PM Modi will be BJP’s face in Punjab like in Bengal: Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the BJP’s face in Punjab, just as he was in West Bengal where the BJP “scored a landslide victory and formed the government for the first time”.

Speaking to the media, Saini said “the BJP has just won a historic victory in West Bengal. During the campaign, no local face was projected. People there saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his governance record and voted for the BJP. In Punjab too, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the BJP’s face.”

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“Haryana and Punjab are one,” he also added, noting that people in Punjab are also closely watching Haryana’s governance model.

Coming from Saini, these are important observations.

Observers view his increasing visits to Punjab ahead of Assembly elections as part of the saffron party”s outreach strategy among the Saini community. An OBC leader with social and cultural links in Punjab, Saini is one of the key pointsman in the party’s efforts to mobilise non-Jat OBC voters.

According to BJP leaders familiar with the region, it is not as if the party is projecting Saini as the chief ministerial face in Punjab, it is only utilising an important asset for a strategic social engineering. “The central leadership knows that the only way to expand in Punjab is through non-Jat OBCs and marginalised castes,” they say.

Historically a junior partner to the Jat Sikh-dominated SAD, the BJP is contesting independently and attempting to replicate its “Haryana model”, where it consolidated non-Jat OBCs, Dalits, and urban voters to reduce the dominance of Jat political groups.

Party leaders said the BJP is also likely to appoint a Sikh as its Punjab state president ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. As the tenure of Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar ends in July, several ames such as Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu and former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal are doing the rounds

The aim is to bring together Dalits, majhabi Sikhs, non-Jat OBCs, which form a significant demographic bass and challenge both the ruling AAP and the Congress, they add

According to the 2011 Census, Sikhs make up around 57.69% of Punjab’s population.

Analysts note that if historical caste proportions are extrapolated, Jat Sikhs may constitute around 30 percent of the population, making them the single most influential group across caste and religion. That leaves a massive 70 percent block of non-Jats to tap.

Both the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal have historically depended heavily on Jat Sikh leadership. However, the weakening of SAD and strained ties between the BJP and Jat Sikh groups after the farmers’ protests against the farm laws has set the ball rolling for the new strategy.