Punjabi by heart, a mix of languages on lips, Amloh’s Afghan Biba ji hard at work for Kaka

The unusual mixture of three languages — fluent English, decent Hindi and broken Punjabi — is a giveaway that ‘Biba ji’ doesn’t have her roots in Punjab.

Behishta Singh, now 47, was Behishta Khan, an Afghan national, 28 years ago when she fell in love and embraced Punjab.

“I was 19 when Randeep asked me for marriage. I had come to India from Kabul on scholarship and was studying in Chandigarh. I could not return because of civil war back home. Now, 28 years on, I still struggle with Punjabi so I mix English and Hindi along to make people understand,” says Behishta.

Congress workers never fail to highlight her royal lineage. “Sanu saareyan nu pata hai Biba ji Afghanistan di royal family ton ne,” says one introducing her to the voters.

She comes from the family of last Afghan ruler Mohammad Zahir Shah.

Holding a PhD in literature from PU Chandigarh, Behishta tries to explain why some development projects got delayed in Amloh. “We are accountable to the people who vote for us,” she says.

Behishta says that she has embraced Punjabi culture with utmost love and respect but, the Afghan roots are still alive in her.

It has been decades that she hasn’t visited her home in Kabul of Afghanistan. “Last time I went to Afghanistan was to take blessings of grandmother before marriage…Whatever happened in Afghanistan after Taliban took over…it  pains. Kabul of our times was different,” says Behishta whose mother tongue was Persian and Pashto the second language. “Now they get mixed with Punjabi. My siblings laugh that now I have become a sardarni”.

She didn’t campaign for Kaka when he contested first election in 1997, and only started getting involved in 2002. Now, in the dusty lanes of Mandi Gobindgarh, the town known for its steel and iron industry, Behishta’s photos on Congress posters are nothing new.

Kaka, a two-time MLA from Nabha and Amloh each, says that irrespective of her nationality and culture, his wife has been the backbone of his campaigns. “It is only love that matters and she has proved it. The effort she puts for me is enough,” says Kaka, son of four-time Congress MLA and former cabinet minister late Gurdarshan Singh. His mother Satinder Kaur had also contested once on Congress ticket in 1992 from Nabha but lost. After she was denied Congress ticket in 1997, Kaka contested as Independent but lost. However, since 2002 he is on winning streak (2002 and 2007 from Nabha, 2012 and 2017 from Amloh). He was inducted as agriculture minister in the Charanjit Singh Channi-led cabinet.

From Amloh, Akali Dal has again fielded Gurpreet Singh Raju Khanna, who faced defeat in 2017. BJP nominee is Kanwarveer Singh Tohra, grandson of SAD stalwart late Gurcharan Singh Tohra. AAP has fielded Garry Birring, a postgraduate from Oxford. SSM has named Darshan Singh Babbi, a farm agitation leader.