Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Kavita Dalal locked in fierce bout in Julana’s dangal

In Haryana’s Julana assembly segment, a thrilling battle is unfolding. Two women wrestlers, a professional pilot and a retired excise and taxation official are fighting it out for electoral glory.

Olympian Vinesh Phogat, who recently announced her retirement from international wrestling and joined the Congress, is taking on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Kavita Dalal, the first Indian professional woman wrestler to compete in the WWE, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Yogesh Bairagi, a professional pilot, Jannayak Janata Party’s sitting MLA Amarjeet Singh Dhanda and retired deputy excise and taxation commissioner Surender Lathar of the Indian National Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (INLD-BSP) alliance.

While Vinesh is seeking votes as ‘Julana ki Bahu’ (daughter-in-law), citing her husband’s ancestry – he hails from Bakhta Khera village which falls in Julana -- Dalal is reaching out to voters as ‘Julana ki beti’ (daughter) as her village, Malvi, is just 4 kms from here.

Vinesh’s power play

Around 4pm on Friday, Vinesh arrives in Igrah village, a Jat-dominated village, to address people. Locals have queued up on their tractors on the village outskirts and Vinesh is escorted by four women bouncers.

Vinesh rises to speak, “When you came to my native village Balali in Charkhi Dadri as part of the baraat (wedding procession), people welcomed you. Now, I need your blessings to win this election. If you give me power, I’ll never let you down. I’ll change the fortunes of the sportspersons, improve the health and education sector and tackle civic and infrastructure issues.”

She also reminds them of her battle against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexually harassing female wrestlers.

“With your blessings, I fought against that muscled man. It was a difficult task to return to the mat after that. Your daughter performed well in the Olympics but unfortunately, missed the medal. The BJP government used force against all – farmers, sarpanches, government employees and women wrestlers. Now is the time to seek revenge and vote them out,” she said.

Interestingly, her fellow wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, who were at the forefront during their agitation against Brij Bhushan, and even local Congress leaders, are staying away from her poll campaign.

But on the ground, she seems to be finding support.

As the crowd chants, “Vinesh, the next sports minister”, and the Olympian brushes it off, an elderly gentleman says out loud, “This time you’ll become a minister; in 10 years, we will make you chief minister.”

Shamsher Singh, a resident of Igrah, says, over 80 leaders were aspiring for a Congress ticket, but the party went with Vinesh. “Vinesh is a good candidate but this time, the candidate does not matter. (Bhupinder) Hooda sahab ko lana hai (Must make Bhupinder Hooda win),” he added.

Dalal’s counter attack

Dalal, meanwhile, reminds people that she has been preparing for the assembly elections since 2022 while Vinesh, “an outsider” has just parachuted in. Dalal says, “Phogat’s family members came to meet my uncle and asked him to convince me to withdraw my nomination. My uncle refused them outrightly, stating that I have been working for the last three years and Vinesh is taking advantage of the women wrestlers’ protest. Why are her fellow wrestlers not taking part in her election? This shows that Vinesh had been aspiring to contest polls since she was on protest in Delhi.”

JJP’s anti-incumbency fight

JJP candidate Amarjeet Dhanda, the sitting MLA from seat, faces the challenge of fighting off anti-incumbency as people are upset with him for not supporting the farmers and women wrestlers’ protest.

BJP & INLD

BJP nominee Bairagi, a professional pilot, was seeking a ticket from Safidon but was shifted to Julana. His fortunes are dependent on the other backward classes (OBC) and Brahmin votes.

Surender Lathar of the INLD-BSP alliance is another strong candidate and he had shifted to INLD after BJP denied him ticket and fielded Yogesh Bairagi. A taxation officer, he had quit his job ahead of the Parliamentary polls. He has been active in the area, through his NGO Samajik Sarokar Parivar, for the last 6 years, and opened around 50 libraries.

Issues that matter

The Julana assembly segment has 1.85 lakh votes, out of which nearly 40% are Jats, 40,000 SC votes, 33,000 BC and 22,000 Brahmin voters.

It faces multiple issues such as poor roads, shortage of teachers and doctors, and unemployment.

This seat was considered a stronghold of INLD, whose Parminder Singh Dhull (now in Congress) won from here in 2009 and 2014. However, INLD’s offshoot JJP nominee Dhanda had won from Julana in 2019 polls.