This hockey-crazy village is in the grip of Dilip-mania.
Dilip Tirkey — son of the soil, Hockey India president, one of the best defenders the game has seen — is trying his luck from the tribal-dominated and mineral-rich Sundargarh Lok Sabha constituency for the second time and his village Saunamara, a part of the constituency, is ecstatic.
When The Telegraph visited Saunamara, around 400km from Bhubaneswar, nearly 30 children — boys and girls aged between 7 and 14 — were honing their hockey skills under the blazing sun at the new Balishankar hockey stadium, about 1km from the village. All of them aspire to be a “Dilip Tirkey or Amit Rohidas”, the other also an international hockey star and a native of this village.
Children practise at the Balishankar hockey stadium near Saunamara
Saunamara sarpanch Chulu Barla, who is in his 50s, said: “I was a village-level hockey player in my youth. Can you ever imagine 30 years ago, a tribal boy rising from this place, making his way to the India national team and becoming the captain? He (Tirkey) has infused a sense of pride in our youths. Everyone wants to represent the state or the country in the game.”
The 46-year-old Tirkey’s trump card is hockey — the craze he has been able to generate for the game and his image as an icon of the sport — as he embarks on this “do-or-die’’ match, taking on sitting MP and former Union minister Jual Oram.
Oram, the first tribal affairs minister of the country, has sought to strike an emotional chord with the voters by projecting this battle as the last of his political career. Congress’s Janardan Dehury, a labour union leader, is trying to make the contest
triangular but for all practical purposes, it is a duel between Oram and Tirkey, the latter having the additional advantage of being a Catholic Christian tribal who number around 2.5 lakh in the constituency.
Sarpanch Barla said: “Dilip is a local boy and we want him to win this battle also. We have so many problems, such as the water crisis, which only he can solve. Though we have given a petition to the collector, no steps have been taken. The issue cannot be solved unless someone from among us becomes a top leader. It was because of Dilip’s efforts that a stadium was built near the village.”
Tirkey enjoys the goodwill of Saunamara’s people who believe he should win. His family members are also eagerly awaiting his victory. “He would certainly make it this time,” said Tirkey’s sister-in-law Monica Tirkey.
But reaching the goal won’t be easy. A veteran of many a battle, 63-year-old Oram is game for a fight.
Jual Oram on the campaign trail.
“Dilip is a good hockey player and an expert of the game but I am an expert in politics,” Oram, who’s looking at representing Sundargarh for the sixth time, said.
In 2019, Oram won by 2.23 lakh votes but is now facing anti-incumbency. Even the people of his village, Kendudihi, 100km from Saunamara, question what he has done for the area.
“When he was the Union tribal minister, we had demanded the setting up of a CT (certificate training, for primary schoolteacher jobs) or BEd college here but that did not happen,” rued farmer Kartik Mahanta (58), whose house is hardly 30m from Oram’s.
Water scarcity has become a perennial problem, the villagers complain, with “no tap facility despite this being the village of Jual Oram”. But whether they like Oram or not, they will vote for the lotus, as there is a Modi “lahar” (wave) in the area.
Of the seven Assembly segments in Sundargarh, Talsara, Sundargarh and Biramitrapur are held by the BJP. While Raghunathpali and Rourkela have BJD MLAs, Rajgangpur is held by the Congress and Bonai by CPM. While Saunamara falls under the Talsara Assembly segment, Oram and Dehury’s are in the Bonai Assembly segments.
What has given Oram a shot in the arm is the entry of industrialist and former Union minister Dilip Ray in the electoral fray from Rourkela Assembly seat on a BJP ticket. With Ray’s help, Oram plans to consolidate his position in Sundargarh district.
“The Steel City will set the mood,” said local journalist Aurobinda Das. “It’s a cosmopolitan city. Here the Assembly fight will be between Dilip Ray, the guru, and his disciple, BJD candidate and minister Sarada Nayak. The campaign in Rourkela city will have an impact on the entire district.
“There is public anger against Oram as he has failed to carry out any significant development, but the Modi factor will come to his rescue.”
Tirkey is depending on Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s development work in Sundargarh and Rourkela city in particular.
Tirkey said: “Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has done a lot of development work. Starting from the Birsa Munda stadium to other spheres, development has taken place at a fast pace. The people have recognised it. It is a fight between development and no development. Being a sportsman, I am committed to working hard to carry forward the development agenda.”
Sundargarh votes on May 20
