times the family members who carved out JJP from the INLD would now be looking at its patriarch to make their lives easier.