Ateli (Haryana): Her loud cry of “Ram Ram ji” as she begins the speech galvanises the crowd and, despite the oppressive heat, they jump and clap in their plastic chairs placed under a massive white tent. However, the energy soon fizzles out as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the Ateli Vidhan Sabha seat, Arti Rao—daughter of Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh— starts talking about her ancestry, her decade-long struggle to get a ticket, and her party’s track record of building roads.
“Ten years ago, it took people from Ateli eight hours to reach Chandigarh, but with the BJP government building roads, it now only takes three-four hours,” declares Rao, making her debut as a political candidate at a gram chaupal (community gathering) in Rampura village of the Ateli assembly constituency.
Rao’s white Fortuner had to navigate potholes, overflowing gutters, and a persistent stench to reach the event Saturday. The seat has seen BJP victories in the last two assembly elections—Sita Ram in 2019 and Santosh Yadav in 2014.
“Show your magic, as you did for my father, Rao Inderjit sahab, and my grandfather, Rao Birender Singh—the second chief minister of Haryana,” says Rao as BJP workers chant “Arti Rao zindabad, Rao Inderjit zindabad.”
A graduate of Delhi University, 45-year-old Rao has waited 10 years for this ticket. But she is no political novice—she has been campaigning for her father since 2009, when Rao Inderjit was a Congress candidate. In 2014, after he shifted to the BJP, the Gurgaon MP unsuccessfully lobbied for his daughter to get a ticket in the parliamentary polls. In 2019, he again asked the party to give his daughter a ticket, but he was denied once more.
Rumours were rife that if Rao failed to secure a ticket this time, she might contest as an independent candidate. However, she was able to secure a candidacy in the upcoming Haryana polls from the BJP and now faces a tough contest against Congress candidate and former MLA Anita Yadav and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)’s Thakur Attar Lal. The Haryana elections are scheduled for 2 October.
Yadav was the Ateli MLA in 2009, while BSP’s Lal secured the second spot in the 2019 assembly elections, garnering 37,387 votes, behind the BJP’s Sita Ram, who won by a margin of 18,406 votes.
Rao’s victory or defeat is not hers alone—she shoulders the legacy of her grandfather and father.
“I worked hard for 10 years to get this ticket so I can serve you, and now, I am here before you. It’s your responsibility to make me win,” she thunders.
‘Sporting career was a learning curve’
As her convoy of tractors and vehicles—with BJP flags fluttering on the hoods and campaign songs blaring from their speakers—snakes through the narrow lanes Saturday, Rao rolls down her SUV window to wave at villagers who have queued up along the road to catch a glimpse of the woman whose lineage traces back to Rao Tula Ram, the former king of the Ahirwal region. The region encompassed Rewari, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon, Dadri, Nuh, Jhajjar, and parts of Alwar in Rajasthan.
She started her day in Kheri village with the garlanding of a statue of B.R. Ambedkar as the song “Modi aaye thay, Modi ji aayenge” played in the background. Surrounded by a dozen men from her campaign, she was the only woman at the centre of the stage. Some men from the village garlanded her and some offered her bouquets, while others draped a shawl over her shoulders. A few women had approached to hug her, while others watched from the sidelines.
An international skeet shooter who has won over a dozen awards for the country, Rao tells ThePrint that her sporting career was a “learning curve”.
“I spent 20 years on the Indian shooting team, and for the first few years, I was the only woman, so it was a huge learning curve, especially in terms of being the lone woman. I don’t see it as any different here,” she says.
Following the 2008 delimitation, which carved out Gurgaon and shifted her father’s political base, her family’s influence in the old Mahendragarh region—of which Ateli is a part—has waned. This has made it more challenging for her to shake off the “outsider” tag that her opponents have pinned on her.
But she doesn’t allow her political legacy to be dismissed so easily.
“My father and grandfather worked tirelessly for you. Those who claim I’m an outsider don’t know my family’s contribution. Those who say I won’t visit the constituency after being elected are misleading you,” she asserts at a gathering in Nawadi village the same day.
The benefits & challenges of a political legacy
From sporting a pagdi to attempting to sit on a tarazu to be weighed against laddoos, Rao is pulling out all the stops in her campaign efforts. Yet, her demeanour stands out starkly in the rural belt she is contesting from—her aides remove the pagdi before it settles on her head, and, occasionally, she wipes her hands with a fragrant wet wipe.
She delivers all her speeches in Hindi—with not a single word of Haryanvi. During her speech in Nawadi village, men could be heard saying among themselves, “Beti, ek lafz Haryanvi te bol le” (At least, say one word in Haryanvi). She talks to her team and the man driving the SUV in English.
“Ten years ago, roads were only for Rohtak, bus drivers were only from Rohtak, jobs were only for Rohtak. We have seen your work. It’s only the BJP who knows how to take chattis baradari (dominant caste groups) together,” Rao attacks the Opposition in her speech at another gathering as the crowd cheers.
Rao’s father has expressed his desire to become chief minister and she endorses it, saying that this is also the demand of south Haryana, not her father alone.
Speaking to ThePrint, Rao says, “The area has made the BJP come into power time and time again, and this is not the cry of Rao Inderjit Singh as much. It is the war cry of the area saying that we want a chief minister from the area because we have given and now can we also get something in return.”
However, her lineage also poses a challenge. At every gathering, she is introduced as the daughter of Rao Inderjit, not as a politician in her own right.
“I am somebody who is extremely blessed because she has in her family people who have done so much for the people of the area. There are only a few people who are remembered with such fondness as my grandfather, Rao Birender ji,” she says.
“When it comes to my father, he has also done a tremendous amount of things in the area and made a name for himself in spite of being his father’s son. But he only came out of his father’s shadow when my grandfather passed away more so than before,” says Rao, intermittently waving at people as her Fortuner makes its way to another gathering.
Ahead of her, a convoy blares, “Henna mei rang aayega sukhne par, Arti Rao kaam karvegi jeetne par.” (Henna gets colour after it dries, Arti will do your work once she wins).
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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