Chandigarh: In one of the most-watched electoral fights in upcoming October 5 Haryana assembly elections, the ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat seems to have been locked in a multi-corner bout in the Julana constituency, a key seat in the state’s Jat heartland.
Vinesh is the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the Olympics final at Paris, the stage where she was disqualified after being found overweight by about 100 grams in the 50-kg category, and who had subsequently announced her retirement from the game. She, however, joined Congress on September 6 last and was given the party ticket by Congress to fight from Julana.
Her fame and popularity notwithstanding, star grappler Vinesh faces a daunting challenge from her rivals candidates including by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Kavita Dalal, who herself is a former WWE wrestler and who claims substantial support from about six villages having Jats with Dalal `gotra’.
Adding to the difficulties for Vinesh, there is sitting MLA of Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) Amarjit Dhanda while Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has fielded Surinder Lathar who also has the backing of the Lathar `gotra'. All the four candidates belong to the Jat community in the constituency which is Jat-dominated – immensely indicating possible split in the votes; There are about 80,000 Jat votes in Julana.
Notably, Vinesh is also facing a daunting challenge from BJP’s Capt Yogesh Bairagi, a non-Jat candidate backed by OBC and SC as well as Brahmins who also have a major chunk of these votes here. The saffron party is also throwing its weight behind Capt Bairagi, who is a trained pilot and is also known for his relief works during the Covid-19 pandemic and Chennai floods.
But, Vinesh’s another adversity is the danger from within the party as there are said to be some of Congress leaders who are said to be anguished over last minute denial of party ticket to them by selecting Vinesh; The front runners for the ticket are local Congress leaders who had been active even ahead of the declaration of the candidates; they include former MLA Parminder Dhull, Dharmender Dhull and Rohit Dalal and they are said to have distanced themselves from Vinesh’s campaign.
Interestingly, Julana is seen as a stronghold of INLD; While Congress’ Sher Singh won from here twice in a row in 2000 and 2005, INLD’s candidates won this seat in 2009 and 2014 and Amarjit Dhanda of JJP in 2019; the JJP is a splinter outfit of INLD.
However, her hurdlers notwithstanding, Vinesh has been a crowd-puller as she boldly undertakes her poll campaign in her chaste Haryanvi language as "Julana ki Bahu’’ (daughter-in-law of Julana) as her husband belongs here while she hails from village Balali in Charkhi Dadri district.
She, however, does not forget to remind the gatherings of her protest against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexually harassing female wrestlers. She says that she fought against that powerful man and performed well in the Olympics but unfortunately missed the medal.
SEAT PROFILE:
TOTAL VOTERS: 1,84,665
MALE: 99,582
FEMALE: 85,081
THIRD GENDER: 2
