Savitri Jindal.
Credit: X/@SavitriJindal
Hisar: Savitri Jindal, at 74, is one of the oldest candidates in the Haryana elections. With assets worth $35 billion, she is also the richest woman in the country according to Forbes.
The age and riches notwithstanding, by 10 am, Jindal, the wife of industrialist Om Prakash Jindal has already done a round of canvassing and is back at Jindal House in downtown Hisar to meet another batch of supporters heading out to accompany her daughter-in-law Shallu.
A large picture of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with her husband, OP Jindal hangs at the reception. He was a first-generation entrepreneur who established a steel factory in Hisar in Haryana. Jindal expanded his empire to a powerful business conglomerate spanning power, mining, energy, and seaport operations.
“I have entered the fray as our followers and supporters wanted me to contest the elections,” says Jindal as she walks into her office plastered with her election symbol, a torch.
Savitri Jindal’s decision to throw her hat in the ring has raised many eyebrows in Haryana’s political circles. The Jindals have dabbled in politics for more than three decades.
O P Jindal, a close aide of former state chief minister Bansi Lal won his first election in the early 1990s. In 2004, he won again from Hisar on a Congress ticket and became a minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government. A year later, he died in a chopper crash and was succeeded by his wife Savitri who won from Hisar and remained a minister till 2014 when she lost to the BJP.
Savitri Jindal’s son Naveen won the Lok Sabha elections from Kurukshetra on two occasions. Just ahead of the 2024 general elections, he joined BJP and won again. It is widely believed that the Jindals wanted the Hisar Assembly seat for one in the family. With the party not obliging, Savitri Jindal filed nominations as an Independent candidate.
“I think what clinched the argument to go solo was the fact that BJP conceded tickets to daughters of Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh and MP Kiran Choudhury while denying it to the Jindal family,” says Mehar Singh Taneja, who runs a provision store next to Savitri Jindal’s election office.
Jindal’s main contender in this election is the sitting MLA and minister Dr Kamal Gupta. Hisar is a largely urban seat and civic issues dominate political discourse.
Last week, a video went viral where former CM Manohar Lal Khattar was seen being heckled by a youth who predicted “BJP would lose the seat”.
Precisely the reason why, Savitri Jindal is focusing on local issues like the laying of new sewage lines.
“As in 2014, it appears people want a change this time too in Haryana,” she says but is quick to add that she is talking only about her constituency.
The 25,000 people who are associated directly or indirectly with the Jindal industry in Hisar remain Savitri Jindal’s biggest support base. The underlying message in her campaign is: irrespective of who forms the government, Savitri Jindal will be a minister if she wins from Hisar.
More than that, Savitri Jindal’s decision to contest as an Independent against the ruling party minister alludes to shifting pieces in the political jigsaw -- in Hisar and elsewhere.
Assembly Elections 2024 | In the first assembly polls since the Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi and the BJP face a rejuvenated and vindicated Opposition in the Haryana assembly polls. Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir is voting after almost a decade and it remains to be seen how the abrogation of Article 370 has impacted the political landscape of the Valley. Track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.