Hisar, Sep 24 (IANS) Detailing the importance of women’s professional participation in decision-making bodies as a crucial component of good governance and banking high on her leadership in political and public life, Independent candidate for Haryana Assembly polls, Savitri Jindal, India’s wealthiest woman and controls OP Jindal Group, is making waving waves.

She’s in the fray from Hisar, the urban general seat with a 73 per cent literacy rate, which she represented for two consecutive terms from 2005. She twice became a minister for nine years in the Bhupinder Hooda-led Congress government.

In these elections, she is seeking one last chance to serve the people and complete the developmental works of Hisar as the people’s representative.

Building up her campaign on faith, change and development of Hisar, soft-spoken Savitri Jindal, 75, who’s known as the “mother” of social work, wrote on X on Tuesday, “The hard work and honesty of women is inspiring for all of us. The dedication and affection with which they take care of their home and family is unparalleled.”

In a video message, she said that women in executive government positions can handle affairs more professionally like they perform household jobs.

For Savitri Jindal, politics is a means of service. She says when ‘we meet people, only then we can understand their joys and sorrows and only then we get an opportunity to serve them better.’

Richest woman with $33 billion net worth, Savitri Jindal’s youngest son Naveen Jindal is the BJP’s parliamentarian from the state’s Yamunanagar.

She’s the chairperson of the Jindal Group, founded by her late husband, Om Prakash Jindal, in 1979. After casting the vote for the parliamentary poll on May 25 in the Lok Sabha elections, she told the media that the country has developed at a fast pace under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

In the underway Assembly polls, she was confident about her nomination from Hisar as the BJP candidate, but the party retains its two-time legislator Kamal Gupta, who defeated Savitri Jindal in 2014 by nearly 13,000 votes.

Gupta, the outgoing state Health Minister, is eyeing a hat-trick of victories. The Congress has fielded Ram Niwas Rara, belonging to the Other Backward Class (OBC).

Besides Savitri Jindal, two other Independents from this seat, former Mayor Gautam Sardana and district vice-president Tarun Jain, both BJP rebels, are in the fray, posing a formidable challenge to the BJP candidate, who is facing anti-incumbency owing to poor infrastructure, a serious obstacle in the development of communities and in economic progress, believe constituents.

Savitri Jindal, who preferred not to contest the 2019 Assembly polls, and her son switched from the Congress to the BJP in March, ending their nearly two-decade association with the Congress.

After being denied the BJP ticket, Savitri Jindal decided to contest as an Independent from Hisar, where her family has had an emotional bond for decades. After deciding to file her nomination on the last day, she claimed that she had not joined the BJP “officially”.

In politics, Savitri Jindal joined following the death of her husband and won the 2005 Hisar Assembly bypolls.

Her husband and Jindal Group founder, Om Prakash Jindal, had won three Assembly elections (1991, 2000 and 2005) from Hisar. He was also a minister in the Hooda government when he died in a helicopter crash in 2005.

“Hisar is my family. I am in the fray for the last time to honour the feelings of my constituents. After all, I have to obey their wishes,” Savitri Jindal was quoted as saying.

The local issues include the absence of local bus service in Hisar city despite scores of bus stops being set up, damaged roads, poor drainage, stray cattle and dog menace. More important, the work on the local airport is incomplete.

“Heartfelt gratitude for this invaluable welcome and immense support given by my Hisar family of Jain Gali, Vakilan Bazaar,” she wrote in another post on X on Tuesday.

“The support of all of you has made it clear that Hisar is now moving towards change and development. Contribute to the creation of a prosperous and developed Hisar by casting your precious vote on the torch symbol on October 5.”

Haryana will go to the polls for the 90-member Assembly on October 5 with the ballot count on October 8.