Gunman riding pillion, he campaigns during day, serves burgers at night

The 34-year-old Ravinder, popularly known as Baja ji Burger Wale, is an unusual candidate. He campaigns by the day on his two-wheeler, a gunman provided by the Election Commission of India riding pillion. By evening, around 5pm, he opens his burger shop. His no-frills campaign is centred around two major issues — he promises a drug-free and cancer free Punjab and assures of good and affordable education to all.

A brother to seven sisters, whom he got married one by one, Ravinder faced several adversities. In 2007, he dropped out of class 9 after his father passed away and took up the family business of selling burgers. He never looked back.

Doling out burgers with not just unique names but with different ingredients, he has now a fan following spread across India, with many specially planning trips to Ludhiana to taste the delicacies he churns out.

While his ‘Punjab Police burger’ is a hot favourite of constables, his ‘AK47’ and ‘Jaggu Daaku’ burgers draw the attention of youngsters. Elaborating on the ingredients, Ravinder Pal says that the police burger has a ‘teekha mirchi’ sourced from the northeast (Bhut Jolokia) and it represents cops in Punjab who catch notorious gangsters with their unique skills. “While the ‘AK47’ burger has a mix of sauces that makes youngsters drool, the ‘Jaggu Daaku’ is all about a mix of spices. Then comes the ‘Maharaja Gold burger’ which has 24 carat edible gold in it.

The ‘Meera Ishq burger’ is everyone’s favourite. It has a mix of everything and whoever has it, falls in love with my burgers, hence the name, which largely translates to ‘my love’,” he says.

While his most costly sell is the ‘Maharaja Gold Burger’ priced at Rs 2,100, the ‘Punjab Police burger’ is priced at Rs 800. The ‘AK47 burger’ and the ‘Jaggu Daaku’ fetch him Rs 300 each and the ‘Meera Ishq’ is priced at only Rs 60.

One wonders if his life is all set and business is good, then why does he need to join politics?

“The big politicians here only loot us. They keep harassing the rehri wallahs (cart sellers). Be it Bittu (BJP candidate Ravinder Singh Bittu) or Ashu (Congress’ former MLA Bharat Bhushan Singh Ashu), they all are the same.

When we go to politicians with our problems, they ask for money. But the next day, it’s all back to square one and their goons start harassing us. The community of cart sellers here are mostly illiterate, so we decided that if I win, I will be able to fight for our cause,” he says, adding that his election symbol is ‘auto rickshaw’.

Like most people of Ludhiana, who are fed up with the stench from Buddha Nullah, Ravinder too is up in arms against it.

“There are many cloth dyeing factories that dump the chemical waste into the nullah without treating it. If one goes to our baits, they will see that there are at least two people in every household who either have cancer or have died of the disease. The MPs and MLAs come here, do photo ops for newspapers and make lots of promises, but once the elections are over, they forget us. And we have to live in that filth every day and drink that water,” he says, adding that if he wins, not only will he put an end to this but will also open schools for girls.

When prodded about the AAP-led Punjab government’s ‘Schools of Excellence’, he is quick to reply that those are just refurbished institutes. “Our girls are forced to go to private schools as the government primary one is in a very old and shabby building. We are scared for their lives, one storm and it seems that the walls will collapse. I will also want to open a hospital for the elderly here,” he says as he gets busy churning out his next big order.

Ravinder is pitted BJP’s Bittu, Congress’ Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and AAP’s Ashok Parashar Pappi.