The Pickle Post

by Aashti Bhartia on 13 Sep 2009

The Haryana state elections start in a couple of days. I go to meet  Deepender Hooda, MP from Rohtak and the Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’ son, for an interview a few days before the election. The CM’s house in Delhi is full of white kurta clad Congress men sunk in padded chairs, waiting as they watch the rain, waiting for appointments, nominations, a word from the CM.

Before I went, I looked up Deepender Hooda on YouTube and found, amongst other things, his campaign advertorial. It had a couple of guys playing the dhol and large-heartedly singing about Deepdender Hooda, “Bada Milansar, Bada Honhaar.” It’s an upbeat Harayanvi song and in some funny way, the song does say something about the values Deepender Hooda cultivates. He does everything he can to steer clear from a spoilt brat, goonda, Haryana CM’s son image. I gathered he preferred to define himself by hard-work, soft-spokenness, and a conscientious humility.

Some quick, brief notes from my interview (longer piece coming later):

Beginnings

The younger Hooda is an MP from Rohtak, having been elected the second time around. The first time he fought election he was 26 years old; he won by around 2 Lakh votes, he says, largely due to his family name. This time he won by 4.5 Lakh votes. Last time, I asked for them to give me a chance. This time, he says, with some pride, I asked them to vote for me based on what I’d done.

Before he came into politics, Deepender Hooda studied business in the US and was working with American Airlines in Dallas. He’d finished business school by then and he was moving up in American Airlines. He’d been offered a job at Mckinsey. He had a great career, he says, and social and personal freedom. He mulled for 6 months before he decided to move back to India and dive into politics. He wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself for not taking the opportunity, he says.

Though Hooda admits that his family name, his father’s position, helped him a great deal, you can tell, Deepender Hooda is uncomfortable resting on his family. He has a nervous, excited, apologetic energy, the energy of someone who feels they have a lot to prove.

Issues

In Rohtak, he’s been passionate about education. In one long breath, he told me, he’s gotten: An IIT, an AIMS, an ITI, a NIFT, a footwear and accessories college (I forget the abbreviation) sanctioned in Rohtak. He wants Rohtak to be an educational hub. You can already see the effects, he says, visibly excited. Rohtak is now drawing in investment, and enterprise.

I ask him how the local population will be included in this educational plan. He admits – he’s not beyond admitting this – that primary education is something he hasn’t been focusing on. But, he explains, that such a large education nexus brings investment, industry, and enterprise to the area, the effects of which will influence everyone.

Planning is something he emphasizes in Rohtak. He’s involving the NDMC and other state bodies to ensure that the development in Rohtak is planned. The emphasis on planning is one of Hooda’s lessons from Gurgaon.

There is, however, a shift from Deepender Hooda’s first term to his second term plans. The goals he’d charted out for his first term were – higher education (something he’s meticulously implemented), development, planning, transparent government. His second term goals – he’s a goal oriented person – are to do with irrigation, water management, animal husbandry and a milk processing unit. One senses a shift, from larger development to the smaller problems, the problems of people in his constituency.

I asked him what his biggest challenge is. He says it’s not getting emotional. He is governed by his emotions, he says, which sometimes hampers his management. He’ll get emotional about there an electricity failure in a village, for instance, and stubbornly cancel all his engagements and refuse to go home till it’s fixed.

Hooda is getting married to Shweta Mirdha, Jyoti Mirdha’s sister. He glows as he talks about this.

As I leave Hooda, I ask if he also choosing appointments and nominees before the state elections. “No,” he says bashfully, “That’s all my dad.”

Mhara Madadgar - The Hooda Campaign Song

Do you have a question for Deepender Hooda? We’ll be doing a follow-up interview post elections.

Please email your questions to me through: picklepostadmin@gmail.com