In Dera Baba Nanak, nominees eye 50K Christian votes

The fact that Congress leader and MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa uttered the word — Hellelujah — a couple of times in his otherwise brief speech, thereby making the crowd ecstatic, was a clear indication that the 50,000 strong Christian vote will indeed play a decisive role when the votes are cast. Hallelujah is an interjection from the Hebrew language and is used as an expression of gratitude to God.The seasoned campaigner that he is, he knew the time had come for him to speak the language of the community if he had to carry them along.

With barely a day to go before campaigning ends, the three main parties — the Congress, AAP and the BJP — are overstraining their resources to ensure the Christian vote share falls in their respective kitties.

Discussions on how English-speaking pastors promise a cure for every disease known to mankind in weekly Sunday congregations has come to an abrupt end. Also, there is no talk of how these ‘miracle-performing’ pastors guarantee visas to foreign countries, free education in convent schools, jobs and protection from evil spirits.

In fact, discussion on all contentious and controversial issues relating to the community have gone silent as parties are busy courting this vote bank.

The Dera Baba Nanak Assembly seat has the maximum number of Christian voters among all nine seats of the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat.

AAP leaders are busy knocking the doors of community leaders. They are covertly offering them sops of different kinds “if their candidate Gurdeep Singh Randhawa gets elected”.

Likewise, BJP candidate Ravi Karan Kahlon is reigniting his old contacts within the community.

When Ravi was with the SAD, he had firm connections with some top leaders. He is trying to bring these voters into the BJP fold.

The Congress held a rally at Kalanaur yesterday. The gathering was attended by two sitting and two former MLAs. MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and his wife and Congress candidate, Jatinder Kaur, were the main speakers. Senior leaders said this time they would vote for the Congress because “the AAP government has dissolved the Punjab Christian Welfare Board and also because ruling party leaders seldom attended their religious function”.

“We have a 50,000 strong vote bank. We will vote for the candidate who offers us hope and optimism,” said Roshen Joseph, former president of the Gurdaspur Congress Committee.

Incidentally, Joseph was appointed as party chief in 2019 after MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, who was a Cabinet Minister, put his foot down. “He managed the presidentship for Joseph after fighting several odds. Now, it is payback time for him,” averred a Congress leader.

Some top leaders said they wanted to boycott the poll because no politician stood by them when Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh used to make anti-Christian statements.