Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.
Credit: PTI Photo
Veteran Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda likes to claim that the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls will be his last. While many such loud claims are often heard ahead of elections — to be conveniently forgotten once the results are out — the 76-year-old politician is looking to kill two birds with one stone. An electoral victory for Congress under his command will enable him to cement his family's hold on power and also silence his young detractors in the party.
Having taken the political plunge at a young age, Hooda has seen it all in state politics. At the age of 25, he became the president of the Congress party's Kiloi Block committee. In 1991, at 44, Hooda entered the Lok Sabha. Five years later, he became the president of Haryana Congress unit. Another four years down the line, he was the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.
Hooda's career touched a new peak in 2005 when he became the Haryana chief minister. Since then he has been steering the state Congress despite strong opponents within the party playing all tricks to unseat him.
Now at the doorstep of another election, Hooda continues to rule the roost and the Congress top brass in Delhi has virtually given up the command to him in Haryana.
This was evident during the recent Lok Sabha elections when Hooda cornered eight of the nine seats for his loyalists leaving just one for detractor Kumari Selja.
At an internal meeting on Haryana Assembly polls, when Hooda said that this would be his last election, top leader Rahul Gandhi is said to have smiled and reminded the veteran leader that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too had said the same earlier but only to return for a fight.
Last or not, this is a crucial election for Hooda. If the grand old party captures power, he will get the opportunity to anoint his son, Deepender Hooda, who is currently the Lok Sabha member from Rohtak, as the flagbearer of the party and its government in Haryana.
Though he belonged to a political family, Hooda had to struggle to reach the top position in the party as Haryana politics was dominated by Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal of the Congress and Devi Lal of the Janata Dal.
It was an uphill task for him to carve out some space, especially when the stalwarts commanded respect from the dominant Jat community, though his father, Ranbir Singh Hooda, was a freedom fighter, a member of the Constituent Assembly that framed the Constitution, an MP, MLA and a minister.
Hooda proved at the earliest that he was not a political pushover when he defeated Devi Lal in the Lok Sabha elections in 1991, 1996 and 1998. This made him a leader with considerable clout among Jats. Yet, it was not easy for him or other leaders like O P Jindal, Surender Choudhary and Birender Choudhary as Bhajan Lal towered over them.
Power play
They got an opportunity to show Bhajan Lal his place after the 2005 assembly polls when they got together and decided to support Hooda for the CM post. The calculation of his supporters was that Hooda would be pliant; it was a miscalculation.
After the 2009 assembly election, Hooda created a record as he became the first chief minister in Haryana to assume the chair for a second time. By then he had consolidated his position in the party while his erstwhile supporters tried to erect an opposition within.
They thought they got an opportunity in 2014 and then in 2019 when the Congress could not return to power in the state and had a dismal performance in the Lok Sabha polls. But Hooda had by then captured the party structure, leaving very little manoeuvring space for leaders like Selja and Randeep Surjewala.
In between, he got his son Deepender Hooda to enter politics and become an MP from Rohtak. Deepender won in 2009 and 2014 but lost in 2019. However, Hooda Junior was sent to Rajya Sabha and in 2024, he returned to the Lok Sabha.
The party’s electoral reverses also made Hooda a part of the group of 23 leaders who rose in revolt against the Gandhis after the 2019 debacle. The G-23 disintegrated soon with some leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad leaving the party while others like Anand Sharma getting sidelined.
Despite this, Hooda survived by taking control of both the organisation and the legislature party in Haryana. He got his man Uday Bhan as the state president while remaining at the helm of the legislature party.
Earlier, when the central leadership tried to put him on leash by making Gandhi loyalists Ashok Tanwar and Selja state presidents, Hooda played the 'non-cooperation' card making it difficult for them to operate. He also ensured that the clout of the Bansi Lal family — Surender and Kiran Choudhary — and Birender Choudhary was minimised.
Parallel games
As Haryana enters into another poll season, the same script as the one that played in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls is being played with Hooda camp running the show and Selja and Surjewala embarking on a parallel campaign.
Deepender is on a state-wide yatra 'Haryana Maange Hisab', which was launched by the state Congress. Both Selja and Surjewala are absent from the 'official' yatra and the former kicked off her own 'Congress Sandesh Yatra' from Ambala on Saturday.
Will Deepender come out of the shadow of his father is the question that awaits answer. The senior Hooda believes he has set the stage but to predict the future in politics is a risky game. Hoodas know it well.