Chilled watermelons to ‘jaljeera’: Political parties in Punjab pull all stops to drive voters out of homes amid intense heatwave

Villagers are queued up to savour watermelons before they proceed inside. As Mann begins his speech and the intense heat turns unbearable, glasses filled with ‘jaljeera’ make their way to the small venue, and the tray is emptied in no time.

With the mercury hovering over 45 degrees Celsius in sizzling Punjab, and just eight days left for campaigning for the June 1 polling, candidates in the fray are pulling all stops to drive people out of their houses to campaign meetings.

Giving up the traditional ‘chai’ (tea) and ‘bread pakoras’ in this sweltering heat, parties are opting for eatables and drinks helping voters beat the heat. The flavour this poll season has shifted to chilled watermelons, ‘lassi’, ‘jaljeera’, ‘nimbu-paani’ (lemon water), ‘chabeel’ (‘kacchi lassi’ with Rooh Afza), among others.

At Burj ke Makkhan village in Ferozepur, where BJP candidate Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi was to arrive for the campaign, party workers were busy preparing ‘chabeel’ (pink-coloured kacchi lassi with Rooh Afza) in a huge drum. As Sodhi’s cavalcade arrived, his security personnel and other villagers rushed to have chabeel to satiate their parched throats.

At Burj ke Makkhan village in Ferozepur, where BJP candidate Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi was to arrive for the campaign, party workers were busy preparing ‘chabeel’ (pink-coloured kacchi lassi with Rooh Afza) in a huge drum. (Gurmeet Singh/Express Photo)

That wasn’t all. Soon, chilled cans of energy drink arrived for Sodhi and his team members, while soft drinks in glasses were served to other villagers.

The expenditure monitoring team of the administration was busy noting down details of each drink being served. One of them said: “We have fixed rates for tea, coffee, bread pakora, samosa and other such common eatables/drinks, but we will now have to check market rates of drinks being served here. In most of the poll meetings, parties are serving lassi, chabeel, jaljeera, etc. We have to follow the guidelines and note down the expenditure by the candidate and his party on each glass of water, lassi or whatever they are serving.”

In villages, party workers are serving homemade lassi and jaljeera. In cities like Ludhiana, party workers are opting for packed chilled mineral water, lassi packs and bottled lemon drinks. “Tea is served only if someone asks,” a BJP worker said.