2019 setback paved way for my victory this time, says Jangi Lal Mahajan

Aparna Banerji

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Jalandhar, March 21

In an elections where voter dynamics were altered dramatically and the SAD and BJP were routed out (compared to their tally in the 2017 elections), the BJP’s Mukerian candidate has emerged as his party’s sole saving grace for his party in Doaba.

Holding fort for his party, he bears the immense responsibility of being one of the two BJP MLAs of the state in the new government.

Contesting for the second time from Mukerian, the 74-year-old Jangi Lal Mahajan finds himself shouldering the task along with fellow BJP winner from Pathankot (and state BJP president) Ashwani Sharma.

Mahajan said: “It is the people’s mandate. We respect it. I have already started working in my constituency. The electorate in my area placed trust in me and I won’t let them down.”

A successful businessman and a father of three grown kids, this is Mahajan’s second electoral outing.

In the 2019 Mukerian bypoll, too, he had been chosen as the party’s candidate, but lost by a margin of 3,440 votes to Congress candidate Indu Bala. However, this time the mandate was reversed and he emerged as the winner.

Having been a member of the BJP for the past over three decades, Mahajan has been a member of the Jan Sangh, he was the district president of BJP Hoshiarpur in 1990 and has also been the chairman of the MC committee at Mukerian in 1998. While he might have lagged behind from the Congress candidate with a narrow margin in 2019 Mukerian bypoll, he says the experience paved his way for his 2022 victory and helped him bag his maiden win this time.

Mahajan said he wants to ensure a corruption-free, drugs-free constituency, free form the scourge of drugs and with good educational institutions and these would be the topmost issues on his agenda for the coming five years.

He says: “We have promised our voters that a corruption-free, drugs-free constituency will be ensured for them. My thrust will also be on the provision of government colleges for quality education both for boys and girls. Along with this, proper arrangements for the utmost security of women must also be in place.”

While Mahajan is a successful entrepreneur in mustard oil, with his political engagements keeping him busy, his son has taken up his father’s business. Mahajan has two daughters both of whom are married and settled in Jalandhar and Pathankot.

However, he says he believes in keeping it simple.

At an area langar, he stands in queue like the rest of the people. “Family and friends told me you are an MLA why do you have to stand in a line? But I said it’s my responsibility to do so.”

While he has been raising the issues of illegal mining, education and drugs since his campaign days, reaching out to the remotest areas of his constituency to provide people basic amenities is also an issue that weighs heavily on his mind.

Mahajan says: “There are disputes over drainage of water in 95 per cent of the villages of the constituency.”

Mahajan said: “There are many discrepancies in the Vidhan Sabha. Many works remain to be done. Ensuring proper drainage is one of the topmost priorities. Sewerage, drainage of water, power remain key issues in villages in the furthest corners of the constituency. While streets and drains can be made again, drainage of water is a basic right of people.”

Priorities

Eradication of corruption and drugs is high on his agenda. Ensuring women safety is also one of his top priorities. Provision of proper water drainage and fool proof sewerage facilities in the villages of the constituency are other things that are weighing heavily on his mind.