Too much of the nation’s time and resources are frittered away in state polls since the sane proposal that elections to Parliament and Assemblies be held simultaneously has not been pursued and implemented. Every now and then the Central government is on tenterhooks and decision-making comes to a virtual halt at the Centre and in the state going to polls.
The Prime Minister, for instance, addressed over two dozen rallies across Bihar as the state went to polls. Being virtually the lone crowd-puller in the BJP, he needed to make himself available to the state unit to boost the party’s fortunes. Ministers and bureaucrats of the state government are invariably at their unproductive peak in the run-up to Assembly elections.
While the next big battlefield would be UP, Punjab deserves a deep study as it is a sensitive border state. Punjab polls are nearly two years away, but some preparations have already begun. The failed messiah of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, has set his eyes now on Punjab, viewing it as a soft target with the Akali-BJP combine expected to face the onslaught of anti-incumbency due to perceived misgovernance and the Congress in disarray with factions led by former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and present PCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa at dagger’s drawn.
It may be presumptuous for Kejriwal to hope to win in Punjab, but he can well harbour ambitions of riding piggyback on Congress shoulders. Wily and clever as he is, Kejriwal sees an opportunity in Punjab. The new buzzword in politics being polarisation—of castes and religion—Kejriwal is at it already.
His recent statement that had the guilty been punished after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, incidents like Gujarat 2002 and Dadri would not have happened, and “such intolerance” would not have spread, not only reflected his pitch that the Sikhs have been short-changed but also amounts to a dig at the Congress. As it is, his diatribes against the BJP are relentless and direct.
As a first step, he is looking to polarise Sikh voters by playing to their hurt sentiments at being given short shrift in letting off the perpetrators of mayhem against thousands of their kin in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984. On the 31st anniversary of the anti-Sikh riots, Kejriwal, along with his deputy Manish Sisodia, distributed enhanced compensation cheques of Rs 5 lakh each to over 1,300 families who lost their loved ones.
The Akalis are up against charges of collusion in drug peddling, which is proving to be a big menace, illegal mining, monopolising transport business and shielding the goons. Corruption is rampant and maladministration is evident in the state. Sadly, there is a deep nexus between some Akali politicians and the drug syndicates and the state is suffering grievously. Making matters worse, the Akalis and the BJP are working at cross purposes. BJP leaders have of late begun to accuse the Akali Dal of colluding with drug runners. There is little effort by the BJP to revitalise its state unit. It is being looked upon as an ineffective and weak party, and its traditional vote banks are slipping away.
Clearly, AAP’s move to fight the elections in Punjab is a clever and calculated one. Unless the Akali-BJP combine and the Congress wake up, it would be too late for them to retrieve lost ground and the beneficiary may well be AAP.
k.kamlendra@gmail.com
Kanwar is a former journalist