Dushyant Chautala

Dushyant Chautala was born in Daroli, Hisar District, Haryana, on 3 April 1988 to Ajay Chautala and Naina Singh Chautala. He is the grandson of Om Prakash Chautala and the great grandson of former Deputy Prime Minister Chaudhary Devi Lal. He has a younger brother, Digvijay Chautala. He comes from one of the political dynasty of Haryana and his family belongs to the Jat community.[4]

Dushyant Chautala completed his initial schooling from St. Mary School, Hisar and The Lawrence School, Sanawar, Himachal Pradesh. He completed his B.Sc., (Business Administration) (Management),[5] from California State University, Bakersfield, California, USA. He has done 'Masters of Law' from National Law University, Delhi.[6][7] He married Meghna Chautala on 18 April 2017.[8]

In 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Dushyant Chautala defeated Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) by a margin of 31,847 votes[9][10] to become the youngest ever elected Member of the Parliament for which he holds a record in the 'Limca Book of Records'.[11] In 2017, Chautala became the first Indian to be conferred with the highest civilian honor by the Cooperation Commission of Arizona, USA.[12]

On 9 December 2018, Dushyant Chautala launched the new party Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) after differences in the family led to his expulsion from Indian National Lok Dal.[13][14] This saw gathering of over 6 lakh people in Jind while he was addressing the people, this is the highest ever gathering Haryana saw in a political event since 1986 during the public addressing of his great-grandfather and former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Devi Lal. In 2018, Dushyant achieved a key recognition when he was selected among, '100 FUTURE LEADERS: The World's Most Influential Young People in Government'[15][16]

In the 2019 Haryana Legislative Assembly election, Dushyant Chautala, made a decent debut for his new party, the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), winning 10 Assembly seats in a hung assembly, and many political analysts noted that he has claimed the legacy of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, as a leader from the Jat community.[17] His party, JJP joined hands with Bharatiya Janata Party to form new state government in 2019 with Dushyant Chautala as the Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana [18]

Jannayak Janata Party was formed by supporters of Dushyant Chautala in Jind, Haryana on 9 December 2018. The name of JJP party was inspired from the legacy of former Deputy Prime Minister of India, Chaudhary Devi Lal, who was often respectfully referred to as "Jan Nayak" or people's leader.[19]

Dushyant Chautala was in a turf war over leadership of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) with his uncle Abhay Chautala. Matters came to a head when Abhay Chautala dissolved the student wing of the INLD, the INSO, which triggered Dushyant to announce the formation of the JJP.[17] Youth employment, senior citizen pension, fair support price for farmers,and women safety are the main issues of JJP. [20]

Under the leadership of Dushyant Chautala, Jannayak Janata Party fought its first election for Jind legislative assembly seat by-election. In the Jind by-election, JJP got 37631 votes and secured the second position pushing the Congress party to the third spot. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not only praised Dushyant Chautala but also supported the JJP in its early days.[21][22]

• Devi Lal
• Dynastic politics of Haryana