Bullet to ballot, Zaffarwal reloaded

Prod him a bit about the days gone by, and he says: ‘‘Those were different times. When I used to ask people to bend, they used to crawl. It was dictatorship and my word was their command.’’ The present, he admits, is different. ‘‘It is a democracy and I am seeking people’s support to reform the Parbhandak Committee.’’

An eloquent speaker, he flits from one issue to the other as people listen in rapt attention. ‘‘I want to stem the wave against Sikhism. More and more youth are getting their hair shorn. There is no prachar and politics is overshadowing religion,’’ he fumes, while blaming SAD chief Parkash Singh Badal for the present predicament of the panth. ‘‘He is using the SGPC, a pious religious body, and Akal Takht as an extension of his party.’’ .

Zaffarwal, who denies any contacts with Punjab militants in Pakistan or elsewhere, is also keen to rehabilitate the families of the youth who were killed during militancy.

Father Surjit Singh is at peace with Zaffarwal’s plunge into politics. ‘‘His main contestant is former minister Sucha Singh Langah, who also happens to be our relative,’’ says Surjit, telling how earlier they used to canvass for him. ‘‘But now he’s turned our foe,’’ adds the father. But then, that’s the way of politics.