Will they, won’t they? This is the big political question in Punjab on the probability of arch-rivals and Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (dINDIA) allies, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), joining hands in Punjab for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.
Ask the people of Punjab and the talk of the alliance seems trivial to them ahead of the state’s issues. News18 travelled across Punjab last week to find that the people have more on their minds — from being happy with the AAP’s delivery of free electricity to nearly 85% of the households in the state to being upset over the still-raging drug menace, and flights continuing to Canada as jobs here are far and few to come about.
“Punjab is a state which has always thrown up political surprises. Who would have thought the AAP could win four Lok Sabha seats in 2014 here amid a Modi wave at the Centre? Or the Congress could win in the 2017 assembly elections, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power in the Centre? Or that the AAP could win 92 seats in the 2022 state polls? Or that soon after that big win, the AAP would lose a parliamentary by-poll from the CM seat of Sangrur,” asks Satwinder Singh, a research scholar at Punjabi University, sipping lassi at Patiala’s famous Shahi Lassi shop.
He says Punjab’s vote is always on state issues, distinct from the rest of the country. Punjab was the only northern state where the Congress won eight of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, while it was wiped out elsewhere. Singh says AAP voters won’t vote for the Congress in an alliance. Sitting at the next table, Amarinder Gill says his vote is for the AAP. “I am getting zero electricity bills, both in the city and in my village. If AAP-Congress ally in 2024, I will have to think about what to do,” he says.
Patiala is a seat which exemplifies the AAP-Congress rivalry — with the AAP winning the parliamentary seat for the first time in 2014 before Preneet Kaur won it back for the Congress in 2019. In the 2022 assembly polls, the AAP won the Patiala assembly seat for the first time in two decades, ending Captain Amarinder Singh’s reign. Right now, Singh is out of the Congress and his wife and MP Preneet Kaur stands suspended from the Congress. Both the AAP and Congress would want to contest from Patiala.
News18 drove down to Amritsar where AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann were holding a big rally. AAP supporters here wish for an alliance with the Congress for 2024, claiming the alliance could sweep all 13 Punjab seats if that happens, and deny the Akali Dal and BJP any wins. “It could be seven seats for the Congress (Congress sitting seats) and six for the AAP in the alliance,” a senior AAP leader told News18. However, AAP supporters say the party can do well alone, too, as it has the strength and will get a good result.
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: DRUGS
Near Jalandhar is Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, who is now firmly at the centerstage of Punjabi consciousness, with Mann putting Singh’s photograph in all government offices and wearing a yellow turban as Singh did. People come from far to see Singh’s ancestral house here as well as a museum which is under renovation. A group of women that has come here from Sangrur, Mann’s stronghold, praise the free electricity scheme, saying it has been a big relief.
However, even these women say that the drug abuse is as rampant as before, with little being done on the ground to check it. “We request the CM to put the drug issue on top priority…he has done some other good works, but the drug issue requires immediate handling. Youngsters are still dying,” say these women. Majinder Singh, a village local, says drugs were rampant in the Akali rule and not much has changed so far. “God knows who are the people they catch,” he says.
The Mann government says it has given 36,000 government jobs in the last 1.5 years in power and is in the process of generating many more jobs in the private sector through investments coming into Punjab. However, villagers in Khatkar Kalan say jobs are still too far and few. “Youngsters whose families have the means to spend money or sell land go to Canada. Those who are not able to go, venture aimlessly here and fall into the trap of drugs. The story continues,” villagers say.
An hour away, in Jallupur Khera, which is the village of now jailed Khalistani sympathiser Amritpal Singh, the talk is more about drugs than Khalistan. News18 found at least three-four drug addicts in the area around the village lying on the ground and speaking incoherently on Thursday. “Akali Dal went out of power on the issue of drugs and incidents of sacrilege. Nothing was delivered on these counts by the Congress and it was also voted out of power in 2022. If the AAP does not deliver quickly on these burning issues of Punjab, it could also face reverses in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” locals here say.
PUNJAB WILL BE DRUG-FREE SOON: AAP MINISTER
AAP’s education minister Harjot Singh Bains told News18 that what was not done in the last 75 years had been done by the party in the past 1.5 years. “On anti-corruption, no one was spared, even our minister and MLA was arrested and jailed. At least 85% of the households are getting free electricity in these times of inflation. We have given 36,000 government jobs in Punjab…around 80 lakh people have received free treatment in over 600 Aam Aadmi clinics in Punjab. Our education model will be world class…a beginning has been made,” Bains told News18.
He admitted that drugs are a big problem in Punjab, but the state will soon be drug-free. “It will take some time…the CM has put his foot down. We are catching the big fish, not just the drug abusers. The big sharks are being identified. In my constituency, property of a drug dealer was auctioned,” Bains said.
The Lok Sabha election seems to be a four-horse race in Punjab with the Congress, AAP, Akali Dal and BJP set to contest independently for now. An alliance of either set of parties may mean a surprise could be in the offing again in Punjab in 2024.
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