Kalka (Panchkula): It began with Sangeeta Bainsla Gurjar, a BJP Mahila Mandal member, urging voters to “remember Bangladesh” as they head to polls on 5 October. Bainsla was among the speakers at a small gathering in Diwanwala village of Haryana’s Kalka assembly seat. She was there to rally support for BJP’s candidate, Ambala’s first woman mayor Shakti Rani Sharma.
“Since BJP came to power, Hindus have gained recognition. What happened in Bangladesh was due to the lack of unity among Hindus. Now is the time to unite and vote. Only when BJP is in power can Modi ji do things for Hindus,” Bainsla said as nearly two dozen women seated on plastic chairs cheered.
With Haryana’s assembly elections barely a week away, candidates from various political parties are using every possible tactic to seek votes—from invoking religion and caste to, in this case, Bangladesh. Bainsla was referring to some alleged anti-minority attacks, including on Hindus, in Bangladesh after the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government.
Sharma, who was at the chaupal, told ThePrint that Bainsla was “raising awareness among people regarding the Bangladesh issue”.
On Thursday, Sharma, who joined the BJP in September, toured the Kalka assembly seat, in the Panchkula district, meeting people at chaupals, visiting homes, and engaging in door-to-door interactions. Her vision, she said, is to transform Kalka into another Ambala.
“I am the Ambala mayor right now, and I want to work for the development of this constituency, just as I have done in Ambala. I will bring parks, better education, and health facilities,” said Sharma at the Diwanpur village with a drone hovering above her, recording the event.
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‘Mother-son duo will work like a double engine sarkar’
Sharma’s husband is Jan Chetna Party chief and former Haryana minister Venod Sharma and her younger son, Kartikeya Sharma, is a Rajya Sabha MP. She doesn’t shy away from using her family’s political background to bolster her campaign.
“My son Kartikeya has adopted Ambala and you are a part of us. If you vote me to power. The mother-son duo will work like a double engine sarkar,” said Sharma in Diwanpur.
Kalka falls under the Ambala Lok Sabha constituency.
Kartikeya is also campaigning across Kalka to galvanise support for his mother. Her media team includes people trusted by Kartikeya who owns ITV Media Network.
Sharma is contesting against Kalka seat incumbent Pradeep Chaudhary of the Congress. During his speeches at public meetings, Chaudhary has accused the BJP-led state government of stalling development work in Kalka.
Targeting him, Sharma said, “Pradeep (Chaudhary) says it was not his sarkar, so he could not work for five years. He will make another excuse and not work for another five years.” The audience laughed.
Challenges within the party
But Sharma also faced challenges within the party.
In 2019, Chaudhary won by a narrow margin of 5,931 votes against BJP’s Latika Sharma. Latika was expecting she would get the BJP ticket again this time. But, to her disappointment, the ticket went to Sharma.
Initially, Latika expressed her disappointment by not attending Sharma’s campaign events but eventually, she came around. Saying that the “party was supreme to her”, she has extended support to Sharma.
When asked why Sharma didn’t contest for her husband’s JCP, which had extended support to the BJP during Lok Sabha elections, she said it was a decision made by the BJP high command. In 2014, Sharma lost the Haryana Assembly elections as a JCP candidate.
Her family has a transactional relationship with the BJP: Kartikeya received the BJP’s support in his successful bid for the Rajya Sabha as an Independent. In return, the JCP extended support to the BJP during this year’s Lok Sabha elections.
“After seeing my work in Ambala. I guess BJP thought that I should be given the ticket and that’s why I am here,” she said as she joined the women from her audience in Diwanpur for a photo.
The issue of Jessica Lal’s murder
Sharma has all the alleged issues of the constituency on the tips of her fingers: from the closure of the 60-year-old Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) factory or the long-pending demand to recognise Kalka, which shares its borders with Himachal, as an “arth pahadi kshetra” (a hilly mountainous region).
But there is one thing she is not comfortable talking about: her eldest son Siddharth Vashisht, alias Manu Sharma. He was convicted in the infamous Jessica Lal murder case.
In 1999, her husband, Venod Sharma, had to resign from the Congress after Lal, a model, was shot dead in a New Delhi bar on 30 April that year. Manu Sharma was booked for the crime.
Venod, who rejoined Congress ahead of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections in 2005, had to resign again after his son’s acquittal sparked nationwide outrage.
Manu was released from jail after 15 years in 2020—the year Sharma won the Ambala Municipal Corporation elections, defeating BJP’s Vandana Sharma by 8,084 votes.
“I don’t want to talk about the Jessica Lal murder case. It’s not a relevant question. Whatever the case was, it has gone by and I don’t think we need to talk about it,” she told ThePrint in her car, on the way to another public meeting.
‘Vote for Modi, not for me’
While at some meetings, she talked about the BJP manifesto and her work as Mayor of Ambala, at her next chaupal at Narenuwala village, Sharma talked about her connection with Kalka where she contested as a JCP candidate in 2014.
“Kalka’s land is calling me again and again because Mata Rani (the Hindu goddess Kali) wants me to serve you. I take it as a sign. Do you believe it or not?” she asked the gathering of two dozen people sitting on the ground.
Bainsla was asked to stay quiet at this event, according to people from Sharma’s team present at the event.
Contradicting her earlier statement to ThePrint, Sharma said, she “doesn’t allow such speeches to be delivered at her meetings. This one was an aberration”.
Bainsla had not only talked about Bangladesh in her speech, but also alleged that the Jamaat-e-Islami was decimating Hindu temples and that senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was bringing shame to the country in the US.
Instead, Sharma took over the task of rousing people at the event. She asked them to raise their hands and say “Bharat Mata ki Jai” thrice. She urged them to vote, not for her, but for Modi and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
“You are not voting for me but Modi. Your vote will make Narendra Modi strong. It will make Saini strong. And only when they are strong, I will be able to bring development for you,” she announced.
The elections will be held in Haryana in a single phase on 5 October. Votes will be counted on 8 October.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
