Government schools with even 20 Sikh or Muslim students in class X and XII,now have Punjabi,Urdu teachers. Nearly all masjids and gurdwaras have hand pumps and electric motors. A gate,college and park are named after tenth Sikh guru,Gobind Singh. This is the pitch that two-time MLA and a chief parliamentary secretary in Prem Kumar Dhumal government,Sukh Ram Chaudhary,takes while campaigning in Paonta Sahibs Shivpur and Santokhpur villages,where a majority of families are of Sikhs and Bhagwanpur and Kiratpur,which are Muslim-dominated. At Amarkot,Puruwala and Haripur villages which have both Sikh and Muslim families living among Hindus,he says,We have given villages hand pumps,free school uniforms,subsidised rations,CFL bulbs and fixed deposits for girls. As the historical land where Guru Gobind Singh stayed,Paonta Sahib has the highest Sikh population in any Himachal constituency,with 8,000 registered voters out of a total of nearly 65,000 voters,the majority being Hindus,mainly Rajputs. Before delimitation,it also had a high number of Muslim voters,11,700 to be precise. But now their number voters has come down to 5,400 after many villages were merged in the neighbouring Nahan constituency. Among Congresss 22 contenders was also a Muslim,M L Ansari,but the party fielded a Sikh candidate,Onkar Singh. He is the second Sikh to bag the nomination after late Rattan Singh,who headed the historical gurdwara for 48 years and won the seat twice. Rattan Singh lost in 2002 owing to split of Congress votes in favour of a rebel and failed to get the ticket in 2007. Among the independents there is a Muslim candidate,Sanwar Ali. But with its high Sikh-Muslim votes,Paonta Sahib has never witnessed communal clashes in its history,the only aberration being in 1984,when some FIRs were lodged after hair of some Sikhs were shorn. One FIR was lodged against brother of independent candidate and Congress rebel,Karnesh Jung,who incidentally has scissors as his poll symbol in this elections. Muslims traditionally will not go with the BJP. But the party has given villages good roads,power supply and handpumps. Urdu and Punjabi have been incorporated in government schools and teachers have been recruited for these languages. So many Muslims will go with the BJP for the work done by its candidate despite reservation on the party, says Congress loyalist Dr Abdul Rehman,who runs an ayurvedic clinic in Puruwala village,which has nearly 400 Muslim votes out of total of 1500. Each of the Sikh,Muslim or Hindu majority villages also have those belonging to schdeuled castes. But neither caste nor religion are a poll issue in Paonta Sahib. There are Congress and BJP loyalists blurring the religion barrier. In Sikh-dominated Shivpur village,Onkar Singh partakes langar with people of all communities. The village has a Sikh sarpanch,Manjit Singh,and many traditional Congress supporters. At nearby Santokhpur,another Sikh-majority village,local businessman Surjit Nagra claims there are more sympathisers of the saffron party. Onkar Singh is not a youth leader nor is he educated. He owns factories and earlier headed the truck union. People will not vote for him just because he is a Sikh, sarpanch of Puruwala village,Baljit Singh,adds. For the Sikh community,the elections are also about maintaining their political clout. Delimitation has added eight more pahari panchayats to the Paonta seat taking their number to 13,a change that may affect the political dominance of Sikhs. It is perhaps the last time a Sikh has got the Congress nomination. The paharis will overtake us in numbers and influence by next polls, says 46-year-old local businessman,Narinderpal Singh,one of the Congress contenders,who is managing the poll campaign 66-year-old Onkar Singh. Only a victory will keep the prospects of other Sikh contenders relevant in next polls,he adds.
