Amritsar, February 12: "Sonia Gandhi's name will not fetch votes in Punjab for another 20 years. I should be knowing this for it's my job to listen to what people are saying. You see, I am in the intelligence mehakma." So says a garrulous Punjab police havaldar on election duty as he hitches a ride from Tarn Taran to Zira in Amritsar district.But you don't need Intelligence sources to tell you that the Sonia factor doesn't add up to much in this State. This is evident even in the border districts of Amritsar and Gurdaspur where the Congress is strong and is putting up a strong challenge to Akali-BJP alliance to retain its Lok Sabha seats. Says Santokh Singh, a Congress worker in a village near Amritsar, "The Congress workers were enthused with the entry of Soniaji but she did not have the impact." In fact, Sonia doesn't smile from posters or placards here, it's usually the local candidate or the party's symbol. Or the elephant in black and blue, the symbol of the Bahujan Samaj Party which isa Congress ally in Punjab.This is perhaps one of the reasons why Sonia has barely touched Punjab with just one rally at Chandigarh on January 25. While an announcement of a rally has been made for Ludhiana tomorrow, it is still being speculated if she will make it there. Or the fact that will it make a difference. The Congress has thought it wiser to project itself through Former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh in Punjab.Akali workers in the villages choose not to talk about Sonia at all, dismissing her as a foreigner.Says Swarn Singh of Attari village, "We do not know her language, she does not know ours. We do not understand her, she does not understand us."But persist and they begin to talk. Of Opera tion Bluestar and the massacre of Sikhs in November 1984. Of the role of the Congress in general and that of the Gandhi dynasty, in particular. Says Harbhajan Bajwa, a photographer, "It will take a long time for the scars left by Operation Bluestar and killings of Sikhs in November '84 to heal.Apology rendered for the sake of catching votes is no apology." Some even feel that the apology has opened old wounds afresh. For once again, people speak of these events which otherwise did not figure in the elections this time. Amritsar-based professor of political science Harish Puri says: "The apology by Sonia may not mean votes but it has mellowed the initial hostility. However, the role of the Congress in the decade and a half of terrorism in Punjab has led to a deep-rooted distrust among the people." He says that if the Congress retains the Amritsar and Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seats, it will be because of the stature of its candidates there and the vote banks they have cultivated. Prem Singh, a fruit-seller of Gumtala village off Amritsar says: "People have seen other leaders but Sonia is new. They feel she may be better for the Congress."Interestingly, Jagmeet Brar, a Congress candidate who is giving a stiff fight to Sukhbir Badal, son of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, in the Faridkot Lok Sabhaconstituency too has kept the Sonia factor at a low key. It is his picture, not Sonia's that's found on banners and posters. For many think that Sonia's mug may harm leaders who have a solid support base.
