In Badal village, AAP flag makes a little flutter

CM retains dedicated fans; AAP wins over young job seekers, elderly Dalit

BADAL VILLAGE in Punjab’s Malwa region has, as its name suggests, a VIP feel to it. It is Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s ancestral village and it shows everywhere: in the four-lane road that leads to it, in its modern multi-sport stadium, in its civil hospital, in its old-age home, in the waterworks, in its many schools for boys and girls.

Most of the villagers have been Badal loyalists for decades. Tejinder Singh Middukhera, Akali leader in charge of the village, which is in Lambi constituency, said there is blanket support for the five-time CM.

Today, however, Aam Aadmi Party flags flutter from some houses. “If there are AAP flags on some houses, there are flags of Akali Dal on others. Badal saab has done for much for the state. The development is for everyone to see,” said a confident Middukhera.

But close to the fortified mansion of the village’s first family, where a group of people huddled around a small fire at a cycle repair shop on a chilly January day, it was hard to miss a new undercurrent of feeling against a politician the village have treated for years as one of their own.

Satpal Singh, who has passed XII and is now 23, spoke of his desperation for a job. “We have no openings here. I made several trips to Badal’s house [in the village] to request a job, but it got me nothing,” he said. “My father is a labourer, I too will end up as a labourer. For how many generations will we be labourers in their houses? Why should we vote for them?”

Lovely Singh, 18, joins in: “We don’t need their atta-dal [a food scheme for BPL families]. Give us jobs. I don’t have a vote this year, but I will tell my family to vote for AAP.”

“He was participating in AAP candidate Jarnail Singh’s roadshow on Sunday,” said one member of the group, pointing at Lovely, who claimed: “Just watch, many people are going to vote for AAP. Those who are afraid to declare it openly will vote for AAP in secret.”

Jaspal Singh put in a counter: “Badal saab changey bande ne. Ohna de aas paas corrupt lok ne (Badal saab is a good man. But he is surrounded by corrupt people).”

Recent electoral records continue to show Lambi as an Akali stronghold. In 2012, when Lambi polled 1.22 lakh votes, Badal bagged one short of 68,000 to defeat his Congress rival by over 24,000 votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election to Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s 69,000 votes in Lambi segment were more than 10 times as many as those of new entrant AAP. Badal village accounts for around 3,500 of Lambi’s current 1.55 lakh votes.

Half a kilometre from the cycle shop is sarpanch Sukhpal Kaur’s house. Her husband Sandeep Singh, who is an ardent supporter of Badal, dismissed the criticism of the young crowd. “Children don’t want to work themselves, and then they blame the government,” he said.

This earned a sharp retort from Keema Singh, 55, a labour hand sitting in the sarpanch’s home. “Who does not want to work? If my son, who studied up to XII, is willing to axe trees for a meagre payment, how can you say they don’t want to work?”

In the vehra where the village’s Dalits live, Kaka Singh, 65, once an Akali follower, has turned into an AAP supporter. The vehra is a low-lying area, where the road is higher than the houses, water stagnates, houses leak when it rains, and heaps of cowdung are yet to be cleared. It has none of the shiny feel of the other parts of the village.

“Our people are scared to talk about AAP in this village but I am not,” Kaka Singh said. “My house leaks, my son does not have work. I will support AAP. I was with Badal for 3540 years. I even went to jail with him for a month. He never came to my house. Jarnail Singh did. I have known him only for a few days,” said Kaka Singh, donning a AAP muffler and cap. “Most of these 200 houses are going to vote for AAP,” he claimed, pointing at the kuccha houses flying the AAP flag.

Hargobind Singh is an Akali supporter in the vehra. “Look at all that Badal saab has done for the people,” he said. “The pensions of people have been doubled, it’s raining grants, we have hospitals and a stadium. Some people are blind. I can assure you that 90 per cent of these people in the vehras will vote for SAD.”

With the Congress having named Amarinder Singh as the Lambi candidate, the party’s supporters in the village see themselves as back in the game. At former Congress candidate Mahesh Inder Singh Badal’s house in the village, a few local Congress supporters are huddled with him, “With Capt Amarinder Singh throwing his hat in the Lambi ring, the Congress will win. We are already preparing,” he said. Mahesh Inder had said he wanted to retire but now, “with Captain sahib in fray, I will be participating actively”.

Said Nachhattar Singh, another villager, “With Amarinder in the fray, the Congress’s local factions will united and the Congress will fare better.”

Jagpal Singh Abulkhurana, who had once aspired for the Congress ticket, welcomed Amarinder’s nomination which he said has filled party cadres with a renewed vigour. “We are in a comfortable position. We will win. Let Capt saab make a round of the segment, people will not be able to resist voting for him.”