New Delhi: Two key words or factors in this Haryana election that let Congress down were Jats and Jalebis. The Congress bet heavily on both, but the trends show this has not paid off.
The famous jalebis in Haryana’s Gohana featured in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech during the Assembly polls run-up. The BJP mocked his remarks calling for mass manufacturing and exporting the juicy sweet dish. On Tuesday, after early trends showed a Congress lead, party leaders distributed jalebis at the Congress office in Delhi as party workers celebrated prematurely.
However, in the later rounds of counting, it was the BJP’s turn to celebrate with jalebis as it clawed back and surged far ahead of the main Opposition. In what appears to be a clear message to the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, jalebis have been ordered for the grand celebration at the BJP headquarters, NDTV reported quoting sources.
Addressing a rally in Gohana, Gandhi held up a box of jalebis from Mathu Ram Halwai and said these should be sold across the country and exported too to generate more employment opportunities.
“If his (Mathu Ram) jalebi is sold in other states and is also exported, then 20,000-“50,000 more people can work in his factory one day,” he said, adding that traders like Mathu Ram had been hurt by the Centre’s demonetisation and GST moves.
Incidentally, the Gohana jalebi had also featured in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech ahead of the Lok Sabha polls months ago.
Attacking the INDIA bloc, the Prime Minister said the Opposition bloc had a formula to have five Prime Ministers in five years if they came to power. “Ask them is the prime minister’s post our Matu Ram ki jalebi?” he asked.
The famed Gohana jalebi, according to a PTI report, came into being in 1958 when the late Matu Ram started selling it. The business is run by his grandsons Raman Gupta and Neeraj Gupta now.
“The jalebi is made of pure desi ghee, is crispy yet soft and each one weighs around 250 gram. A box of four pieces weighing a kg costs ₹ 320. The shelf life of the sweet is more than a week,” Raman Gupta told PTI.
Narrating the journey of the Gohana jalebi, Gupta said, “Gohana has a big grain market. The farmers used to toil very hard in the fields, and even in adverse weather conditions. The big jalebi made of pure desi ghee not only gave them the needed calories, but it also had a shelf life of many days and they could relish it at any time.
“Initially, it was a small shop and over the years when it became famous, even top politicians crossing through Gohana used to spare time to relish the sweet,” he said.