Politics in Punjab revolve around money, muscle and of course family. This time will be no different as the state readies for elections by the month-end.
By K Rattan
I, Me, myself, my family, my in-laws, my relatives, my extended family… ok my retainers, too. This may sound much like the hearty Punjabis well-known generosity or hospitality. But no we’re not talking of the Punjab heart but its politics.
Punjab politics, over the decades, seems to have successfully erased words like nepotism and familial from the political lexicon. A cursory look at the list of candidates released by the two major parties for the Assembly polls — the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress – shows you this family bonhomie in Punjab’s Politcaldom. A small sample is included in the box.
Constituency Name/Party– SAD Relation
Lambi Prakash Singh Badal
Jalalabad Sukhbir S Badal Son of Prakash S Badal
Patti Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon Son-in-law of Prakash S Badal
Majitha Bikramjit Singh Majithia Brother-in-law of Sukhbir S Badal
Sunam Parminder S Dhindsa Son of Sukhdev S Dhindsa
PatialaRural Kuldeep Kaur Tohra Daughter-in-law of GS Tohra
Khanna Ranjit S Talwandi Son of JS Talwandi
(Sukhbir’s wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is a Lok Sabha MP)
Constituency Name/Party– Congress Relation
Patiala Capt Amarinder Singh Wife Praneet Kaur is Union Minister
Samana Raninder Singh Son of Amarinder Singh
Dhuri Arvind Khanna Related to Amarinder Singh & aide
Lehra Rajinder Kaur Bhattal ex-Deputy Chief Minister
Sahnewal Vikram Singh Bajwa Son-in-law of Mrs Bhattal
Khanna Gurkirat Singh Brother of Ravneet S Bittu, LS MP
Kotkapura Ripjit Singh Brother of AICC GS, Jagmeet S Brar
Muktsar Karan Kaur Brar Daughter-in-law of ex-CM HS Brar
Lambi Mahesh Inder S Badal Badal’s cousin
Abohar Sunil K Jhakhar Son of ex-Speaker Balram Jakhar
Bassi Pathana Harbans Kaur Wife of Shamsher S Dullo
Jalandhar West Suman Kaypee Wife of LS MP — MS Kaypee
Qadian Charanjit Kaur Wife of LS MP — Pratap S Bajwa
Less than three weeks from now, on 30 January 2012, the over 17.5 million voters of Punjab will make their electoral choice. If one went with Punjab’s tradition of defeating the incumbent party, then Capt Amarinder Singh-led-Congress should have little worries in this first poll following the delimitation exercise of the state’s 117 constituencies.
And though most Congress leaders have begun strategizing on how to secure the exploits and corner the gains following what is supposed to be a certain victory, the Patiala Maharaja’s applecart is prone to major risks – like internal sabotage by dissidents – as well as a determined and desperate Shiromani Akali Dal.
Though thePunjabelectoral battle may look four-cornered, it is largely confined to the border state’s two prominent families, their relatives and retainers. While the SAD (including its ally the BJP) is led by the father-son duo of Prakash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, and Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister and SAD president, the Congress is singularly led by its state president and chief ministerial candidate, Amarinder Singh.
Both these family/dynasty concerns have fielded their relatives/retainers (>see box<) – which not only highlights how democracy has been reduced to a sham but how it makes redundant the common man’s concern about issues like corruption. “The issue of corruption is irrelevant in our state,” says Rakesh Khullar, while pointing out how all tainted leaders are once again in the fray. The sole exception is BJP’s respected leader Lakshmi Kanta Chawla who chose against contesting fromAmritsar as her department was allegedly involved in a financial scam.
That corruption is not an issue in the ensuing polls is also apparent from the not-to-bright prospects of Manpreet Singh Badal’s newly formed Punjab Peoples Party, which has allied with the CPI(M), CPI and some splinter groups like the one of veteran Akali leader Surjeet Singh Barnala. Manpreet is Sukhbir’s first cousin and was the state’s finance minister till he rebelled in the name of better governance, transparency and anti-ostentation measures.
But in a state where muscle and money are synonyms for politics, Manpreet’s efforts to project himself as “Punjab’s Anna (Hazare)” may have yielded him popularity, specifically amongst Badal-baiters, but may not get him the required votes to emerge as a major force in Punjab’s bipolar polity. Some analyst however do not rule out the possibility of Manpreet’s party emerging a king-maker (and supporting the Congress) if the outcome is too close. Though his candidates have better CVs, many of them are rejects from the two major parties.
The fourth group in the fray is the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), whose leader Mayawati inexplicably has not given due importance to a state which not only has the highest percentage of Dalits – over 30% — in the country but also belongs to her mentor Kanshi Ram. The irony is that the elite Congress leadership has kept the Dalits at bay as, following delimitation a majority of the 29 reserved constituencies are in rural areas.
In fact the Congress denied a ticket to the state’s senior most and popular Dalit leader, Shamsher Singh Dullo, from Khanna constituency to accommodate former chief minister Beant Singh’s grandson. “We don’t even attract lip-service,” pointed out another Dalit leader who said the Congress would lose most of the reserved seats.
Interestingly, SAD, a party of Sikh Jats, has strategically wooed the Dalits and Sukhbir Badal is reportedly bankrolling their campaign as BJP is expected to be far behind its previous score of 19. “SAD is carrying the burden of a totally discredited and absolutely corrupt BJP,” said a veteran analyst while pointing out BJP as the SAD’s biggest handicap. Meanwhile, the Akalis have successfully attempted to cover its flanks by ensuring the merger of the Lok Bhalai Party and nominating its supreme Balwant Singh Ramoowalia for the prestigious Mohali seat.
Now that the countdown has begun and the do-or-die attitude could lead to a lot of dirty politicking, it does not come as a surprise that the authorities have already seized about Rs 15 crores, including foreign currency in the firsts of a pre-poll clean up sweep. The authorities have also seized 1,34,389 licensed arms, 28 unlicensed arms, large quantities of liquor, ganja and other intoxicants and detained over 7500 mischief-makers.
Will all this, one wonders, also curb salacious gossip about a Pakistani’s daughter, someone being looked into by the CBI for violating the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, about a senior minister being indicted by the Lokpal, another being involved in a real-estate scam or about those many spread out in the Majha, Doaba and Malwa regions with disproportionate assets.
Who cares? And what more could justify this conclusion when it is an open secret that Amarinder Singh is a target of most of his colleagues and that no one dares to look Sukhbir Singh Badal in the eye.