Punjab Assembly Bypolls: BJP tries to consolidate non-Jat, urban voters, AAP woos farmers

Political parties appear to be trying to woo voters for the upcoming bypolls to the four Assembly constituencies in different ways. While the Aam Aadmi Party is playing to the farmers’ gallery, the BJP is going in with reverse mobilisation of AAP’s votes, by taking an anti-farmer stand. The bypolls are being held in Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, Barnala and Gidderbaha on November 20.

Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu, in the absence of state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, has stirred the hornet’s nest by taking on farm union leaders, saying the assets acquired by them personally need to be investigated. He also appears to have “robbed” Punjab farmers of their contribution to make India self-reliant in foodgrains, by saying that it was only because Punjab farmers were addicted to traditional drugs that they could bring about a Green Revolution.

At the outset, this may appear to be a reckless anti-farmer statement, made in the thick of the poll campaign, but it is actually a carefully crafted statement. It is meant to woo and consolidate the non-Jat and urban votes, in keeping with the BJP campaign to consolidate Hindu and Dalit votes. No wonder, his statements have done the trick. Farm union leaders have been quick to retort, with the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) calling out the BJP leader for politicising the issue.

“Stop insulting the farmers struggle by making such absurd allegations. Remember the time when you were in the Congress (2020-21) and you had called it a holy struggle,” said Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary of the union. Lachman Singh Sewewal, general secretary of Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, called Bittu an opportunist.

This has set the stage for consolidation of the rural votes in the four constituencies, where three — Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal and Gidderbaha have more of rural voters. But the rural votes will be divided between AAP and the Congress, and the BJP seems to be gambling on the consolidation of urban votes.

The state’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party, on the other hand, known for being soft on farmers, has made illicit drug trade and rampant drug addiction its main political plank, as is evident from the three-day, high-decibel tour of Kejriwal. He touched upon the issue in all his election related public events, most likely because this is the issue that rural voters raised against AAP in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, when the party won just three of the 13 seats. In this election, he seems to be carefully catering to these voters, who had then distanced themselves from AAP.

Since the rural voters were vocal about the issue and blamed the police for failing to curb the drug menace, Kejriwal, while taking the centre stage in the party election campaign, has promised to act, going to the extent of saying that he would ensure that guilty policemen face the music, if they failed to act against those involved in drug trade.

At a time, when the Punjab farmers are being blamed for the poor air quality across north India, by burning the paddy stubble in their fields, Kejriwal actually lauded them for a fall in incidents and ensuring that the pollution did not rise to previous years’ levels.

Interestingly, the AAP campaign in all four constituencies has centred around Kejriwal this time, a reminder of the party drive for the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections and later the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll.