Devendra Jhajharia, a name synonymous with Indian Paralympic sports, is set to make his political debut in the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced that Jhajharia will be contesting from the Churu constituency in Rajasthan.
Devendra Jhajharia’s journey from Olympics to Politics
Born in Churu, Devendra Jhajharia is a well-known figure in the sports world. He is the only Indian in history to have won two individual gold medals at the Olympics or Paralympics. Despite losing part of his left hand after coming in contact with an electric wire at the age of eight, Jhajharia’s determination led him to become a double Paralympic gold medallist javelin thrower.
Devendra Jhajharia’s political journey begins from his birthplace, Churu, known as the gateway to the Thar Desert. He is confident that his political debut will be as successful as his two-decade career in sports. In an interview with PTI, he said, “I made my debut in the 2004 Paralympics in Athens by winning a gold with a world record and am confident of registering a historic victory with my debut in politics as well.”
He further added, “The path to politics is not easy but compared to the struggle of my life so far, this challenge seems small”. Quoting Franklin D. Roosevelt, he said, “American president Franklin D. Roosevelt was once asked how difficult the journey of becoming president was. He said he struggled so much with polio in his childhood that the journey to the White House did not even seem like a struggle. I too have struggled so much since childhood that this does not seem like a very big deal”.
Devendra Jhajharia is confident that the work done by the Modi government speaks for itself. He believes that the Modi name will ensure his win from the Churu Lok Sabha seat.
“In 2009, BJP won in Churu by around 12,000 votes. In the Modi wave of 2014, the victory margin was around 3 lakh and in 2019 the victory margin was 3.34 lakh because of the prime minister’s charisma,” said Jhajharia the first para-athlete to be awarded the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third highest civilian award.
चूरू के हर बूथ पर खिलेगा कमल का फूल..
आज सादुलपुर विधानसभा की ग्राम पंचायत गोठ्यां बड़ी में जनसंपर्क करके भारतीय जनता पार्टी को प्रचंड बहुमत से विजयी बनाने हेतु जनता को संकल्पित किया। कार्यकर्ताओं के परिश्रम, जनता-जनार्दन के विश्वास व आशीर्वाद से भाजपा का जनसेवा हेतु महायज्ञ… pic.twitter.com/wHQvS59r2c— Devendra Jhajharia (Modi ka Parivar) (@DevJhajharia) April 15, 2024
According to Devendra Jhajharia, a successful sportsperson and president of the Paralympic Committee of India, he was inspired to make a foray into electoral politics because he wanted to contribute to Modi’s dream of making India a developed nation.
“In the last 10 years, Modi ji has made every Indian feel proud. I felt that if I could make even a small contribution to the prime minister’s campaign to make India a developed nation, it would be a big thing for me.”
“If we talk about spo India’s graph has risen so high in the last 10 years. Schemes like Khelo India, and TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) helped the players a lot and the number of medals increased. That’s why I thought that now I have to do public service because I have given 22 years to sports, which is a very long time.”
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