Kaithal, Haryana: A prestige battle is underway in Haryana’s Kaithal where Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala, who narrowly lost the 2019 assembly election and has openly expressed interest in the chief minister’s post in recent weeks, is testing his legacy as he campaigns for his son.
Surjewala’s son, Aditya, is the youngest candidate in the fray who is making his electoral debut on the family turf held by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the last five years.
While the 25-year-old debutant Congress scion, is banking on the legacy of his father and grandfather Shamsher Singh Surjewala – both of whom have been MLAs from Kaithal – he is facing sitting BJP MLA Leela Ram, a seasoned politician at 63 who has won the seat twice. In 2019, Ram narrowly defeated Surjewala by a margin of 1,246 votes and is now looking to consolidate his run in Kaithal by defeating his son, who he has dubbed as a “child” and an “outsider” to Haryana’s politics.
Aditya, who graduated from the University of British Columbia just last year after his schooling from The International School, Bangalore, said to The Wire that his education abroad and outside the state has helped him gain perspective.
“Most of my school education was in Chandigarh, which is the capital city of Haryana and despite being a Union territory, it helped me stay in touch with Haryanvi culture. I believe that being able to go outside and study gives you a lot of different perspectives and lets you learn from different governments and bureaucracies. If you stay insulated within the same circle for your entire life, you are not able to bring in that innovation and change that is necessary,” he said.
“Ever since I was a child, my grandfather and my father have been serving the people of Haryana. I have been grateful that I have been able to go along and learn from them as well as the karyakartas who have been guiding me. And we can bring development and change together… how it used to be during their time,” he said.
Kaithal, which comes under the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency, has been held by the Surjewala family for three consecutive terms – in 2005 by Shamsher Singh Surjewala, and in 2009 and 2014 by Randeep Singh Surjewala.
While Ram defeated Surjewala in 2019, the 2024 polls in Kaithal have become as much about the Congress MP looking to reclaim his turf while asserting himself as a strong leader in the party. The Congress has seen internal divisions come to the fore between what is being dubbed as the Surjewala camp and the Bhupinder Hooda camp.
Also read: Is Haryana a Mark of Modi’s Failing Popularity?
While Hooda held sway in the distribution of at least 70 of the 90 tickets in the assembly elections, and is being seen as the frontrunner for the post of the chief minister if the party wins the elections, both Surjewala and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja have made their intentions clear about wanting the top job. The party leadership however decided not to give tickets to sitting MPs leaving the former Kaithal MLA out of the race. But Surjewala in making his claim for the chief minister’s post has also said that it is not mandatory to be an MLA in order to have the top job. His intentions have also been clear in his back to back campaign rallies for his son, where he has promised to make Kaithal Haryana’s “shiromani” (crown jewel).
“The election on [October 5] is to make the lives of the people better, to end gundagardi, to open new avenues for the youth, to bring an end to inflation that has only increased under the BJP. The election is to better the lives of small business and shop owners. The election is to make Kaithal, Haryana’s shiromani [the crown jewel],” said Surjewala while addressing a rally on September 30.
Aditya, on the other hand has sought to invoke his family’s legacy and said that he has got his ticket not because he is a third generation political dynast, but for the party leadership’s efforts to encourage youth leadership.
“Your parents are just people who guide you. Your parents are your teachers, they are your gurus. My grandfather and father have been my gurus. Particularly my grandfather has taught me how to help people and work with people and I have tried to incorporate that even when I was working a corporate job. The satisfaction that I have received from standing with the people and raising their voice, I have not received elsewhere,” he said.
“I did not join this (politics) because I was pressured by my family or the party. I was given this opportunity by Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, to bring about change because they saw that a new generation of leaders is required in the party. It is not just about nepotism. I know that I will be able to show through my own will and strength that I am able to bring change in Kaithal.”
While Aditya is attempting to portray himself as a new generation Congress leader along with invoking his family legacy, for voters, any success that may come his way this election will be in his father’s name.
“Our vote will go for Surjewala because of the work he has done here in Kaithal in so many years. There is a need for badlav (change) in Haryana. Price rise has affected us badly, we are barely making Rs 400-500 a day. Prices of vegetables, oil, essentials have only been increasing,” said Satpal Singh who runs a snack stall in Kaithal.
“Aditya will get votes because his father and grandfather have worked here for so many years. He may be new but they have already worked in the area,” said Jasbir Singh, a farmer in Khanauda village.
At his campaign rallies, Surjewala has also made his presence clear even though it is his son that is in the race.
“I have come to tell you that Aditya is a young generation leader and wants to prove himself here,” he said at a campaign rally.
“I have told him that he can learn three things from me – kaam, seva aur samarpan (work, service and dedication). If you work with service and dedication then doors will keep opening for you. And if any door doesn’t open then I am there to open the lock. I am an old worker. I am a lifelong worker of this area, once you have got a worker they cannot leave you. So I am here as your worker, your ghulam, I have to be here. And as long as I am alive till my last blood I will serve you.”
It is this invocation of the family legacy that has become the first line of attack for the BJP in Kaithal, and Haryana at large.
“Is Kaithal owned by their father and grandfather?” said Suresh Sandhu, zilla general secretary of the BJP office in Kaithal.
“There is no wind in his favour, BJP is winning. Because under the BJP we have provided jobs without ‘kharchi-parchi’ (bribes), three national highways have been built here. We have done work with honesty under Khattar [former Haryana chief minister and now Union minister].”
Like Surjewala, Ram has also won the Kaithal seat twice – once in 2000 from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and in 2019 from the BJP. At his campaign rallies, Ram too has sought to attack Aditya on lines of his family legacy.
“He (Aditya) said earlier that he has learnt from his grandfather but now he has learnt from his mistakes. He is a child and good sense has prevailed that his own family has laid a path of thorns before him which are piercing him. The people of Kaithal have already decided that the BJP will form the government in Haryana for the third time,” he said.
That Aditya is a political dynast who has been brought in his father’s place has also featured prominently in Ram’s campaign.
“If Randeep Surjewala fought the election, then my contest would be against him. But now they have brought in his son Aditya, I have heard he has come from America. He is a child, he does not know anything about Haryana or even five villages in Haryana. It is not a fight against him,” Ram said to Kaithal Khabar on the campaign trail.
Outside Kaithal, the BJP’s top leadership has also centred its attack in Haryana around the infighting in the Haryana Congress, the many claimants for the chief minister’s post and the political dynasts including father-son duos formally and informally in the race.
At a campaign rally in Hisar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the factionalism in the Congress and said “bapu-beta” are contenders in the race in a veiled reference to Hooda and his son Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda.
“How can a party that cannot bring unity among its leaders bring stability in a state? You can see how they are jostling to become CM. Bapu is also a contender and beta is also a contender. Together, they are trying to fix the rest. Seeing this, voters have decided to fix the Congress,” he said.
As the face of his father’s legacy test in Kaithal, Aditya said that it is natural that strong leaders like his father and Selja would have expectations of leading the state but shied away from outrightly stating whether he wants to see Surjewala as the chief minister.
“The Congress has never been a divided house, this narrative has been set by the BJP. The Congress always tries to give opportunities to all its leaders to grow. Because of that we have many tall leaders in Haryana like Kumari Selja, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and my father. And as someone grows their expectation grows to lead the party in the state. Whatever decision the high command takes we will follow it,” he said.
