Congress leaderDeepender Singh Hoodawon the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat in Haryana in the 2014 election in spite of the Modi wave. But the 2019 election is going to be a tightrope walk amid a sharp polarisation between Jats and other communities. Excerpts from an interview:
Rohtak was the lone seat the Congress won in 2014. Is the party going to fare any better?
The Congress is going to do better in Haryana, and we are going to win the majority of the seats in the State.
What about Sonipat from where your father and former Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda is contesting? There seems to be a sharp divide between the Jats and non-Jats. What’s your view?
The State government has not performed and in the past five years, the BJP has tried caste polarisation in the State. Our ideology is to fight that, and I am sure we will get support from all sections of society and will defeat this divisive politics with our inclusive ideology.
We will get votes from all sections because our agenda is development. That is the agenda we are fighting these elections on. Sonipat was one of the constituencies which saw a surge of development. Be it educational institutions, universities, roads, all-round development across villages during the Congress regime. In the last five years of the BJP government, that completely collapsed. There is no development work the BJP has undertaken. Our agenda is to put the State back on issues of development and growth.
We are in the Opposition, and we are the ones who are presenting a report card.
Digvijay Singh Chautala of the Jananayak Janata Party said he would withdraw from the fight if Mr. Hooda promises to serve as an MP from Sonipat for five years. He said Mr. Hooda’s interest lay in State politics.
Hooda ji has also made it clear that his interest lies in State politics. So, he is right about that but Sonipat is Hooda ji ’s home turf. Even if Hooda ji were to return to State politics, we will not leave any stone unturned for Sonipat’s development. As far as Digvijay Singh ji is concerned, the fact that our Chief Minister [Manohar Lal Khattar] has come out and called him a strong candidate, tells you who has fielded him.
The Congress has fielded all the senior leaders in the election. Is the Congress nervous after the crushing defeat in the Jind byelection?
Any party will like to put its best foot forward and no party will go into the elections with their second best options. The same goes for the Congress party where the leadership decided the best candidates for the most suited seats.
The Congress is now projected as a Jat party and now there is a deep divide between Jats and non-Jats?
We have never focussed on any one community or religion. The BJP can play the religion and caste card. The RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] plays the card blatantly.
Prime Minister Modi continues to be very popular and BJP nominees are seeking votes in his name. Is that a problem for you in Rohtak and Mr. Hooda in Sonipat?
No, we are confident and sure that we are going to win. The BJP candidates have nothing to report back as they have not done anything. That’s why it’s their agenda to focus on Mr. Modi and the air strikes. I am confident that a majority of the people will see through that and we will be able to win a majority of the seats, not just Rohtak and Sonipat.
Voters complained about your government focussing only on Rohtak as your family is from here while other areas were neglected. How do you respond?
That was one of the allegations during our tenure. If you look at the Rohtak parliamentary constituency, one side is Gurgaon and on the west side, there is Rohtak. For decades, nobody bothered about it. Look at Gurgaon and Noida. They got involved in the growth of NCR [National Capital Region]. During our government, we tried to ensure ... the fact this area was ignored ... this fact goes out and this area gets involved in the growth of NCR. We were able to achieve this without any discrimination to other regions. But in politics, the Opposition had to find an issue. So they accused us of nurturing Rohtak and Sonipat.
