Punjab poll scene a challenge to traditional polity

ROOKIE AAP THAT BURST ON THE PUNJAB SCENE IN 2014 SEEMED SET TO DOMINATE THE POLITICAL SPACE UNTIL HIT BY CONVULSIONS WITHIN

CHANDIGARH: The political discourse in Punjab is a bit of a rehash. A mosaic of the Delhi campaign that saw Sheila Dikshit’s development plank blown to smithereens, of Bihar where people voted for a Bihari against a seemingly mightier Gujarati, and Kashmir where the youth are at loggerheads with the polity’s parental narratives.

The comparison is a guide to odds faced by rival contestants. The ride is rocky for the father-son team of PS Badal and Sukhbir as it was for Dikshit in Delhi-2013; the outsider tag slammed on Arvind Kejriwal a replay of Nitish Kumar’s jibes against Narendra Modi. And finally, the Punjab youth’s estrangement due to joblessness compounded by farm distress. One hopes not but the crisis is reminiscent of the eighties when youth took to the gun.

There are a few months to go before the January polls. Amid controversies, Kejriwal is struggling to show his party as the one capable of ousting the Akalis while the Congress under Captain Amarinder Singh tries catching up after a slow start. The fourth front has teething trouble with Navjot Sidhu acting fickle.

A hung assembly could emerge from a three-way split of the antiincumbency vote. That makes analysts believe the Congress needs to get combative like AAP. “The voter’s looking for a demon slayer, not a trapeze artist,” argued a college professor.

The assessment’s logical. The Badals’ face revulsion for their politics of subjugation symbolised by the “dhakka-parcha (muscle and police power)” tactics. Not surprising then that the imagecrisis overshadows their development work and populist schemes. “Their high-handedness negates everything,” said Pramod Kumar, a Chandigarh-based political scientist. A case in point: cement tiles used in millions to hurriedly spruce up Amristar have been derisively named after a minister by local residents.

The rookie AAP that burst on the Punjab scene in 2014 seemed all set to dominate the political space until hit by convulsions within. “Their support base is vocal but not evenly spread,” said Kumar. He said the party must not take its electoral support for granted as “people parked their vote with it; they didn’t cast their vote for it… ”

The other view came from Gyan Singh, professor of economics at Punjabi University: “AAP’s still ahead of others in Malwa that has maximum seats.” The urge for change, he said, is rooted in the agrarian crisis blamed on parties that earlier ruled the state.

But the sense one got from the ground was that people’s movements over issues as variegated as land and lurid Punjabi music were gaining traction. That’s also the reason for AAP’s popularity; Delhi’s mohalla clinics and steps to regulate school fees are positive discussion points in Punjab where education is expensive.

No matter who wins, the signals are clear. If conventional polity fails to self-correct, the status quo perceived as exclusive and oppressive could face serious challenge.

The students’ union elections in Chandigarh’s Panjab University could have been a trailer of what’s in store. The left-leaning Students’ for Society (SFS) emerged as a potent third force in the triangular contest. Its candidate for president got 2,494 votes after the Akali-aligned union’s 2,500 and 2,800 of the Congressbacked Panjab University Students Union that won.

(Last of a two-part series on the political mood in Punjab)