HISAR BYPOLLSAMITABH SHUKLA / HISAR
It is a battle between the tractor, spectacles and the hand. It is also a battle between Yellow, Green and saffron-white-green combo. Another important player does not have any colours. It is not contesting but building public opinion. The battleground is Hisar, where the campaigning for the polls ended on Tuesday.
The election symbol of Haryana Janhit Congress is the tractor and the party chief Kuldeep Bishnoi is asking the voters of this agricultural belt to swear by the main machine used in their farms and vote for him. His party colour is yellow which his supporters sport on their vehicles and have even got turbans made of the same colour. The BJP colour of saffron and green is also there but not as prominent as that of Yellow.
Indian National Lok Dal’s Ajay Chautala swears by the colour green and the party symbol spectacle. His party has put up hoardings all across the city and the constituency urging people to root out Congress which they say symbolises corruption. “C for Congress, C for Corruption,” youth brigade of the party were seen tutoring the voters in the constituency which has nine Assembly seats. While the youth wear green caps, the seniors in the party wear the green turban, made famous by Chaudhary Devi Lal, the grandfather of Ajay and former Deputy Prime Minister.
For the Congress, hand and tricolour flag go together. But for the party, the “real” candidate is Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and not Jai Prakash who is contesting the polls. Party insiders say that never had Hooda worked so hard for a bye-election. “In fact, the effort he has put in one constituency is unparalleled. It is as if he is in the fray himself,” a party leader said. He said Jai Prakash could be the candidate but the effort behind him is entirely of Hooda who has made it a prestige issue to come out with flying colours.
The fourth player in the heat and dust of Hisar is Team Anna. They do not have any symbol, except waiving the national flag at the venues which are being addressed by Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Manish Sisodia, amongst others on a makeshift mini truck. They do not even have a colour to boast of like the three main parties but youth wearing Jeans and red-colored T-Shirts with India Against Corruption printed on them, are distributing publicity material and urging the people to vote against Congress so that Jan Lokpal becomes a reality in the Winter Session of Parliament.
For the cynic, If Congress wins; its tally would improve by one in Parliament but would make no difference to the UPA government. If the INLD wins, it will get its first member in the Lok Sabha and if the HJC-BJP wins, it would carry forward the legacy of Bhajan Lal, the master tactician of Haryana.
But the people of the constituency know that the outcome could well determine the course of politics in Haryana and country. Intensive campaign by all the four players has ensured that each and every voter knows the importance of his ballot.
For Team Anna, it would be a grand victory if Congress is defeated as they would feel emboldened to carry forward their campaign in the states where assembly elections are due early next year – Punjab and Uttarakhand four months away. Congress is hoping to gain on anti-incumbency in these two states but if Team Anna emerges victorious and Congress is defeated, pollsters could well start calculating the outcome afresh in these two poll bound states.
Even if Congress is defeated due to its inner contradictions coupled with factors like anti-incumbency of Hooda, sympathy for Bhajan Lal whose death necessitated the by-election, past electoral behaviour of the constituency, performance of UPA government and corruption, Team Anna would flash the “V” sign and perhaps try to become a fulcrum for political movement in the run-up to the 2014 elections.
HJC-BJP’s victory would mark a new chapter in regional alliance with which the BJP has been experimenting for a while. It had so far tied up with the two “Lals” of Haryana - Devi Lal (and his son Om Prakash Chautala) and Bansi Lal in the past. Now it has tied up with the third “Lal” of Haryana politics – Bhajan Lal’s son Bishnoi. Victory would ensure a long life for the alliance in Haryana and an enduring NDA in which HJC would become an important player in the North.
“Green” party INLD’s victory would spell trouble for Hooda as it would be emboldened to intensify its campaign in the state. In chaste Haryanvi, Chautala tells the voters, “yo aakhri jota aur maar dayo, pher thara raaj pakka” (Vote for us and your government will be formed).
Locals say that whoever wins, politics of the state would never be the same again. Some others stick their neck out and point that the outcome would set in motion the political churning for the 2014 general elections. (October 12, 2011)
http://dailypioneer.com/nation/12661-hisar-prepares-for-larger-than-life-bypoll.html
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