'People of Punjab want employment, end to drugs, not freebies'

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, February 13

The winds of change are blowing across Malwa, as Punjab gets ready to elect its 16th Vidhan Sabha since Independence. In this crucial region having 69 of the 117 segments, the election is focussed on who voters want to represent them as the next Chief Minister.

The division is stark not just in terms of divide along party lines, but also along who the voters want to see handling the reins of the state. No wonder, the electioneering is hovering around who would be the best choice for ushering “nawan Punjab” — Charanjit Singh Channi, Bhagwant Mann or Sukhbir Singh Badal. Surprisingly, barely three months after the farmers’ success on the issue of contentious farm laws, the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha’s absence from the public discourse is rather striking.

“They (farmers) did in Delhi what they are good at… but politics is a different game altogether. People want to go to parties that have experience,” explains Vipan Kumar of Samrala. Also, voters in most Hindu-dominated seats of Ludhiana, do talk of benefits of “double-engine government”, but are silent on whom they would vote for. In Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Sangrur, Bathinda, Faridkot, Moga and Ludhiana, increasingly people from the lower socio-economic strata, young and old alike, talk of opting for a change, while the upper socio-economic strata clearly supports the traditional parties.

“We have seen others. They have failed to do anything for us. We now want a change,” says Swaran Kaur of Kaulseri village in Sangrur. Baljit Kaur from Rangian village in Dhuri adds, “When I went to Delhi to join the morcha, I saw the changes there. Throughout the struggle, one of our family members stayed at the border. All were impressed by various initiatives taken by the Delhi Government for people there.”

In Baghapurana, Tejinder Kumar, who works in Hyderabad but is visiting home, rues how he lost many friends to drug abuse. “Strangely, the manifestos of parties are based on freebies. They should give a blueprint for creating employment here. We want the government to rein in the police and civil administration that turns a blind eye to those selling drugs openly,” he says.

Sandeep Singh of Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, Bathinda, too, expresses his displeasure at parties not focussing on healthcare. “During the second Covid wave, people here realised how the public healthcare system collapsed,” he says. The story becomes slightly different as one crosses the Sangrur-Barnala belt, towards the south Malwa. The upper socio-economic group here, while seeking accountability from its leaders, is still rallying behind the traditional parties.

Gurdev Singh, a resident of Burj Jawaharsinghwala, says that people would rather go for a tried and tested party, than a new one. “Most families here are traditionally aligned to one of the two parties for generations. These ties are not easy to snap,” he says, even as he wants accountability for unfulfilled promises, especially those related to sacrilege incidents. Simrat Kaur Khangura, wife of Dhuri Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy, refuses to believe that this election is a referendum on the government. “Rather, people are voting for candidates who stood by them.”

Rein in officials

Parties should give a blueprint for creating employment. We want the government to rein in officials that turns a blind eye to those selling drugs openly. – Tejinder Kumar, Baghapurana resident