In Jind, voters wait and watch

Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Jind, January 16

As per Hindu mythology when the Pandavas were to fight the Mahabharata with the Kauravas, they chose this place to worship Indra, the lord of victory.

They named the place Jayantapura after Jayant which is another name for Indra. Later, Jayantapura came to be named Jind.

Today, another “battle of Mahabharata” is being fought in Jind — an electoral battle that has assumed importance because of the high stakes involved and the timing ahead of the parliamentary and Assembly polls in the state.

Although the campaign of various candidates is yet to gain momentum, over 15,000 political activists have descended on this small town on nearly 5,000 big-sized cars, mostly SUVs.

Jind has 25 to 30 hotels and all of those are packed to capacity as the political parties have booked all rooms.

Many campaigners are staying with their friends and relatives in Jind or surrounding villages and several others go to nearby towns Hansi, Hisar, Narwana and Rohtak after the day’s campaign.

Voters in Jind town, which has nearly 1 lakh out of the total 1.7 lakh voters of this Assembly constituency, are maintaining a silence so far. They are listening to everyone and committing to none.

In contrast, nearly 70,000 voters in 35-odd villages coming under the constituency don’t mince words to make their choice clearly known.

Supporting different candidates, a group of villagers sits together under the sun in Ikkas village on Jind–Hansi road and discusses the possible outcome of the bypoll.

During a small-duration conversation with the villagers, one can have the taste of wit, humour and banter that Haryanvis are famous for.

Congress candidate Randeep Surjewala seems ahead of others as far as campaign in this bypoll is concerned.

Congress Legislature Party Leader Kiran Choudhry, Adampur MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi and former minister Sampat Singh campaigned for Surjewala besides the state Congress president Ashok Tanwar who has been active in Jind from the day Surjewala filed his nomination.

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his MP son Deepender Hooda are to start their campaign tomorrow.

Surjewala today lured voters by telling them that Jind would soon rule over the state in an obvious hint to the possibility of his bigger role in the future Congress government.

Leader of Opposition Abhay Singh Chautala today took a day off from the campaign for his nominee Umed Redhu and went to New Delhi to wish BSP supremo Mayawati on her 63rd birthday which was on January 15.

A video showing a faux pas by Hisar MP Dushyant Chautala who mistakenly asked the voters to press the EVM button on the symbol of spectacle, the poll symbol of his former party INLD, has gone viral here.

Meanwhile, four-time MLA Mange Ram Gupta and two-time Hisar MP and Barwala MLA Surender Barwala have been keeping everyone guessing on their future move.

Almost all political parties, including the Congress, INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala, JJP’s Dushyant Chautala and BJP’s national general secretary Anil Jain, have met Gupta but he has not given any hint of his future plans.

Jat leader plays Haryanvi card 

Jind: Akhil Bharatiya Jat Mahasabha chief Hawa Singh Sangwan on Wednesday said he would appeal to Jind voters to vote only for Haryanvi candidates. He accused CM Manohar Lal Khattar of promoting caste politics by posing as a Punjabi leader and seeking support for Punjabi candidates during the recent MC elections. Sangwan said only those speaking the Haryanvi dialect deserved to be called residents of Haryana. TNS

Counting at Arjun stadium on jan 31 

Jind: The counting of votes for the byelection to the Jind Assembly constituency will be held in the multipurpose hall of Arjun stadium. The polling is on January 28 and the counting of votes will take place on January 31. The general observer for the bypoll, Saurabh Bhagat, visited the counting centre to ensure all kinds of arrangements. Bhagat directed officers to ensure proper electricity arrangements at the counting centre. Besides this, there should be proper sitting arrangement for the agents. TNS