In son’s victory, Dr Raj emerges as tallest Dalit leader of Doaba

After son’s victory in Chabbewal Assembly bypoll on Saturday, Hoshiarpur Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal has perhaps become the tallest Dalit leader of Doaba region.

Earlier, this position was held by former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi since his victory as Jalandhar MP. Since Channi’s charisma failed in getting Surinder Kaur elected from the reserved Jalandhar West bypoll in July this year and once again from Chabbewal seat reserved for the SC despite an aggressive campaign, his graph has somehow fallen in the area.

Not just Channi, even Leader of Opposition (LoP) Partap Singh Bajwa and Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh campaigned for Congress candidate Ranjit Kumar, but they failed to get the new entrant from the BSP, a city-based lawyer, elected from the Chabbewal (Rural) seat. They maintained an attack against AAP candidate Dr Ishank Kumar’s father for backstabbing the Congress, but he retaliated even more strongly and managed to get his son win in the by-election.

Despite a low voter turnout of just 53.5 per cent, Dr Raj Kumar managed to get a margin of 28,690 votes for his son, more than his own of 27,000 from this segment in the Lok Sabha election held in June this year.

Dr Raj Kumar gambled by forgoing his MLA seat in the Congress and position as Deputy Leader of Opposition and opting for the AAP ticket from Hoshiarpur Parliamentary constituency in March this year. “It was not an easy decision to switch parties. I did not know its consequences then. But it worked so well in my favour. After I won, the party showed faith in my son. Even my constituents showed faith in both of us and made us see this day,” Dr Raj Kumar said as he joined the victory procession with his son.

Most people from the area, who had come to congratulate Dr Raj Kumar said, “We made his son win not because he is in the AAP, but because he is Dr Sahib’s son. It is father’s goodwill which has paid for the son.”

Dr Raj Kumar too gave a word of advice to his son in front of the media, “Next time when you contest the election, you will not get votes because of your dad, but because of your own work. You will have to perform and voters will then judge you for efforts that you put in for them.”