Nuh, Haryana: As Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ entered Haryana Wednesday, chants of former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri’s well-known ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan‘ slogan have been heard in Firozpur Jhirka village within the state, however with a slight modification. The phrase ‘Jai Pehelwan’ (referring to a wrestler) was added to it.
जय जवान, जय किसान, जय पहलवान..
श्री @RahulGandhi जी के नेतृत्व में हरियाणा में #BharatJodoYatra का सफर आगे बढ़ रहा है। pic.twitter.com/MvH7ZaxgnY
— Bhupinder S Hooda (@BhupinderShooda) December 21, 2022
Through the marketing campaign for the Haryana meeting elections in 2014, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had raised the identical slogan at Firozpur Jhirka. The Congress, nevertheless, misplaced that election.
Former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had to surrender his chair on the time, stated the slogan was extra related to the state now than earlier than.
Chatting with ThePrint, on the sidelines of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Hooda stated by ‘pehelwan’ the occasion didn’t simply confer with wrestlers however all sportspersons.
“This was part of our manifesto and in addition a significant coverage focus when Congress was in authorities within the state. Our authorities had a strong sports activities coverage due to which the youth introduced pleasure to the state and the nation. It additionally offers a very good platform to our youth,” he stated.
Emphasising on the problem additional, Hooda added, “Within the Commonwealth Video games, for instance, 22 medals belonged to Haryana. Within the Olympics, once more, India received six medals, of which 4 have been secured by individuals from Haryana.”
Congress’s walkathon will happen in two phases throughout Haryana. The primary section, which started Wednesday, will finish Saturday with the yatra coming into Delhi. Thereafter, it’ll enter Haryana once more by way of Uttar Pradesh, within the second week of January.
Sources in-charge of organising the yatra in Haryana informed ThePrint {that a} mega occasion with ‘pehelwans’ has been deliberate within the second leg of the walkathon. Within the first section of the journey, Gandhi met ex-servicemen and farmers.
Gandhi additionally met wrestlers in Rajasthan, when he visited an ‘akhada’ (a standard wrestling floor).
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Sports activities & politics in Haryana
It’s typically stated that in Haryana a whole lot of the politics occur in its akhadas. Extrapolating from that, it’s, due to this fact, no shock that sports activities have develop into a difficulty of electoral significance.
Earlier this 12 months, the Haryana authorities revoked its choice to cost charges to gamers for training in stadiums. The repeal got here after sustained protests by the Congress-led Opposition within the state.
A garden tennis participant himself, Hooda says insurance policies associated to sports activities are near his coronary heart.
“By means of our sports activities coverage, we gave sportspersons initiative, created infrastructure for them and in addition assured them a future. We had a coverage of ‘padak laao, pad paao‘ . If anybody received a medal for the nation, we’d give them a secure and profitable job,” he stated.
“We constructed sports activities stadiums in each city and village. However as soon as the Congress authorities was gone, the BJP-JJP made no effort to take care of these stadiums and as an alternative sought to generate income from them,” he added.
Of the full variety of ‘yatris‘ within the Bharat Jodo Yatra, about 10 per cent are from Haryana. True to the slogan, lots of them both have a background in farming or sports activities or come from households having affiliation with the armed forces.
“The BJP has no achievements to undertaking. No phase of Haryana’s society is proud of them, be it farmers, employees, businessmen, rural folks or city folks. It is a authorities that does occasion administration and that’s about it,” stated Hooda.
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