Race for dalit votes begins at last rites

The strong political undercurrent at Sarabjit Singh’s cremation on Friday was more than evident with a number of national and state-level leaders making a beeline for his native village of Bhikiwind.

Even though Sarabjit’s death after being assaulted in a Lahore jail has led to a war of words among political groups, there is an equally important dimension to the incident which the political parties are now trying to cash in on.

Sarabjit was a dalit, a Majabi Sikh, which is the largest social group in Punjab. In fact, Punjab has the highest dalit population density in the country and neither the Congress nor the Akali Dal can afford to ignore this crucial 28 per cent vote bank in the state.

Dalits have a sizeable presence in all the three regions of Punjab — Majha, Malwa and Doaba — and are the deciding factor in Doaba, once considered a Congress stronghold.

It was the dalit vote, particularly in Doaba region, that shifted loyalty from the Congress to the Akalis, helping the latter win the 2012 Assembly polls — the first time in the state’s history that a sitting government was voted back to power.

Political parties are concerned with the fact that the voting pattern of dalits in Punjab could well have a cascading impact on dalits in other states in north India. So it was not surprising that the Punjab Chief Minister was at Bhikiwind along with his son, deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, and top ministers.

The Congress was represented by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi along with top state Congress leaders led by newly appointed party chief Pratap Singh Bajwa.