SHAMLO KALAN, HARYANA: Kavita Dalal emerges from the sunroofed vehicle, folds her fingers and acknowledges the grins of the halfbemused girls and boys gathered on both facet of a bylane.
The marketing campaign music, “Jaldi se Kavita lao (Let’s elect Kavita now)” blaring from one of many vans fortunately stops as if on cue. The AAP candidate from Julana gingerly sidesteps the cow dung — virtually integral to the village surroundings — and walks into one of many properties the place outdated males and older girls, some in ghoonghat, sit in wait.She folds her fingers and, like a seasoned politician, bows as she seeks their blessings and votes.
Kavita’s new act is a far cry from her World Wrestling Leisure (WWE) avatar. Only a few years in the past, she was showcasing her signature roundhouse kick as Kavita Devi, the primary Indian girl ever to function on the worldwide skilled wrestling platform. Her 2017 face-off with fellow WWE wrestler Dakota Kai earned a heartening 76 million views on YouTube. Educated by The Nice Khali, the five-foot-nine-inch tall farmer’s daughter from Malvi village in Haryana’s Jind district quickly earned her personal moniker: Girl Khali and Laborious KD.
That was till, in a deft profession manoeuvre, she switched to politics and has now metamorphosed into ‘Julana Ki Beti (Julana’s daughter)’.
A New Area
“Kavita is an achiever in sports activities. In each life and profession, she has proven braveness and tenacity. We gave her an AAP ticket as a result of we needed to encourage somebody like her,” explains Sushil Gupta, presi- dent, AAP Haryana. For many voters, nonetheless, Kavita is the “different” wrestler within the ballot dangal.
It couldn’t have been the rest as soon as wrestler Vinesh Phogat, the tragic hero of Paris 2024 and crusader in opposition to sexual harassment, joined Congress and have become a candidate from Julana.
Vinesh, who graduated from Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, Madras as late as 2021 will develop into the primary girl to win this Jat heartland seat if she prevails over incumbent Amarjeet Dhanda, a 41-year-old businessman from Dushyant Chautala’s get together, JJP. Curiously, however not surprisingly, all three are Jat, a numerically substantial and electorally vital caste on this meeting seat which is 92% rural.
BJP’s non-Jat candidate Captain Yogesh Bairagi, who describes himself as an airline pilot and co-convener of BJP sport cell on microblogging website X, brings additional aptitude {and professional} selection to the competition. Surender Lather, the INLD candidate, switched events earlier this month.
Until final month, he was a BJP politician praising the state govt’s work on social media. Lather’s present X header propagates the “padhai, dawai, kamai (schooling, drugs, incomes)” mannequin. Going by the scale of his goodstrain-like-long cavalcade, he isn’t in need of help.
Coming To Grips Kavita, 41, faces an uphill process. Vinesh, 30, is a formidable opponent who’s contesting for a buoyant get together that’s on the upswing. JJP and INLD too command a level of help. Kavita’s get together is but to make a mark within the state. Her 28,000 followers on Instagram aren’t any match for the 1 million followers that Vinesh has on the photograph and video-sharing website. And, the distinction in reputation isn’t simply on social media. Speaking to TOI, Kavita refrains from naming opponents, focussing solely on the rival events.
“I don’t assume I’m competing in opposition to anybody,” she says, including that “Haryana has seen each Congress and BJP rule, and you may see that the circumstances have worsened”. Individuals, she says, need change and he or she is counting on youth to convey it. “The youth just like the insurance policies of (ex-Delhi CM, Arvind) Kejriwal.
He fulfils guarantees. He has proven that in Delhi and Punjab. Now, he desires to do the identical in Haryana,” she says as her caravan takes a roadside tea break. The AAP slogan goes, “Badlenge Haryana ka haal, ab laenge Kejriwal. (We are going to change Haryana’s situation, we are going to elect Kejriwal).
In 2019, AAP contested 46 seats in Haryana, received zero and acquired a meagre 0.5% of the votes polled. Gupta of AAP Haryana says the get together didn’t put its weight behind the 2019 marketing campaign.
“The contestants spent their very own cash, primarily to realize expertise,” he says. “This time, we anticipate to be kingmakers, if not king,” he moderately optimistically asserts. Earlier than taking to the ring, Kavita was a weightlifter who received gold within the 75kg class on the 2016 South Asian Video games in Guwahati. However WWE appeared like a bridge too far. In earlier interviews, she’s spoken at size on how, as a mom, she overcame social restrictions to develop into an expert wrestler primarily based in US.
“I fought in WWE sporting salwar fits. I needed to set an instance, inspire different women, present that there aren’t any boundaries,” she says. “Now, I wish to be a job mannequin in politics,” Kavita insists. The wrestler-turned-politician claims she desires to do issues that haven’t been executed to date. “I’m a grassroots individual. I wish to resolve the frequent man’s issues.
They need good faculties, hospitals, sports activities stadiums, employment; girls want maan-samman (respect), safety. I want to work in these fields,” she says. On Oct 5, Julana will determine if it desires to offer Kavita an opportunity to stroll the speak.
