Jadgeep Dhankhar’s V-P candidature inspires youth to aspire big in his hometown

Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s vice-presidential candidature has inspired youth in his hometown in Kithana village in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district to aspire big.

Jubilation, perhaps, is an insufficient word to sum up the mood at Kithana village in Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu after the news of West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar's candidature for the post of vice-president broke like wildfire.

When India Today reached Kithana, the ancestral village of Jagdeep Dhankad, where the 71-year-old lawyer-politician was born, broad smiles and a celebratory mood were evident all around.

Also read: Who is Jagdeep Dhankhar, the NDA's vice-presidential choice

At the local government school in Kithana, whose nomenclature was recently changed to Mahatma Gandhi Higher Secondary Government School, the current principal told India Today that she was not even born when Dhankhar used to study there.

"Jagdeep Dhankhar studied over here from Class 1 to Class 5. Thereafter, he left. In 2019, he visited the school and even left a note in the school's visitor book. He has been inspirational for the students who feel that even they can make it big, like him," Suman, Principal of Mahatma Gandhi Higher Secondary Government School, told India Today.

At the Dhankad residence, there was a heavy congregation of family members, well-wishers, villagers, and some onlookers. All were eager to soak in the celebration and partake in the ongoing feast of laddoos, namkeens and rounds of cold drinks. Jagdeep's nephew, Vijaypal, told India Today that whenever he visited Kithana, he stayed at the ancestral house.

"Ever since the announcement of his candidature, we have not managed to speak with him as he must have become extremely busy with taking congratulatory messages," Vijaypal, Jagdeep Dhankhar's nephew told India Today.