Haryana: Wrestler Babita Phogat,Yogeshwar Dutt and Tik Tok star Sonali Phogat lose on BJP seats

The glitter of commonwealth gold medal and glamour of Tik Tok videos could not win the Phogat ladies and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt in the Haryana Assembly elections.

sonali phogat babita phogat

Phogat lost the Dadri seat to independent candidate Somvir Sangwan

Babita Phogat, a Commonwealth gold medalist in wrestling, joined the BJP in August this year. She was contesting from Dadri, a seat in Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha constituency which BJP has never won.

Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, also failed to turn the Bharatiya Janta Party’s fortunes and lost the Baroda seat by a margin of nearly 5000 votes. He lost it to Congress’ sitting MLA Sri Kishen Hooda, who had retained the seat in 2014 despite a stellar performance by the BJP.

Both Dadri and Baroda seats are challenging as BJP has never won these seats. BJP was hoping to make inroads with the star power of the Olympic sports stars.

Babita Phogal and Yogeshwar Dutt had joined the BJP in August and September, respectively, saying that they were impressed by the works of PM Narendra Modi and the BJP ideology.

The Phogat sisters and their father Mahavir shot to limelight after Aamir Khan’s 2016 film “Dangal”. The success of the Phogat sisters has attracted substantial media attention, particularly due to the prevalent social issues in Haryana such as gender inequality, female foeticide.

Sonali Phogat- Tik Tok star loses to Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi 

sonali phogat

Another star power that BJP banked on is of Tik Tok star Sonali Phogat in Adampur constituency.  She was defeated by Senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi.

From the election results in Haryana, it looks like that the anti-national and communal rhetoric of BJP candidates did not go down well with the public. People want jobs, resolution of the growing agrarian crisis and not chest-thumping on article 370.

Many on social media cheered the loss of these candidates for their opportunist behavior and lack of any clear politics.

Phogat sisters are quite popular on social media and have been known for their pro-BJP and nationalistic tendencies for some time. Recently Babita Phogat also defended Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar after he courted controversy with his remarks on Kashmiri girls. She said- “Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has not made any such statement that is offensive to our sisters and daughters. I urge media to not misinterpret his statement,”

Also read: “Dangal” fame wrestler Babita Phogat and father join BJP ahead of Haryana assembly elections

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March 2024
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