Hooda’s ‘saviour’ to ‘Congress’s Yogi’, Haridwar seer creates ripples in Sonipat, taps into ‘anti-incumbency’
On a hot day last week, a catchy tune with Haryanvi lyrics, “Banegi ik tarfa sarkar… jeetke aave Brahamchari (a government will be formed decisively… Brahamchari will emerge victorious)”, blares through Mahmudpur village in the Sonipat Lok Sabha constituency in Haryana as many prepare to welcome Congress candidate Satpal Brahamchari.
Moments later, Brahamchari, 55, arrives there, waving at the crowd while sitting on a decorated tractor arranged by the villagers. Brahamchari looks a little tired at this tenth event of his day-long canvassing, but still listens patiently to the welcome speeches made by some locals, even as he is garlanded.
When his turn comes to address the gathering, he took less than two minutes. “On May 25, go to your nearest polling booth and bring glory to Congress and Satpal Brahamchari,” he says.
Haryana Congress stalwart and ex-chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has played a key role in the party’s move to field Brahamchari from the Jat-dominated constituency, where the former had lost to the BJP’s Ramesh Chander Kaushik by about 1.64 lakh votes in the 2019 polls.
In his election affidavit, Brahamchari mentions “spiritual leader” as his primary occupation. He is known as the “Congress party's Yogi” and addressed as “Maharaj ji” during his public meetings.
Brahamchari’s association with Hooda goes back to 2003, when the latter met with an accident in Uttarakhand. The vehicle in which he was riding along with his brother Rajinder and a former journalist Yoginder Gupta crashed into the Pili river. While Rajinder was killed in the mishap, Hooda and Gupta clung to trees through the night to avoid being swept away by the river water. It was Brahamchari who had then led a team to rescue them.
A soft-spoken Brahamchari, who hails from Jind that falls under the Sonipat constituency, starts his campaign early in the day. “I moved to Haridwar for my religious teachings. As my grandfather was also a spiritual leader, I carried forward his legacy of spiritual teachings. We have our ashrams in several areas of Sonipat,” he tells The Indian Express.
Brahamchari has also been with the Congress for many years, getting elected as the Hardiwar Municipal Corporation mayor in 2003. He contested in the Uttarakhand Assembly polls in 2012 and 2022 as the party’s candidate, but lost at the hands of the BJP’s Madan Kaushik both times. He was appointed as the Haridwar city Congress president in March 2023.
“Since I was born in Sonipat belt, it struck me that I should do something for my birthplace. That’s how I returned here from Haridwar to contest the Lok Sabha polls. Chaudhary Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been a very old associate who has always helped me and guided me in my life and political journey. He was gracious to consider me for representing Congress from Sonipat seat,” he says.
Brahamchari is taking on the BJP’s Mohan Lal Badoli, the party’s sitting MLA from Rai, which is one of the Assembly segments of the Sonipat seat.
Both Satpal and Mohan Lal belong to the Brahmin community, which accounts for an estimated nearly 9-10 % population of the Sonipat constituency, where Jats and Dalits make up about 31% and 19% population respectively. The JJP has fielded Bhupender Malik while the INLD has nominated ex-IPS officer Anoop Dahiya, both of whom are from the Jat community.
On his BJP rival, Brahamchari says, “I have good relations with Mohan Lal ji too. It is not my nature to badmouth anyone. I am reaching out to people on the Congress’s ideology and I am highlighting the BJP’s failures. People have realised that BJP government is based on just jumlas (rhetoric), which are not going to work this time. Today, be it farmers, labourers, youths, workers, poor — everyone is in distress due to the wrong policies of the BJP government. People want change.”
Brahamchari's public outreach seems to be creating a resonance across Sonipat. At his rallies, he often recites shlokas in Sanskrit, which he also explains in Hindi for the crowds.
On the Congress ticket for a “spiritual leader” like him, Brahamchari says, “It is wrong to say that religious leaders are against us. 200 seers participated in my nomination event. All of Haryana's seers are with us. Even Baba Ramdev wished me the best for the election.”
On the BJP's charges about the Congress leaders skipping the consecration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Brahamchari says he was present at the ceremony, adding that “Senior Congress leaders like Deepender Singh Hooda (Bhupinder Hooda's son) and Ajay Rai (UP Congress chief) were also present there.”
During his electioneering, Mohan Lal has faced angry farmers' protests in many villages in different parts of Sonipat. Upset with the BJP over various issues, a section of farmers across Punjab and Haryana have been “boycotting” its candidates in their villages.
“The BJP had to roll back its three black farm laws eventually (in 2021). It showed that farmers’ stir against the bills was right. Had the BJP then taken
corrective measures, the lives of 700-750 farmers could have been saved,” says Brahamchari, adding that “farmers must get the right price for their produce”.
Sounding confident abut his prospects, Brahamchari, listing his priorities for Sonipat in the event of his victory, says, “Thousands of people from Sonipat go to Delhi for work, but a robust train service for it does not exist. My first priority is to start two trains from Delhi for Sonepat. Secondly, Delhi Metro is extended to Ghaziabad and Meerut, and even Rohtak. Why Sonipat is left out?”
Currently, five of Sonipat's nine Assembly segments – Kharkhauda, Sonipat, Gohana, Baroda and Safidon – are held by the Congress, while three are with the BJP – Rai, Ganaur and Jind – with the JJP representing the Julana constituency.
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