Tarkheri (Fatehgarh Sahib), May 7
This nondescript village on the Sirhind-Bhadson road is one of the 12,500 villages of Punjab which will elect its panchayat before the end of this month.
Usually a spirited affair and barely a fortnight to the elections, no one in the village is, however, ready to talk about it. A group of men busy playing cards under a tree next to the village pond smile away all queries, but down the road a small shopkeeper lets the secret out.
“Since there is no office of sarpanch, the village is divided. Virtually every fourth household is putting up a candidate who is hoping to become sarpanch. Also rampant corruption and horse-trading will prevail in these elections and most panches would quote a price. The traditional bonds that guided choices at the village level have broken down and the field is wide open for political interference.” he said.
With the state already driven by sharp caste and economic divisions, the Akali government has managed to divide it further. The introduction of the indirect system of elections to the post of sarpanch has cost the state its rural unity.
The undercurrent of heightened disparities come to the fore each evening when the village leaders, backed either by the Akalis or the Congress, hold parleys at the houses of those showing an inclination to stand for the post of panch or those who would have to contest due to the reservation status.
“The situation is so fluid that no one knows where to draw the line of division in the village. Candidates are fixed one day and
changed the next evening,” said Balbir Singh of village Noorpur Bet in Ludhiana.
Unlike the last elections when a substantial number of villages had chosen their panchayats unanimously this time the number is going to drop. At Munshiwalla on the Patiala-Sangrur road, which had chosen its panchayat unanimously last time, the mood has changed. “This time there is no chance of a consensus. We were proud to be a politics- free village, but despite the fact the sarpanch has done such good work we will not be able to bring him back,” said Rajinder Singh a panchayat member of the village.
Those who worked hard five years are also feeling let down. “My mother remained the sarpanch of this village and did so much work. But in the end all that we got is the boot. Everything that we did would be criticised by others to gather votes,” cribbed the son of the sarpanch here.
“Earlier there were two main persons standing for the post of the sarpanch and these candidates were chosen more or less independently by the villagers. But this time everyone is in the fray. Democratically it might be a good thing but at the village level where everyone knows everyone else this division could lead to long term differences and vindictiveness,” said Kamal Kishore of Khizrabad in SAS Nagar district.
In Goliana, a large village of Faridkot, Sherjung Singh has no doubt that the sarpanch would have to “buy” the members to become a sarpanch. Rajpal Singh of Kular in Ludhiana said unlike last time, senior leaders of political parties were finalising their candidates to the posts of the panches. “We are worried that since there is no traditional quality control on the candidates this time, the village might go into the hands of the wrong people,” he
said.
(To be concluded)
