In dera-dominated Doaba, party-hoppers can tilt the scales in Lok Sabha polls
Rajmeet Singh
In Doaba, it is a political bout between loyalists and turncoats. Turncoats and loyalists rule Doaba by day. By night, the campaign in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Anandpur Sahib rises to a feverish pitch. A buffer between Malwa and Majha, Doaba is the most prosperous region in Punjab because the land is so fertile. Large remittances from the NRI community, largely settled in Canada, the UK and the US, add to its wealth.
Issues that matter
- Despite tall promises, Illegal mining rampant in the Doaba region
- Lack of irrigation facilities in Kandi areas
- Anger over Agneepath scheme among youth
The core Doaba region of Jalandhar is dominated by the Dalit vote, as high as 40 per cent, while in Hoshiarpur and Anandpur Sahib, backward castes and Hindu Khatris are in a majority. The large number of deras across Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala have considerable hold over Dalits.
June 1 will seal the fate of heavyweights like ex-CM Charanjit Singh Channi of the Congress, BJP’s Sushil Rinku, AAP’s Raj Kumar Chabbewal and SAD’s Mohinder Kaypee — the last three being turncoats.
In the wake of the split between the BJP and the Akali Dal over the farmers’ agitation in 2020, the state’s politics underwent a churn. The BJP is now testing the waters by fielding a former whole-timer of the ABVP and vice-president of the state party unit, Dr Subash Sharma. The BSP has put its trust in state president Jasvir Singh Garhi. Both are fighting from Anandpur Sahib.
In a last-minute big push, PM Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, CMs Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann held back-to-back rallies. In Jalandhar, a reserved seat, the Congress has bet on its most popular Dalit face, Channi. It was initially felt the Dalit vote would make him a sure winner, but he has had to toil hard to remain in the reckoning.
A BJP campaign targeting Channi as an ‘outsider’ — plus defiance by Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Chaudhary (leading to his suspension) and the controversy over his touching former SGPC chief Jagir Kaur’s chin — has made his ride unsteady. He countered it by campaigning aggressively, holding up to 22 rallies a day. AAP-turned-BJP MP Sushil Rinku and SAD’s Mohinder Kaypee, who have both worked in the Congress for decades, certainly know how to erode their ex-party’s Dalit base to some extent.
Mann’s massive roadshows in almost all segments of Jalandhar and Kejriwal’s two events last week boosted AAP candidate Pawan Tinu. But it was not easy for AAP workers to accept Rinku’s shift to the BJP, and they maintained the attack mode against him. In Hoshiarpur, another reserved and a Hindu-majority seat (59 per cent), the BJP is aiming for a hat-trick. But as it is no longer in alliance with the SAD, it can no more depend on Jat Sikh-majority seats like Sri Hargobindpur, Bholath and Chabbewal — BJP’s Anita Som Parkash is certainly not in a strong position.
Anita’s rivals include
Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, a radiologist whose heart beats for AAP, and Yamini Gomar (an IELTS centre owner) from the Congress. Against Dr Chabbewal, Gomar’s tag of being a humble, middle-class woman may work to her advantage. Using her oratory skills, she is using catchy line ‘Jeb khali hai par niyat saaf hai’ (my pocket is empty but my intentions are right) are learnt to have won her hearts.
In backward caste-dominated Anandpur Sahib, AAP’s Malvinder Singh Kang, a Chandigarh lad, has made the game tough for Congress’ Vijay Inder Singla. AAP won seven out of nine Assembly seats here in 2022. The remaining were kept by the BSP and the Akali Dal.
The performance of the BSP in Banga, Nawanshahar, Balachaur and Garhshankar Assembly segments will be worth watching. After all, traditional politics mandates that Doaba’s Dalit Sikhs will vote for a Dalit candidate. But political analysts point to a possible churn on the ground — which includes the BJP aiming to split the Dalit Sikh vote and ally it with its traditional Hindu urban vote.
