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Journalism of Courage
PUNJAB is poised for its maiden multi-cornered contest in the coming Assembly elections, with split allies, splinter groups and resurgent farmers complicating poll equations. It may also be one of its shrillest, as the thwarted rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi cranks the pitch up to “national security”.
The 2017 election had seen the Aam Aadmi Party stun the Akali Dal and emerge as the second largest party after the Congress. Since then, the fortunes of all three parties have been rendered uncertain. While the Akali Dal is heading into its first state election since 1996 without the BJP as partner, AAP has squandered some of its gains through early defections, while the Congress is still to emerge from the upheaval of Amarinder Singh’s departure. Meanwhile, the BJP, which was written off following the farm agitation, is hoping to regain some ground through its alliance with Amarinder Singh and a splinter Akali group, and following the repeal of the farm laws.
In the last lap, what all parties wondered about also came true when 22 of the farm unions, which were part of the Morcha that caused the Modi government to yield after a year-long agitation, announced their own party, and plans to contest. The Samyukta Samaj Morcha, that has applied for registration with the Election Commission, is led by B S Rajewal, a notable name after the agitation.
The Congress, which came to power with an overwhelming majority in 2017, bagging 77 of the 117 seats and adding three more in the 2019 bypolls, hopes its gamble of choosing a relatively unknown Charanjit Singh Channi to replace Amarinder will help it battle anti-incumbency and popular angst. As the first Dalit CM, Channi has managed to not only win over the substantial Scheduled Caste vote but has fast established himself as a man with ear to the ground. However, would that be enough to drown out the frequent tirades of PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu against his own party, remains to be seen. The party for now hopes that the carrot of elections under a collective leadership will keep Sidhu placated.
AAP too is going to the polls without a CM face. The party has been canvassing in the name of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and his model of development. Kejriwal has given a number of ‘guarantees’ to the state, including payment of Rs 1,000 a month to women.
The BJP and its allies, the Lok Congress Party of Amarinder and SAD (Samyukt), have been focusing on “security for the border state” and promises of a fiscal package from the Centre. The recent security breach during Modi’s visit has come in handy for the BJP in its campaign.
The Akali Dal, which was the first to announce its candidates in February last year, has been trying hard to reclaim its cadre by emphasising how it broke away from the BJP at the Centre to throw its lot with the farmers. Even though Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal is also in the campaign field, it is essentially party president Sukhbir Badal’s fight – and the first on his own. He goes in with a big cloud hanging over him both politically and personally, in the shape of an FIR against brother-in-law Bikram Singh Majithia.
