Wrestler turned Congress politician, Vinesh Phogat has narrowly escaped defeat from the Jaulana constituency. According to the official result announced by the Election Commission of India, Congress candidate Vinesh Phogat received 65080 votes which secured her victory over BJP candidate Yogesh Kumar by a margin of 6015 votes.
After making a foray into electoral politics, Phogat fought a negative campaign against the senior National Leadership of the BJP including Prime Minister Narendra Modi projecting herself as their worthy competitor/self-anointed foe. However, when it came to the real electoral polity, she was trailing for several rounds against BJP candidate Yogesh, budding leader from the region who came a run for money to the rebel wrestler and Congress paratrooper.
It is pertinent to note that Vinesh Phogat had opened a front against the Bharatiya Janata Party ever since the rebel wrestlers staged a protest against then Wrestling body Chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. She along with others had been alleging a conspiracy against her and other wrestlers to end their careers for speaking against the alleged cases of sexual harassment against WFI Chief Singh.
Ahead of the Haryana assembly elections, the Congress began rallying around her disqualification. It manufactured a political storm out of the wrestler’s disqualification which was a tragic consequence of her own accord.
Alleging a conspiracy against Vinesh, Congress and its supportive ecosystem made unsubstantiated, blatantly false, and politically motivated charges against the Modi government. Peddling the conspiracy theory, they alleged that a conspiracy was hatched against Vinesh. Subsequently, as part of their scheme, the ecosystem later awarded her a ‘Khap’ Panchayat medal. She was also ropped in politics and fielded from the Julana Constituency.
During the campaigning, Vinesh also furthered the “conspiracy theory” angle to peddle the victimhood narrative and rallying electorates, particularly, the Jaat community which plays a dominating factor in the electoral success in this region. Ironically, the same plank was being repeated elsewhere throughout the state in the name of rhetorical campaigning on flagship schemes of the Modi government including the Agniveer Scheme. However, the negative campaigning has failed big time, as the statewide elections underscore the same.