Savitri Jindal, 74, is no ordinary woman. Nor is the message couched in her decision to defy her party, the BJP, and contest as an Independent from Hisar an ordinary one.
Apart from being a former minister in a Congress government in Haryana, she is chairperson emeritus of the steel and power conglomerate, O.P. Jindal Group.
She also happens to be India’s richest woman.
Her act of defiance appears to carry a warning for the BJP – that following the setback in the general election, Brand Modi is vulnerable to challenge and, perhaps, defeat.
“The buzz here is that BJP leaders tried to persuade her not to contest; so she filed her nomination as an Independent,” said Joginder Gupta, a grocer in the bustling city of Hisar that is almost synonymous with the Jindals.
“Perhaps she sensed that after 10 years in power, the BJP had become unpopular and she could win.”
Gupta and the others gathered in his shop felt Savitri was the favourite from the constituency.
Her revolt is particularly remarkable because her son, Naveen Jindal, is BJP Lok Sabha member from Kurukshetra in Haryana. Naveen, a former Congress MP, defected to the BJP just before the general election.
That is when Savitri, on a sabbatical from active politics for about a decade, was understood to have joined the BJP, too.
“I did not formally join the BJP. When my son Naveen joined the party, I went with him,” she told The Telegraph during a brief conversation at her residence, Jindal House, in Hisar. “Usually, when the son joins, it is assumed that the entire family is with the BJP.”
Savitri had won from Hisar twice on a Congress ticket. She was first elected in 2005 after the sitting MLA, her husband O.P. Jindal, who founded the Jindal group, died in a helicopter crash. She was re-elected in 2009 and became a minister in Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s government.
She lost the 2014 polls to the BJP’s Kamal Gupta, a local doctor, and took a break from active politics. Gupta represented Hisar for two terms as a key minister in the BJP government and was re-nominated by the party this time.
Savitri claimed she had not sought nomination from the BJP but party insiders said the family had indeed done so but was refused by the leadership. Apparently, the party was against promoting two members from the same family.
“I did not seek a ticket from the BJP. My decision to contest was taken at the last moment under pressure from the voters of Hisar, who are like my family,” she said.
Asked if she had sought a ticket from the Congress given the strong association she and her late husband had with the party, she said she had not.
Who will she support if she gets elected? “She will support the BJP; it’s certain,” said Manoj Kumar, a worker at the Jindal factory in the city.
Savitri was non-committal: “I haven’t thought about it (whom to support). My main goal is to get elected and serve my ‘family members’ in Hisar.”
She, however, seemed to be dropping a hint when asked how the wider poll scenario in Haryana looked – would it be status quo or “badlaav (change)”?
“Looks like there will be a change in Haryana,” she said, stressing the 10 years of accumulated anti-incumbency.
But she promptly modified her comment. “I don’t know about the entire state but there’s definitely a mood for change in Hisar,” she said, appearing keen to keep people guessing which way she might tilt if she wins – towards the BJP or the Congress.
- Haryana votes on October 5