Raj Babbar missing in Agra elections after 25 years

Raj Babbar at the counting centre in Agra on May 23, 2019

Lok Sabha elections are taking place but there is no Raj Babbar in Agra and Firozabad, after 25 years.

The actor turned politician had been in the scene in one role or another in all parliamentary elections held since 1999 in Agra and Firozabad. The highlight of this period was 2009, by election when he defeated Dimple Yadav in the by election held in Firozabad after Akhilesh Yadav vacated the seat.

The shabby looking intermediate college on Moti Lal Nehru Road of Agra is more identified as the college where Raj Babbar studied and fought a college election and won, reminds his childhood friend Sameer Chaturvedi.

Having an inclination for acting, Babbar moved to make his name in the glamour world of Mumbai and attained success for himself. Raj Babbar began his political career with the VP Singh-led Janata Dal in 1989 but joined Samajwadi Party which gave him Rajya Sabha seat from 1994 to 1999. As an MP, Raj Babbar utilised his MP fund for Agra, the city where he claims his roots lie.

Raj Babbar made news away from Agra when he contested against BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee in Lucknow but lost by 1.80 lakh votes in 1996 but continued as Rajya Sabha MP and decided to have plunge in active politics of Agra and filed nomination papers as Samajwadi Party candidate from Agra in 1999 and defeated three-time BJP MP from Agra, Bhagwan Shankar Rawat.

His win was attributed more to his own popularity in Agra than that of Samajwadi Party which, otherwise, has never won in Agra till date. Babbar repeated the success in 2004 Lok Sabha elections, but things went wrong between Babbar and SP, then dominated by Amar Singh, and Babbar moved out of SP and constituted Jan Morcha which contested the assembly election of 2007 and won a seat in Agra.

Having seen the high and low in politics of this region, Babbar joined Congress in 2008 and contested for the party from Fatehpur Sikri in 2009 after Agra turned reserved seat for Scheduled Castes. Babbar lost but the high point of his career was yet to come, and he was asked by Congress to contest from Firozabad seat in byelection after sitting MP, Akhilesh Yadav chose to vacate it and his wife Dimple Yadav fought the by election, but Babbar grabbed headlines after defeating Dimple Yadav.

Then came a landslide defeat for Raj Babbar during the Modi wave of 2014 when Babbar chose to contest against General (Retired) VK Singh and lost by about 5 lakh votes.

Babbar, active with Congress, came for campaigning in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri in 2014 keeping his association with Agra alive. In 2016, Congress party made him state president of the all important state of UP.

Raj Babbar again contested as Congress candidate and was named from Moradabad but returned to Fatehpur Sikri for contesting 2019 Lok Sabha elections but faced a crushing defeat from BJP candidate Raj Kumar Chahar by over 4 lakh votes. Chahar was once a trusted aide of Raj Babbar.

The images of a sulking Raj Babbar watching the results unfold on May 23, 2019, reflected all and raised questions for many ‘if it was the end of road for Raj Babbar in Agra’. There were speculations all over, about Raj Babbar returning to this region again in the election of 2024. The nomination process ended and there was no Raj Babbar around this time, after gap of 25 years.

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