Fighting an idea, the Congress finds it’s losing the Hisar plot

Anna Hazare’s call to not to vote for the Congress candidate in the Hisar by-election for not supporting a strong Lokpal Bill has had a huge effect on the voter in Hisar, which goes to poll in less than 100 hours.

Not to appear backing off, the Congress has also come out all guns blazing. On Monday, all nine Congress MPs from Haryana and state chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda were at a huge rally here. Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was on the dais and so was Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot. Former parliamentarians and state legislators made up the rest of the assault team.

During the four-hour long, 165-kilometre, bus journey to Hisar from Delhi on Monday morning, at least two things became clear — one, people of Jatland (as it is called) are not politically naive.

Two, they are listening to Anna after being tired of “corrupt politicians”. The bus started from Delhi at 6.30am. For around an hour it was a quiet ride. But once we crossed Delhi’s limits and passengers had settled down, a political discussion broke out.

As soon as I heard ‘Anna and elections’, my ears pricked up. Here was story shaping up. A gentleman going to Hisar with his friends remarked in rustic Haryanvi, “What has the Congress done for us… what wrong is Anna saying? Bhajan Lal was one of our own and we voted for him.” Soon, almost everyone around him joined in the conversation.

I started a dialogue with one Mahender Singh. He did not seem particularly impressive but when he started talking, his political clarity amazed me.

“There are enough schemes for people and farmers. The problem is how much of that reaches the people for whom they target. Anna’s demand for a strong Lokpal is right. If there is a Lokpal, that can handle corruption cases swiftly, then these welfare programmes would definitely reach us,” Singh said.

He said he knew one MP alone can’t bring about a Lokpal but this way all MPs would be forced to do follow suit. Talking to him and listening other conversations the journey was soon over and I was in Hisar.  I went around the city. I discovered that such has been the magic of Anna’s message — spread through a video and associate Arvind Kejriwal — that everyone from a regular bus commuter to an auto driver had the basics of his Lokpal clear.
 
“I have studied up to class 12 and was no good for any job. There was nothing that the government had to offer me. Me, and my family, fully back Anna’s message and have decided not to vote for Congress. Their corrupt ways are no more a secret to people here,” auto driver Chandrabhan told DNA.

Hisar is an important and one of the fastest growing urban centres in Haryana. With many industrial units in and around the city, it has a population of around 1.6 million. It is the only parliamentary constituency that the Congress did not win in the 2009 elections with former chief minister Bhajan Lal defeating Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal candidates.

Thanks to Anna’s call and Kejriwal’s (Hisar is his hometown) campaign along with other Team Anna members, winning the seat has become a matter of pride for the Congress. Monday’s show of strength with the ‘Who’s Who’ of Haryana politics present at the rally, it was an all-out effort to win what looks like a lost case! Campaigning ends Tuesday evening.

Junior Congress leaders in the state have expressed unhappiness with Team Anna for “supporting BJP and corrupt leaders”, seniors were aware - learning from the Manish Tewari fiasco - of the task at hand, and didn’t utter a word about Anna or his team apart from a few indirect references.

The other state leaders praised Anna’s Lokpal campaign and acknowledged that he was not calling them corrupt. They attacked INLD’s Ajay Chautala and Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi, main rivals of the Congress’s Jai Prakash.

October 17, when the votes will be counted, will be known who won, who lost - Anna Hazare or the much maligned Congress.