Pehowa, Haryana: With Haryana going to elections on 21 October, all eyes are on the state’s three high-profile sportspersons. Fielded by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the three face a tough task ahead — wresting the three most difficult seats.
Baroda, Pehowa and Charkhi Dadri are three seats the BJP has never won and where it has had little presence in the past.
While Olympian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt is contesting from Baroda, former national hockey team captain Sandeep Singh is trying his luck from Pehowa. International wrestler Babita Phogat is contesting from Charkhi Dadri.
All three players have made sports the centrepiece of their campaign.
Yogeshwar Dutt banks on personal rapport with voters
Dutt is promising sports clubs and academies across the state. “I am running a wrestling academy. The enthusiasm for sports is very high among both boys and girls. My academy alone has 150 players. Similarly, we need academies for other sports like kabaddi, hockey,” he said at a rally.
The 2012 Olympics Bronze medallist is confident that he can do much more for the state once in the government. “I left the job of a DSP in the Haryana Police and though I could have continued to serve people even as a cop, I think I can do much more for the public once I am part of a government,” he said.
The Padma Shri awardee was introduced as the “sure shot” minister at most of the jan sabhas he addressed during campaigning.
The BJP has never won the Baroda seat, which has been represented either by the Congress or the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in the past. In the 2014 assembly elections, when BJP gave a stellar performance, Congress candidate Sri Kishen won the seat, while the BJP candidate finished third and even lost his security deposit.
Dutt is facing sitting MLA Sri Kishen.
What, however, gives Dutt an edge is that the popular sportsperson has managed to build a strong personal rapport with the electorate, keeping his campaign down-to-earth and humble.
“Baroda is my area. I belong from here. Before me, all candidates were outsiders and did nothing for my people,” he tells the crowd.
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Babita Phogat faces BJP rebel, caste factor
In contrast to Dutt, Babita Phogat went for a strong and robust style of campaigning. She is projecting the image of a confident and bold woman who has through sports managed to break the shackles of a feudal, male-dominated society.
“Beti bachao, beti padhao, beti khilao” is her slogan, adding her own touch to the Government of India’s scheme started from Haryana in 2014. “I want more and more girls to get into sports. That is the way to empowerment. I am the daughter of Haryana and I am requesting every elderly person, man or woman to bless me,” she said in an interview.
But whether she will get the blessings of this Jat-dominated constituency, is still uncertain.
Caste factors have always played a major role on this seat, and power has remained either with Phogat Jats or Sangwan Jats of the Congress or the INLD.
Somveer Sangwan, the BJP candidate who contested this seat in 2014, lost to INLD’s Rajdeep Phogat by barely 1,600 votes. This time, Somveer is in the fray as an independent candidate. Ex-serviceman Nripendera Sangwan is Congress’ choice.
Phogat’s speeches have been short and sharp and she has made sure to invoke Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar every time. “The BJP has entrusted me with this responsibility and I intend to live up to it,” she told the crowd at a rally.
Phogat is banking heavily on the Modi factor to come into play at Dadri.
The PM addressed a rally in Dadri early this week where he mouthed the famous dialogue from “Dangal” — the Bollywood film made on the life and achievements of the Phogat sisters: “Mhaari chhorian chhoron se kamm Hain kya?”
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Sandeep Singh has tried hard in INLD-Congress bastion
For Arjuna awardee Sandeep Singh, the Haryanvi Sikh who led the national hockey team in the 2012 Summer Olympics, the election is nothing like what he had in mind. “Every day, one learns something new, but I am confident that I am going to win,” he tells ThePrint.
Fighting from Pehowa, Sandeep is referred to as “Soorma” after the Daljit Dosanjh-starrer film made on his life. He has been addressing over two dozen gatherings every day, with the youth brigade of his supporters on motorcycles announcing his arrival at every venue.
“Any politician or an MLA will get your gullies and sewers constructed. Others will promise you that they will solve the power problem of the area. But I am here to promise you that I will work for your children and their future. Children are our real asset and any investment in their future is far more important than bricks and buildings,” promised the drag flicker that have him his moniker, ‘Flicker Singh’.
“I will make sure that your children get a good education and sports facilities apart from fair opportunities to prove their talent,” he told a crowd of BJP supporters in Pooja Colony in Pehowa.
Singh may be striking the right notes in his speeches, but victory is not expected to come easy on this seat. Pehowa has remained the bastion of the INLD and the Congress for the past several decades.
In 2014, INLD’s Sikh candidate Jaswinder Singh Sandhu won the seat and his nearest rival was a BJP candidate. Congress’ Mandeep Chatha, son of former cabinet minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha, had finished third and is contesting again. Sandhu’s family has joined the Congress and is backing Chatha.