battleground-hisar-the-land-of-jindals-and-zee

Hisar is known for many iconic things. Former Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal wanted to build it up as a state capital as Chandigarh was too far for people living in Southern Haryana. It boasts of the world-famous Haryana Agricultural University, Equine Breeding Farm and many other central government institutions.

 

Hisar was given a distinct identity by Om Prakash Jindal, the founder of the 40 billion dollar Jindal group of companies that have excelled in multiple sectors, particularly steel and power.

 

The founder of the Zee Network, Subash Chandra, the entertainment mogul also comes from Hisar only. 

 

Late Om Prakash Jindal was not only an enterprising businessman who built a mammoth business empire, he was politically ambitious as well. After making his mark in business, he dabbled into politics. He believed that real power lay in the hands of a politician. He first became an MLA in 1991 on the ticket of the Haryana Vikas Party formed by former Chief Minister Bansi Lal after leaving the Congress.

 

He again became an MLA in the years 2000 and 2005 from the Hisar assembly segment. This time from the Congress party. In 2005 he also became the minister thus fulfilling his lifelong dream. Unfortunately, he died in a plane crash, when his private plane crashed near Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, within a few months of becoming a minister. 

 

His political legacy in Hisar was carried forward by his wife Savitri Jindal, who succeeded him as an MLA and later became a minister also in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government. She lost to the BJP in the 2014 assembly elections. She did not contest in 2019. 

 

In March 2024 ahead of the parliamentary elections, she along with her son, Naveen Jindal, a former Congress MP, joined the BJP. She was apparently expecting the party nomination for the assembly elections. However, it was difficult for the BJP to replace its two-time sitting MLA, Dr Kamal Gupta, who is also the health minister in the current government. 

Both Jindal and Gupta belong to the powerful ‘bania’ community. Gupta has been a long time BJP loyalist who used to fight against OP Jindal also, when the BJP was not even a marginal force in Haryana.

 

Savitri Jindal is now contesting as an “independent” candidate against the official BJP candidate from Hisar. She has not been expelled by the party so far, which otherwise is a normal course for political parties to deal with the rebel candidates. Her son, Naveen continues to remain in the BJP as he represents Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency.

Joining the field from the bleachers

 

Media Mogul, Subash Chandra has also joined the “battlefront” from the margins. Despite being known to be inclined towards the BJP, Chandra has announced his support for Savitri Jindal. The two families have a history of “personal” animosity with each other. Naveen Jindal got two of the senior Zee journalists jailed for extortion in 2012.

 

In 2014 to avenge the humiliation, Subash Chandra personally camped in Hisar and campaigned against Savitri Jindal taking care of minute details himself. He had tried for the BJP ticket at that time but was refused. Despite that, he fought the election as if it was his own as he was not sure whether Kamal Gupta could defeat Savitri Jindal at that time. It was like a David versus Goliath battle at that time and ‘David’ (Kamal Gupta) won thanks to immense support “by all means” from Subash Chandra who also holds a lot of influence in Hisar, particularly among the Bania community.

 

Feeling betrayed more by Kamal Gupta than the BJP, Subash has forgotten the 2012 humiliation and buried the hatchet with the Jindals and is now actively campaigning for Savitri Jindal this time. 

 

Chandra is also supporting the Congress candidate in the neighbouring Adamapur assembly segment, the family burrow of former Chief Minister, late Bhajan Lal whose grandson Bhavya Bishnoi (son of Kuldeep Bishnoi) is contesting as a BJP candidate.

The Jindal’s influence in play

Given the all-round influence the Jindal family has, and given Savitri Jindal’s own persona, she is making things difficult for the BJP candidate (maybe not necessarily for the BJP as she is considered as a BJP proxy). She has remained non-committal as to which party she will support if she wins, whether the Congress or the BJP, in case any of these parties need her support for cobbling up the majority. 

 

The majority of people in Hisar city remain non-committal. There is definitely an element of “anti-incumbency” against both the BJP as well as Kamal Gupta. Like Subash Chandra went public on social media suggesting how Kamal Gupta had forgotten him, the general refrain in the city remains that the BJP legislator did not remain connected much with the people.

 

Moreover, his victories both in 2014 and 2019 are attributed more to the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular. With the BJP playing ambiguous and evasive on Savitri Jindal, Kamal Gupta has a tough course ahead. 

 

Among the most watched constituencies, Hisar is turning out to be the one. At stake is the prestige of the Jindals, the family that has given a distinct identity to the town with the world-famous Jindal Group of Companies. The family has touched almost every life by way of employment, education and healthcare. 

Savitri Jindal, according to Forbes magazine, is the richest woman in India and the 50th richest person in the world.