SP Sharma
As the electoral scene is warming up, Kejriwal has become a thorn in the neck of the ruling Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP alliance and Congress in Punjab, but the big question is whether his AAP will create a dent in Punjab elections next year or play the role of spoilsport as was the case with Manpreet Badal in the last assembly elections in 2012 after breaking away from the ruling Badal family?
With AAP as the first timer in the assembly elections outside Delhi, Kejriwal is bubbling with confidence after having succeeded in bagging four of the thirteen Lok Sabha seats in Punjab two years ago that made other political parties wonderstruck.
Confusion among the ruling coalition of SAD—-BJP and also the opposition Congress this time is visible with leaders of all these parties targeting Kejriwal thereby shunning the tradition of mud-slinging at each other. Their main concern as appears from their daily statements is Kejriwal and nothing more.
The issue of drug abuse that has rattled a large number of households in Punjab has become the election point in the state and every party is talking about it and flexing their muscles at each other on the issue.
With a large number of youth following the visiting AAP leaders particularly in the rural areas, the talking point among the common people in Punjab these days is whether Kejriwal will be in a position to form his party’s Government or will he become another damp squib like Manpreet Badal who has now merged his Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) with the Congress. There was high expectation during the assembly elections in 2012 that the PPP of Manpreet might emerge as the dark horse without whose support no Government would be formed in Punjab but contrary to that the PPP limited itself to be a spoilsport for the Congress and Manpreet himself got defeated and he failed to win even a single seat in the Assembly of 117 constituencies and also in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Frequent visits of Kejriwal to Punjab are making his opponents nervous as the youth in particular was taking interest in activities of his AAP. Moreover, he was trying to attach himself as a well wisher of victims of drug abuse as a large number of households in Punjab are facing the problem. The movie “Udta Punjab” with the basic theme of the devastation that is being caused due to drug abuse has become a bone of contention with other parties accusing Kejriwal of having got this movie filmed before the assembly elections. These parties are leaving no stone unturned to criticize Kejriwal on one pretext or the other. The SAD challenged Kejriwal to accept his party’s role in making of the film ‘Udta Punjab’ as his own tweets to welcome Balaji CEO Sumeer Nair has exposed the truth that the producer is an active member of the Aam Admi Party. The party also described the ongoing controversy and the making of the film as a deep rooted conspiracy to defame the state and Punjabis.
It is being alleged by these parties that the recent decision of Kejriwal to appoint a teacher in Punjabi in every school of Delhi was to appease the voters in Punjab. On the other hand a top lawyer of the Supreme Court and AAP leader HS Phoolka has said that the decision of the Modi government to appoint on the eve of elections a SIT to reinvestigate the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 was nothing more than an attempt to mislead the voters in Punjab. It has become a routine affair of the BJP led NDA Government at the centre to order such enquiry before every election, he added.
The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, the Congress leader and former CM Capt. Amrinder Singh and various BJP leaders are every day on look out to find some issue to ridicule Kejriwal. The issue of SYL canal is being raked up to corner Kejriwal and the Congress with Badal exhorting the people to be prepared for struggle to save the waters of the state. He accuses the Congress and AAP of being inimical to the interests of the state and hell bent upon depriving the state from its water. He says that each Punjabi shall have to struggle to save every single drop of water as if AAP and Congress succeed in their nefarious designs then no one could save Punjab from becoming a desert. Badal reminded the people that while Congress had signed various water agreements to deprive state of its waters, the AAP was now trying its level best to ensure that these agreements were implemented at the earliest.
The Chief Minister pointed out that Kejriwal hails from Haryana so he was naturally inclined towards safeguarding the interests of his state. He said that Kejriwal has no love for Punjab or its people and his sole intention was to wrest political power in the state to benefit his native state Haryana. Apprising the people about the affidavit submitted by AAP Government in Delhi on the SYL issue, the Punjab Chief Minister says that Delhi Government has said that the stand of Punjab Government on this issue would disintegrate the country.
Worry of these parties has doubled eversince the traditional Baisakhi Mela of January 14 at Talwandi Sabo near Bathinda where a large number of people turned out at the venue of the political rally of AAP where the show was organized by local leaders and no senior leader was expected from outside. The SAD-BJP and Congress also organized their separate rallies and there were allegations that the official machinery tried to prevent bus operators from hiring their vehicles to AAP to ferry people to the rally.
The AAP in a bid to corner Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has asked him not to shed crocodile tears on the issue of drug abuse which his party did not tackle when it was in power in the state. The AAP leadership has also accused the Badal clan and the Congress of being soft towards the drug mafia.
Although the political chess board in Punjab is being set much before the elections, only time will expose real popularity and strength of each party.
(The writer is a senior journalist)
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