Sirsa: On a hot May afternoon with the mercury hovering near 41 degrees Celsius, BJP’s Sirsa candidate Ashok Tanwar addresses a gathering of over 100 people in Bakriyawali village of Ellenabad assembly segment, some 14 km from Sirsa town in Haryana.
Tanwar reminds people that during his first term as MP from Sirsa from 2009 to 2014, he brought projects worth Rs 45,000 crore to the constituency, highlighting north India’s first upcoming nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district and four-laning of the national highway from Dabwali to Delhi among the milestones.
He also lists ensuring waters till the tail end channels of Bhakra Canal system in Sirsa district and fair price to farmers for their produce, to woo the voters.
“Modi ji has given ‘400-Paar’ call this time. I request you to make your contribution and ensure the BJP’s victory by a record margin so that Sirsa has a share in the country’s growth,” Tanwar concludes his address amid slogans of ‘Ashok Tanwar Zindabad’.
After a brief chat with villagers, Tanwar prepares to sit in a black Toyota belonging to BJP leader Meenu Beniwal who has joined the Sirsa candidate with his cavalcade of black SUVs.
As he prepares to sit in the SUV, Tanwar says that people in all 10 parliamentary constituencies of Haryana have decided to vote for the BJP so that Modi can return as the PM again with 400-plus seats.
“Not just in Haryana but across the country people want to see Modi ji return as the PM for the third time in a row. People want India to grow as Viksit Bharat under him; they know that India will become the third biggest economic power… Nearly 100 crore people out of the total population of 140 crore will vote this time,” the former Sira MP tells ThePrint and claims that he is getting a huge response wherever he is going.
“We have 19 villages to cover today,” he adds.
Asked who is his main opponent, Tanwar replies that the BJP was competing with itself as no candidate is close to him in the fight. “We are just trying to double or triple the victory margin from what it was in 2019.”
The Congress candidate is CWC member and former Union minister Kumari Selja, while the INLD and the JJP have fielded Sandeep Lot and Ramesh Khatak, respectively.
Tanwar quit the Congress in 2019 and joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2022. In the ensuing period, he had floated his party and joined the Trinamool Congress. Before switching to the BJP in January, he was with the AAP.
Selja confident of getting third chance
At Rania town on campaign trail, a peal of laughter breaks out as local bar association vice-president Bhupinder Singh Virk welcomes Selja saying he hopes to see her as the PM. Members of the association gathered that Virk had inadvertently said this instead of the CM, as the state election is due in October.
Bar association president Rimpal Banga informs Selja that the demand of sub-division status for Rania is old and that the members will request her to help them once she is elected. Banga adds that he is a BJP member but he wishes her success.
In her speech, Selja says that because of the Model Code of Conduct, she can’t make any announcement but adds that the demand will be considered.
“In a democracy, freedom of speech and expression is the biggest right available to the citizens. Whenever there is injustice by the powers that be, people can raise their voice. However, that right is now being curbed. Anyone who speaks against the government comes under scrutiny and actions are initiated. Actions of ED, CBI and Income Tax (officers) have become a matter of discussion among people. Political people are being targeted. The SC’s order on the electoral bonds revealed how government agencies are being misused for collecting electoral bonds by the BJP,” she says.
Selja asserts that the Congress is sure to form the government in Haryana later this year and appeals to lawyers to support her since due to their profession they were in touch with a number of people.
“She is a former Union minister and a member of the Congress Working Committee. In the event of Congress coming to power, Selja is a strong contender for the post of CM. If people elect her today, they will have a strong voice in the future Congress government,” Dheeraj Maharudra, an advocate, tells ThePrint.
Later, the Congress candidate takes a break to interact with ThePrint in the office of an advocate in the Tehsil complex.
“What happens eventually will be known only after the results. However, what I have learnt from people and media friends, the Congress is ahead in this election. The BJP won this seat in 2019 but the party denied ticket to its MP (Sunita Duggal). Now, they have a candidate who was earlier with Congress and then remained in other parties,” Selja says.
The former state unit head adds that the talk in the constituency for quite some time was that the Congress will be in a better position if she is fielded from here. “When people make up their minds, things become easy for a candidate,” she adds.
Also Read: ‘BJP promises Gujarat model in Haryana, but no one knows what it is,’ says Congress’s Kumari Selja
Constituency talk
Sitting in the Baithak (the room where villagers meet outsiders) of his residence near the village chowk where Tanwar addressed his public meeting, Krishan Kasnia says that the contest could have been a cake walk for Tanwar but it has become tough after the Congress nominated Kumari Selja.
“Selja has an old connection with Sirsa. Her father was elected MP from Sirsa in 1971, 1980, and 1984. After his death, she lost her first election, a bypoll, in 1988 and another in 1989. However, she won this seat in 1991 and 1996. However, after losing to INLD’s Sushil Indora in 1998 and 1999, Selja shifted to Ambala where she became MP in 2004 and 2009,” Kasnia tells ThePrint. “But, she never snapped her connections with the local people.”
Another villager Azad Singh feels Tanwar is boosted by the Modi factor in the contest against Selja.
“People don’t have another option at the Centre. They have to vote for Modi. Several major state leaders who have an impact on the voters in Sirsa district are in the BJP today. Meenu Beniwal has much influence over voters in Ellenabad. Ranjit Singh, who won from Rania in 2019, is a BJP candidate from Hisar and is helping Tanwar. Gopal Kanda at Sirsa, Dura Ram at Fatehabad, Subhash Barala and Nishan Singh at Tohana and JJP MLA Ram Niwas in Narwana are all supporting Tanwar,” he explains.
This year, Tanwar is contesting for the fourth time in a row from Sirsa – he won the first in 2009 and then lost the next two in 2014 and 2019 as a Congress candidate. Haryana was under then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda when Tanwar made his debut in .
Back then, he was a national president of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and was considered a core team member of the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
In 2014, Tanwar lost to INLD’s Charanjit Singh Rori by over 1 lakh votes. The BJP then went on to win this seat for the first time in 2019, riding on a wave generated post-Pulwama attack and Balakot strikes.
Local resident Ram Prasad Sharma chips in and says that 15 to 16 youths from Bakriyawali got government jobs in the past one year without any recommendation or bribe which used to be a norm during the previous dispensations.
But Prem Kumar Mehta, a paint shop owner at Nathusari Chopta, alleges that no section of the society was happy with the BJP government. “As a shopkeeper, I can say that the demonetisation and GST has ruined small businesses. Farmers are angry with the BJP government over the way they were treated during their agitation in 2021 and for the demand of MSP as a guarantee earlier this year. Similarly, the government employees are protesting for the old pension scheme,” Mehta adds.
Man Singh Kumhar, who sells and repairs electric goods, contradicts and says people know whoever they vote for ‘Aayega toh Modi hi (Only Modi will come to power)’.
Sirsa’s local issues
At Rania’s Bhagat Singh Market, shopkeeper Raj Kumar Chugh says that people were not happy with the performance of the BJP government, particularly the state government.
“Chitta (heroin) is the biggest problem of people in Sirsa as youths are dying because of drugs but the government isn’t doing anything to save them,” says Chugh.
In January last year, the then CM Manohar Lal Khattar had admitted in a rally at Odhan that more than 40 youths had died in Sirsa and neighbouring Fatehabad, also part of the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat, during in one year due to drugs
“People do acknowledge the fact that the BJP government has abrogated Article 370 and built Ram Mandir but what impacts them more is what they face every day,” Chugh adds.
Contacted by The Print, Tanwar says that he was aware of the problem of Chitta in Sirsa and it was in fact an old problem because of the district’s proximity to Punjab.
“The government has taken several steps to curb the menace and the problem is not as grave as it used to be once. However, it will be my top priority to curb drugs, including Chitta in Sirsa,” said Tanwar.
Another shopkeeper Arun Goyal says apart from Chitta, unemployment and inflation are the biggest problems, which have aggravated during the BJP government. “Ours is a small town. The business is also in the hands of small shopkeepers with low turnovers. During BJP’s regime, small businesses have been hit badly because of demonetisation and GST,” says Goyal.
Shashwat Khurana, a law student from Panjab University, rues that several youths in the town are sitting at home after obtaining degrees from Chandigarh or state universities and institutes. But very few find jobs as openings are limited while aspirants many, he adds.
Come 25 May, the electorate will make their choice — whether Tanwar or Selja gets to represent Sirsa in the Lok Sabha, or spring a surprise.
(Edited by Tony Rai)