After completing the Sadbhav Yatra, during which he travelled over 2,700 kilometres across all 90 assembly constituencies in Haryana, Brijendra Singh has emerged as a Congress central leadership-backed leader for the coming years. However, just after Rahul Gandhi attended the concluding ceremony, a few party leaders began voicing opposition to him.
Recently, two Congress leaders holding constitutional positions—Hisar MP Jai Prakash and Sirsa MLA Gokul Setia—targeted Brijendra over the death of 730 farmers in the state. "People whose signatures led to the demise of 730 farmers are today beating the drum of Congress ideology while claiming to spread sadbhavana," Setia wrote in a Facebook post.
Sources close to Brijendra say he is prepared to face such attacks, which they claim were expected, given that former chief minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda has long maintained a firm hold over the Congress in Haryana. A few months back, in a conversation with THE WEEK, Hooda had said that young and capable leaders would find their own space and rise up the ladder, just as he did.
Why did it happen?
After Rahul Gandhi participated in the yatra, Brijendra is seen to have received full-fledged support from the high command, which believes it has put all its eggs in one basket by unquestioningly giving all power to Hooda in Haryana. This has now created an atmosphere in which the high command backs Brijendra. A senior Congress leader from Haryana said, “Haryana is big, there is no tussle between the two, everybody will have his own space, and both the leaders will survive.”
While leaders close to Brijendra Singh say many initially dismissed the significance of the Sadbhav Yatra, Bhupendra Singh Hooda took it seriously from the start, recognising its potential to grow and eventually challenge his long-standing dominance in the state. They say the resistance from Congress leaders is a byproduct of that.
In Indian politics, political yatras have often produced electoral dividends. The recent example is Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, after which the Opposition was able to reduce the ruling BJP to 240 seats, 32 short of a majority. Therefore, political observers claim that Brijendra’s standing after the yatra has become stronger than that of other Haryana Congress leaders like Randeep Singh Surjewala, Selja Kumari and former state unit president Ashok Tanwar, who were brought into the picture to balance the Haryana Congress rather than allowing Bhupendra Singh Hooda to dominate entirely.
While Selja Kumari did not attend the concluding ceremony, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Ashok Tanwar did. Some leaders say that all these leaders are against Hooda’s dominance in the state and therefore may stand by Brijendra Singh.
A sarpanch in Haryana said, “The yatra has stirred Hooda’s boat, and if it continues to move ahead, and Brijendra maintains the momentum, there may be a leadership change before the next election.”
However, in the past 20 years, Hooda’s power politics has remained unmatched. But age may no longer be on his side. Hooda, now 78, may be over 82 by the time the next election arrives, and Brijendra, who is 53 now, may then get a bigger space to expand his political influence.