Journalism of Courage
IF THE Amritsar East contest was a microcosm of what Punjab politics looked like, its result signifies how the same looks post-Thursday. In the no-holds-barred fight between titans Navjot Singh Sidhu of the Congress and Bikram Singh Majithia of the Akali Dal, the winner from Amritsar East turned out to be a candidate no one had paid any attention to: the Aam Aadmi Party’s Jeevan Jyot Kaur, better known as the ‘Padwoman’, for promoting reusable sanitary napkins.
It was Kaur’s first-ever electoral battle — and win – against two candidates who had never tasted defeat before. She secured 39,520 votes against 32,807 for Sidhu and 25,112 for Majithia.
On Thursday, Kaur, 50, said that while few gave her a chance, she knew the voters were with her. Her campaign was low-key, focused on going door-to-door and drew little crowds. However, Kaur said: “After I met people following the announcement of my ticket on December 30, I got very positive feedback. People told me I might have come to them now, but that they had made up their mind to vote for AAP six months ago… They told me to go home, rest.”
Other AAP contenders too knocked down big names in Punjab, punching way above their weight. They included the two who defeated Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on both the seats he contested from – Labh Singh Ugoke, a mobile repair shop owner, who defeated Channi in Bhadaur by 37,220 votes; and Charanjit Singh, a doctor who had contested in 2017 too on AAP ticket, who defeated him in Chamkaur Sahib by 7,833 votes.
Jagdeep Kamboj, the president of AAP backward classes wing, defeated Akali Dal president and former Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal by more than 30,374 votes. Even veteran leader and five-time CM Parkash Singh Badal was not spared, losing to AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian from Lambi by 11,396 votes. Khudian used to be earlier in the Congress, but his victory was remarkable as Badal Sr, 94, was considered virtually invincible in Punjab and was contesting in all likelihood his last election.
Congress Deputy CM and five-time MLA O P Soni lost from Amritsar Central to AAP’s virtually unknown Ajay Gupta by more than 14,000 votes. In Patiala City, former Akali Dal mayor and AAP candidate Ajit Pal Singh Kohli beat another veteran, Amarinder Singh, by 19,873 votes. Congress minister Vijay Inder Singla lost to first-timer Narinder Kaur Bharaj by 35,859 votes.
Before AAP spotted her and brought her into politics, Kaur, a mother of two, was known for S.H.E Society, a non-profit, non-political, voluntary organization, she founded in 1995-96. The organisation worked with the poor and disadvantaged, particularly in rural areas, to promote sustainable and self-reliant communities. One of these programmes included tying up with a Swiss-based company to provide reusable sanitary napkins, which her organisation promoted among government schools in rural areas and women in slums.
Kaur got associated with AAP in 2014. She was the campaign in-charge of Majitha constituency in 2017 and was later appointed its district president in Amritsar.
Kaur said her victory was the victory of “the Delhi Model”, and that her priority would be working on people’s problems. “I was repeatedly told that Amritsar East is the most underdeveloped and unhygienic constituency. Here people don’t have access to clean water. At every meeting I found women whose family members were suffering from drug addiction,” she said.
His long and hard battle to be CM ending in defeat, Sidhu tweeted: “The voice of the people is the voice of God… Humbly accept the mandate of the people of Punjab… Congratulations to Aap !!!”
