Assembly elections in Punjab are due this month. Political parties contesting in the elections are luring the Punjabis with freebies. Over the years, some politicians have repeatedly said the freebies that they have delivered or would be delivering if chosen to power. AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal is seen bringing one lac bills of Delhiites of amount zero, and asking the Punjab CM Channi to show even one thousand bills for the people of Punjab with the same amount.
Similarly, SAD and other political parties are promising the same, even trying to give more free products than what AAP or other political parties are promising. What the political parties have missed is giving products freely isn’t what the Punjabis are seeking. Freebies are bad to some extent. What should be given is the jobs that can help the people earn a good amount of money for a living. Nothing is free in this world. If you are getting a free product, someone else is paying for that. The burden will be on other people. OK, let’s not be too harsh; some people have to have the burden to help the government in the form of taxes. The upliftment of the poor is the imperative part of the government. Certain people can have the special rights when it comes to the monetarily benefits. But election promises shouldn’t be filled with only these points.
AAP, its supremo, and ideology
I remember I was travelling by bus in India when the agitation against corruption started back in 2011. A man in the bus, who would be between 40-50, said Anna Hazare is like Mahatma Gandhi. I wasn’t paying much attention to politics then. I ignored but looked out of the window where small groups were standing on the crossings with the placards to attract people. Nobody saw it coming; it was the beginning of the political career of Arvind Kejriwal, AAP’s supremo.
Political parties in India have accused the BJP of a one-man’s party: Narendra Modi. Wherever you see you see the picture of Modi, in all the political rallies and speeches. Even if Modi isn’t going to deliver any speech, his big picture will be behind the stage. BJP is Modi; and Modi is BJP. In the parliamentary elections of 2019, the votes weren’t for BJP but Modi. So, whoever joined the party, won the seat, because the votes weren’t going for the individual candidates. Hans Raj winning the North-West Delhi seat with 60% vote-share and nearly 850k votes in 2019 is a good example.
Because of the hatred for the Modi and his associates, one might have missed to see the similar situation of AAP. How many times have you seen another face on the posters of the AAP rallies than Arvind Kejriwal? Isn’t the AAP doing the same what some of its members are accusing the BJP of? Even during the Punjab elections, the AAP supporters are displaying the pictures of Kejriwal. Hasn’t the AAP supremo made the AAP one-man’s party? What are the other names that people across the Indian states know apart from Kejriwal’s? Like the Gujarat Model, hasn’t the Delhi Model been shown to lure the voters? I am not getting into if Delhi Model is good or Gujarat Model, or which has more faults. I am trying to show both are same when it comes to sell something.
Recently, AAP has been accused of delaying the release of Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar, who has been in prison for more than twenty-three years. It is very clear from this that AAP doesn’t want to lose the Hindu vote-bank in Punjab by releasing Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar; Navneet Kaur, Bhullar’s wife, said the same. On the social media, the AAP followers in Punjab are accusing the SAD and Congress for not releasing the prisoner during their governments in Punjab. It should be noted that in September 2019, the Centre government, BJP, gave a list of eight prisoners, including Bhullar’s name, for the release to mark the 550th parkash purab of Guru Nanak Dev ji.
SAD, which didn’t talk about the extrajudicial killings in Punjab during the 1980s and 1990s when came to power, and Congress, which had played a pivotal role for the destruction of Akal Takhat and desecration of the Darbar Sahib and two dozen other Gurudwaras on the name of national security and ‘terrorism’, would never have released Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar for the same reasons. But AAP could have come up as a champion of the Sikhs if they had agreed to release Professor Bhullar; but 40% Hindu-vote bank is hard to lose, even if some 20-30% of them are going to vote for AAP.
AAP’s supremo, Kejriwal, also said there are no drug and sacrilege issues in the minds of people of Punjab but on social media; he forgot that it wouldn’t have led to the sacrilege attempt in Harmandir Sahib if other attempts hadn’t been made in the local Gurudwaras. So, suggesting there are no sacrilege issues in the minds of Punjabis is a bold lie, which requires so much courage to say so. Kejriwal emphasises that the Punjabis talk about only the schools, hospitals, and electricity during their meet with them. Back in Jan 2019, I wrote about AAP and will quote:
People of Punjab are fed up of the Akali Dal and the Congress, so the big change that the people will be seeing might be from AAP in some near years. They should be very thoughtful before pressing the button to vote. These days the youth of India chooses a side and then never tries to leave it. You can see it from all the political parties that their supporters will try to defend the party to such an extent that they will surely exonerate the politicians for their new decisions and plans.
Everyone should read our article on politics, it has many points that are similar to what’s happening in Punjab for the upcoming Assembly Elections.
Kejriwal, during his speech in Uttarakhand in Feb 2022, said his party would make Uttarakhand the spiritual capital of Hindus if came to power. But in Punjab, the sacrilege issues are ignored by the AAP supremo. It is very perceptible that why the political parties highlight the Hindu issues or Hinduize their promises: vote-bank. The Sikhs outside of Punjab are meagre in population compared to other religions, so raising their issues seem less important for all the political parties. And in Punjab, if they bring the Sikh causes/issues, they fear of losing the Hindu vote-bank. When the Hindutva and Hindu causes are on the rise during the election days, the so-called secular parties don’t want to be left behind to talk about them.
Irrespective of who you’re going to vote on 20th Feb, make sure the political party you choose doesn’t take away your religion, or your neighbour’s religion. Most of the Punjabis are religious. We need educational institutes, healthcare, and good infrastructure, but not by losing our religious practices and identity. Remember, Punjab isn’t a place of communists, nor should it have a communist government – Punjab jeaonda Gurua de naam te; and Kejriwal believes in Hindutva, not the hardcore, but the softcore (you will never know when it will turn into hardcore), which many believe Mahatma Gandhi advocated; AAP’s words/silence on the Article 370, 2020 Delhi riots, delaying in Professor Bhullar’s release, Hinduizing promises in other states, Raghav Chadha’s[1] and Kejriwal’s tweets[2] to polarize the Punjabi community, declaring sacrilege issues are only on the social media, visiting temples during elections to lure the Hindu voters, etc., are enough to fathom the ideology of Kejriwal and his close associates. It became a facepalm moment when Kejriwal chose (harrumphing … I mean 2mn Punjabis called on a number to voice their opinion about the CM Face) Bhagwant Mann as the CM Face of Punjab, who, as it is evident, isn’t a Hindu, which he and his Chadha guy are accusing the Congress by bringing the name of Sunil Jakhar.
SAD, why hereditary products?
One of the biggest issues of SAD is their hereditary presidential seat when it comes to the President of the SAD. How many people can you count who kept the presidential seat of SAD within their family before the Badals? Earlier Parkash Singh Badal, now Sukhbir Singh Badal, later we will see Anantbir Singh? Why Badals have to run everything? Why can’t other senior leaders be given a chance to run the party? Or maybe a young and energetic leader? It’s bad that the President of SAD and the CM of Punjab are coming from the Badal Family. Congress is finished because of this. SAD will too if they don’t come out of this.
Badals have been accused of leaving the Sikh causes since they came to power in the late 1990s. There isn’t much that the Badals can be remembered for like the stalwart Akali leaders of the earlier times. The more they get away from the Sikh values, the more they will ruin the political party of Sikhs.
Recently, they have shaken hands with Shiv Sena Hindustan. SAD(A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann said that the Badals shouldn’t use the Shromani Akali Dal name anymore after this alliance as the Shiv Sena workers have been calling the Sikh martyrs terrorists. This is another low for the SAD.
I am not suggesting that non-Sikh parties shouldn’t be considered for the alliances, but it shouldn’t be by compromising the Sikh Values. Few months back when I was in Punjab, I saw a hoarding of the SAD on the walls of Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib in Patiala, where a ghona-mona guy was shown in a big picture. Everyone should be welcomed in SAD, but it should be noted that if they allow most of the ghona-mona in the party, it won’t be called and shouldn’t be called SAD. It is a party of some great personalities and should remain so and should be remembered so by keeping the pristine values of the party. Secondly, the historical places shouldn’t be used to hang the political hoardings, unless there is a morcha open.
It was also alleged that the Badals looked for partnerships whenever some industries sought to start a new plant in Punjab. I don’t know the reality of this, but if it is true, it’s wrong. They should focus on bringing the industries in Punjab, so that the youth don’t go outside of India or Punjab to look for jobs.
BJP Punjab President Ashwani Sharma has said the industries are shifting base from Punjab because of the security reasons. It is nothing more than a gimmick; it isn’t like the security threats are there in the state on daily basis. If somehow, one has to consider the state to be a boarder state, then the political parties, especially SAD, should make the cities afar from the boarder the hub of different industries. Cities like Sangroor, Rajpura, Rupnagar, etc., which are far from the boarder, should be considered for the investments and development.
There is great potential among the young leaders as well as stalwarts of SAD to achieve what other India states have done, or perhaps better than what they have. For full five years, the political party would have time to change the whole structure of the Punjab, to bring new investments that can actually generate the quality jobs for the youth of Punjab, but mostly we don’t see the politicians seeking the investments or other methods to transform the life of Punjabis but the irrational trivialities. Most of the politicians won’t even show the face to their constituencies as if they were chosen to rule than to serve.
These are very crucial elections for SAD. If they don’t win this time, I don’t think they would have the charisma left in them to attract the people, if Parkash Singh Badal dies in the next five years because of his age. Many of the senior members are with the party because of him, even if they accuse the Badals after leaving the party. Sukhbir Singh Badal mightn’t be able to unite all the senior leaders, if there will be another debacle of breaking away from the SAD, like Dhindsa and Brahmpura did and created their own political parties as SAD (democratic) and SAD (Taksali); Brahmpura rejoined SAD later.
Why I said this is because if the BJP comes into power again in 2024, we will see more of the Hindutva and the right-wing politics in India, which will affect Punjab too in some way. SAD, if Parkash Singh Badal dies, will be left with nothing but to shake hands with others to come into power. Or to unite with the whole Sikh Panth to bring back the old glories of the Shromani Akali Dal, which is most likely to happen in future irrespective of the demise of Parkash Singh Badal or the BJP winning the General Elections in 2024.
Who will win?
AAP (Aam Aadmi Party), BJP (Bhartia Janta Party)-PLC (Punjab Lok Congress)-SAD(s) (Shromani Akali Dal Sanyukt), Congress, SAD (Shromani Akali Dal)-BSP (Bahujan Samaj party), SSM (Sanyukt Samaj Morcha), and there will be independent candidates as well to contest the 2022 Punjab Assembly Elections.
Who will win?
The Punjabis are splitting their vote-share without even knowing. Never bring new political parties unless you can’t change the leadership of the old political parties. Earlier contests used to be between SAD and Congress. With AAP coming in 2017, the votes got divided. Now many players are in the game. The votes will be further divided.
Getting a majority when five parties are contesting is very hard.
SSM won’t be able to make the government on their own, I wonder if they will reach a two-digit number or not.
Congress has made several decisions after Charanjit Singh Channi became the Chief Minister. They might get good share, won’t be shocked if they come into power again.
SAD might come to power too, if we look back at the history of the elections in Punjab. BSP didn’t win a single seat last time, this time it may change if the caste plays some role in the elections.
BJP’s only hope is the Ram Mandir and other issues of Hindus that can help them to win some seats, but them winning the elections to make a government in Punjab on their own seems impossible, I think.
AAP’s performance last time wasn’t good but better than SAD. There are numerous followers of AAP on the social media who are always ready to defend the party and its supremo. The major issue that I see if AAP would be able to make the government in Punjab is it won’t talk about the water issues of Punjab, which none of the major political parties talk about anyway, and entice the people with school, hospitals, etc., without looking at the issues of the religious people or Punjab as a state. 40% chances are there that they can make their own government in Punjab. I want the state to be run by those who won’t look at Delhi to make the decisions for Punjab, so I want them to lose (BJP and Congress are also similar).
There are very good changes of a hung assembly. But I want best for the Punjab and its community. So, whoever is coming to power, make sure you take care of the Punjab and Punjabis.
At last, it’s very common that the political candidates give money to poor to vote for them. There was a video made by a Punjabi some years back that I would like to summarize here. You get money from a party, right? Or some other monetarily benefits? Take them, but don’t vote for them. Vote for those who you want to see in power. When you’re going to press the button on the voting machine, the guy who gave you money won’t be there to see what button you pressed. Take all the money they’re giving but vote for those who can stand with Punjab and its needs and issues.
[1] Sunil Jakhar Saab is being treated as a second class citizen by Congress. Excluding him from list of CM candidate probables merely because he's a Hindu reveals deep-rooted communal politics of Congress. His competence & experience is sacrificed at the alter of religious politics.
[2] कांग्रेस पंजाब में लोगों को चन्नी जी और सिधु जी में से एक को CM चेहरा चुनने को कह रही है। कांग्रेस ने जाखड़ जी का नाम क्यों नहीं शामिल किया?