‘Haath has picked up the jhadu’: Manish Tewari makes a Congress-AAP pitch for Chandigarh

Manish Tewari at Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake. (Express Photo by Jasbir Malhi)

Dressed in a white T-shirt and tracksuit, Manish Tewari briskly walks along Chandigarh’s Sukhna Lake at 6.45 am, greeting people out on their morning walk with a firm handshake.

“How are you, sir? I am Manish Tewari, please support us. I am the joint candidate of the Congress and the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party),” the 58-year-old Congress leader tells a middle-aged man, who promptly responds, “I know you, I was your junior at St John’s (school).” After a brief conversation, Tewari moves on to the person sweeping the walkway. “My name is Manish Tewari, what is your name? Is everything alright at home? I am the joint candidate of the Congress-AAP alliance,” he says in Hindi.

As the Lok Sabha election campaign in Chandigarh, which votes in the last phase on June 1, gains pace, Tewari is not only going across the city addressing public meetings, he is also making his presence felt at popular spots such as Sukhna Lake, Tagore Theatre, and the Leisure Valley park area, a packet of chocolates and candies always at hand for children.

Tewari’s message, delivered in Hindi, Punjabi, or English depending on the crowd he addresses, is simple — “democracy is in danger … you have endured 10 years of misrule … now give us a chance”. At meeting after meeting, he underlines: “Hath ne jhadu fad liya hai, badlaav aayega (The hand is holding the broom, you will see a change now ).”

A lawyer by profession, Tewari rose through the Congress rank after starting his political career with the party’s students’ wing NSUI in the 1980s. The party gave him his first big chance in 2004 when he was fielded against the Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD) Sharanjit Singh Dhillon but he lost. Five years later, Tewari won Ludhiana, defeating Gurcharan Singh Galib of the SAD. He became one of the party’s chief spokespersons and served as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the Congress-led UPA II government from 2012 to 2014.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Tewari did not contest from Ludhiana amid speculation that he preferred Chandigarh, something Tewari has denied. “I wasn’t able to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as I was unwell,” he told The Indian Express in an interview in 2017. Two years later, he was back in the thick of things and won the parliamentary election from Anandpur Sahib.

manish tewari

A lawyer by profession, Tewari rose through the Congress rank after starting his political career with the party’s students’ wing NSUI in the 1980s. (Express Photo)

With the Congress looking to win back Chandigarh, a seat it won from 1999 to 2009 but has lost the last two times, Tewari has his work cut out. He is up against Sanjay Tandon, a former Chandigarh BJP chief and the son of former Punjab Deputy CM Balram Das Tandon.

‘Elections could be game-changer’

At the Valmiki Dharamshala in the Manimajra neighbourhood, as Tewari arrives for an outreach programme, he is presented as a “homegrown candidate, born and brought up in the city”. The organisers say how despite being the MP from Anandpur Sahib, he addressed problems in Manimajra by allocating funds for surveillance cameras and helping bring down thefts.

Sporting a Congress neck scarf, Tewari addresses the crowd in Punjabi, hitting all the notes from the Congress stump speech. He talks about rising prices, alleges that the BJP government is working for one industrialist, and warns about the “threat” to the Constitution posed by the BJP. “Samvidhan nu khatra hai, 2024 mulk di aakhri chunaon hogi (The Constitution is in peril, 2024 will be this nation’s last election).”

Tewari also criticises the alleged undemocratic practices during the Chandigarh mayoral election, praising AAP city in-charge Dr S S Ahluwalia and others for their work. The AAP-Congress bonhomie is also visible at another event where AAP councillor Prem Lata and her Congress counterpart Jasbir Bunty have cobbled together a gathering of mostly elderly residents.

“I do not feel ashamed to say that every officer of the administration is a work shirker and don’t listen to any of the 35 councillors. Even to get grass trimmed, we need to request the administration. And Chandigarh is going to the ruins because of these officers,” says Prem Lata, setting the tone for the evening.

manish tewari

He became one of the party’s chief spokespersons and served as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the Congress-led UPA II government from 2012 to 2014. (Express Photo)

Tewari, who apologises to the crowd for arriving late, proceeds to agree with the AAP councillor. “Our councillor Prem Lata hit the nail on the head. The bureaucracy is too heavy-handed. After 58 years, it is time to shake up the administrative structure,” he says, telling those in attendance that they will play a “pivotal role” in an election that “could be the game-changer for a free India’s legacy”.

“I am speaking from the depths of my commitment to safeguard our Constitution. This is the last stand for our nation … The intention is crystal clear: to scrap the Constitution and impose their own … You know what’s in their Constitution,” he says.

The Congress leader then swiftly moves to another public gathering, this time in Palsora colony, donning a neck scarf with the AAP’s colours alongside his Congress one. He says AAP leaders such as Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia were arrested because they “stood up to the ruling government’s tactics”.

Back at his home brimming with supporters, Tewari says he can see discontent on the ground. “Ten years of non-development, arrogant misrule and frivolous cases by weaponising the ED and agencies, they have turned this into an Orwellian state.”

Responding to the Congress leader’s speeches on the campaign trail, his rival Sanjay Tandon says, “I learnt he has been talking about saving democracy in his addresses. I want to ask where was the ‘samvidhan bachana’ during Emergency? He knows the connection people have with Sanjay Tandon.”

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