Fervour missing at Jindal's native village

Jupinderjit Singh and Mahesh Sharma

Khanpur, June 24

The fervour seen during the election of Bobby Piyush Jindal to the post of Louisiana's Governor was missing now.

He announced his candidature for election to the highest post of United States of America and the most powerful position of the world in New Orleans today.

When Bobby was named the Governor, prayers were held by residents of Khanpur in Sangrur district, but today his village wore a deserted look.

His relatives chose not to interact with the media and those who came forward had a number of queries. What has Bobby Jindal done now? Why have cameramen and journalists come here? asked the village residents.

Lukewarm is the word to describe the response of the otherwise hospitable village residents and contemporaries of Bobby’s father Amarnath Jindal who refused to talk to the media.

“He has done well. We will pray for his success, but his election will not mean anything to us. He never visited us. His father didn't even come to perform the last rites of his parents,” said a group of residents.

Occupants of Bobby's parental house, where his father and nine siblings once lived, did not know the importance of the building, though they have been paying electricity bills in name of Madan Lal, grandfather of the US presidential candidate.

Sanatan Dharam priest Sudama Ram Sharda, who solemnised Amarnath’s marriage at Karnal, recalled his first run-in with Bobby when he was five years old.

Attributing Christianity as a supplementary factor to Bobby’s success, Sudama Ram Sharda justified the conversion saying “Jaisa desh vaisa bhesh".

However, Krishan Lal Jindal, a cousin of Bobby, met The Tribune team despite his post-operative precautionary phase following a cardiac problem. Despite their best efforts, members of Krishan’s family could not find a photograph of Bobby at their house.

Satya Bansal of Khanna, elder sister of Amarnath, was upset over her brother's failure to keep in touch with his siblings. “Let alone meeting us on special occasions, he did not even bother to acknowledge Rakhis sent by us," said Satya, adding that her family would pray for her nephew's success.

Amarnath's sister Pushpa Devi Bansal, who resides at Mehal Kalan village in Barnala district of Punjab, said her brother wass like a faded memory, “They have never enquired about our well-being. They do not even know whether we are alive. Still, I have nothing against them."

Pushpa said her brother Amarnath never visited her after his marriage with Raj and did not respond to her letters.

Pushpa said it would not make a difference if Bobby won the elections. She said she had stopped sending Rakhis to Amarnath.

Maintaining that she had helped her mother Dhan Devi in bringing up Amarnath, Pushpa said she he never troubled her. At times, he would sleep in my lap, recollected Pushpa.