Punjab elections: Traditional parties on sticky wicket

Aman Sood

The general belief is one who captures the ‘Panthic’ Malwa belt, comprising 69 seats, usually forms the government in Punjab. In 2017, Malwa gave the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a reason to dream of pulling off an unexpected victory, but it had to eventually content with 18 seats, with the remaining two seats in its kitty coming from elsewhere. The party is betting heavily on the southern Punjab belt to make further inroads into the state politics.

The Malwa region comprises 15 districts — Ferozepur, Muktsar, Faridkot, Moga, Ludhiana, Malerkotla, Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, SAS Nagar, Ropar, Barnala and Fazilka. This is the state’s biggest geographical region, also known as the cotton belt of Punjab.

“Despite getting the district status, there is not much work at the ground level in Malerkotla due to poor implementation of government schemes. Apart from the drug menace and rising unemployment, the road infrastructure is in bad shape,” feels Naseem Anwar Khan, a resident. “Traditional parties in power for the past three decades have been unable to solve the water-logging problem. So change is inevitable,” he adds.

In 2017, the SAD-BJP fared poorly in their traditional stronghold, winning just eight seats, while the Congress grabbed 40, enabling it to form the government. The repeal of the farm laws has brought about a sudden change, but it may not prove to be the “game-changer” for the BJP as its leaders are still not welcome in rural areas. Even industrialists are unhappy with Congress, as they feel ignored by the party in a bid to woo farmers.

“Barring the urban belts of Ludhiana, Patiala, Mandi Gobindgarh, Bathinda and urban seats, the BJP and its allies will face a tough task seeking votes from the region, which lost over 150 farmers in the farm agitation,” says a senior police officer. “In industrial towns, Congress will face the same fate as farm unions were allowed a free run, blocking roads and causing losses to the industry,” he said.

People are primarily unhappy with farmer suicides, rising incidents of cancer, inadequate drinking water, increasing sand prices, pest attack on cotton crop, growing unemployment and deteriorating law and order situation.

“We do not have much hope from parties. The emergence of new parties has only added to the confusion, as all are making claims and counter-claims,” says Raman Kalajhar, a student leader. Experts believe the tactics being employed by traditional parties to flare up religious sentiments may not work as issues such as area’s backwardness and government’s failures on various fronts will dominate religious and caste factors. “The Malwa belt is a mix of farmers and Dalits. While religion still holds the key, people are ready to question leaders when they visit villages,” they say.

“Both traditional parties in their past three tenures have failed to address the issue of joblessness. My wife, a PhD with over 11 years of teaching experience, is without a job as the government has failed to ensure enough opportunities for the educated class. The failure of the government to ensure good pay scales in private institutes has also not helped,” says Amanpreet Singh, legal head, Thapar University. “Rising crime graph, incidents of snatchings and drugs are cause for concern. Despite repeated assurances, high prices of sand and electricity continue to burn a hole in our pocket. The service class feels left out,” he says.

In 2017, the Congress had managed to woo this belt riding on the Capt Amarinder Singh wave, but with the former CM now allying with the BJP, the party will have a tough task keeping its vote bank intact. The Congress is focusing on winning on the development plank but its failure on other fronts such as giving pension, generating jobs, compensating farmers’ families and law and order in addition to anti-incumbency will a play crucial role.

People of Bathinda and Mansa are keeping cards close to their chest. These “silent voters”, as political parties call them, are giving jitters to candidates. But what is evident is a sharp polarisation of caste-based votes.

Prof NK Gosian, an educationist, says: “We are going to support the party that will implement the 7th pay commission as granted by the UGC. Ironically, Punjab is the only state that has not implemented it yet. We also want pension for university and college teachers on the lines of other states.” A majority of the voters have expressed unhappiness with traditional parties, saying this time it will be a five-way fight among the Congress, SAD-BSP, BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt), AAP and farmers’ outfit Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM).

A BKU (Ugrahan) stronghold, the region is unlikely to see major impact of the SSM here as Joginder Singh Ugrahan has already announced not to support or oppose the morcha. Also, Congress leader Navjot Sidhu’s criticism of his own government over the quashing of the SIT’s probe reports by the HC into the Kotkapura firing case is being watched closely.

(With inputs from Parvesh Sharma in Sangrur & Sukhmeet Bhasin in Bathinda)