Skip to main content

People want change but AAP collapsing in Punjab due to failure of Kejriwal to understand psyche of Punjabis

  

 

 

AAP collapsing in Punjab as  Kejriwal fails to understand psyche of Punjabis

 

Ground Zero

 

Jagtar Singh

 

The situation is ironic.

The Aam Aadmi Party is collapsing in Punjab, the state where people still aspire for change as the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal are now perceived to be the carbon copies of each other with just marginal difference.

The reason has to be found in the perception of Punjab by its central leadership.

Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi Chief Minister who created this party and continues have his iron grip over it, has failed to understand the psyche of Punjab and the Punjabis.

Punjab is one state whose religio-political dynamics is different from all other states in the country. The parameters and the framework that form the strategy of the parties in other states are not relevant here.

Punjab is still the most secular state despite the fact that its political dynamics is dictated by the Sikh religio-political dynamics. Even the period of militancy that lasted more than a decade failed to cause much damage to this secular fabric. A perception was created that the Sikh militants were against the Hindus but the fact is that about 60 per cent of those who were gunned down by the militants as per the Home Ministry figures were the Sikhs. Not even one Hindu was attacked when the Sikhs were targeted in Delhi and other places for three days beginning  November 1, 1984 following assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her security guards to avenge Operation Bluestar, the army attack on the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in June 1984.

Sikhism preaches love, brotherhood, universalism and dignity of labour and service. The Punjabis share composite culture and heritage although there has been tension over status of Punjabi language from time to time in the past.

People elected AAP as the main opposition in 2017 Assembly elections in Punjab relegating the Akali Dal to third position. However, AAP started disintegrating overtime and from 20 MLAs, it has been reduced to 11 MLAs. The defections continue although the people in general favour change and end to wheat-paddy rotation in politics between Akali Dal and the Congress.

Kejriwal should know that although the BJP has been in alliance with the Akali Dal for almost two and a half decades, the Hindutva failed to take roots here. Kejriwal presents himself as a soft copy of Hindutva. The RSS, of course, has expanded. He can’t impress people in this state by reciting Hanuman Chalisa.

His strategy to offer some sort of economic package by guaranteeing 300 units of power per month too has been blunted by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi who is moving fast to fulfil the promises made by the Congress in 2017. He has already provided relief to various sections by reducing power tariff considerably and is extending other concessions like basic slab of free power. Several other  reliefs  are in the pipeline.

The people want change but Kejriwal has failed to translate that feeling into decision making. There is difference between feeling for change and the final decision making.

Kejriwal apparently did not trust the Punjab leadership and now that relationship seems to have been reciprocated by the people.

Certain rules of the Punjab political and electoral dynamics are unwritten.

One of the rules is that the chief minister  should be a Sikhs and this is accepted by every section. However, this need not be stated publicly. The Congress too committed a blunder when it was recently asserted by one of its senior leaders in Delhi with Punjab roots that only a Sikh leader would replace Capt Amarinder Singh.

The party has failed to project a face in Punjab all these years and all the more so when the people are already deciding as to whom they would vote in February 2022.

A sizeable section of the people aspire for change but AAP has failed to come up to their expectations.

The options are closing fast.

Punjab is a regional power and Kejriwal should have known it and accepted this fact.

 

 

 

 

 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed

  Sinister and deep design to divide Sikhs and Hindus in Canada needs to be exposed Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Let us decode deeper design in what apparently seems to be deliberate distortion of facts in case of the so-called Sikh-Hindu clash in Canada to project it as confrontation between the two communities. The Indian media and the establishment gave it out as a communal conflict and attack on a Mandir, the Hindu place of worship. Let us first put the matter straight from the evidence available in the form of videos relating to every dimension of this narrative and the statements. It was neither a Sikh-Hindu clash nor an attack on the Hindu temple per se. It was a protest by the SFJ activists against the Indian consulate organizing a camp there. Such protests have been held against the consulate outside the gurdwaras too as per the record. The saner statement issued by the Hindu Federation of November 4 is very important in the interpretation of this narra...
Post a Comment
Read more

History seems to be ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again

  History ominously repeating itself to drive Punjab into religio-political minefield again Ground Zero Jagtar Singh This headline is not rooted in some sort of pessimism. The signals are loud and clear. The onus to counter such signals is on the Punjab government. History in Punjab seems to be repeating itself to push Punjab into yet another cycle of what can be termed as the avoidable toxic situation. That cycle has now impacted even geo-political relations of India with some countries, especially Canada where the Sikhs are settled in sizeable numbers. In the context of the Sikhs as a globalized people, it is pertinent to mention that even in United Kingdom House of Commons, the representation of the Sikhs is now in double digit after the recent elections. Punjab is still impacted by the tremors of religio-political   dynamics that got triggered in 1978 with the Sikh-Nirankari clash on the Baisakhi on April 13 at Amritsar, the religious capital of the Sikhs. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial

  Two binaries emerging in Punjab’s multi-polar polls where last 72 hours are always crucial   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, May 28: The inter-play of socio-political forces in Punjab in the run up to the June 1 Lok Sabha elections is unprecedented. This is besides that established fact that the religio-political dynamics of this state has always been different from the rest of India, even when the boundaries of this country touched the Khyber Pass connecting with Afghanistan. It is for the first time that so many main political players are in the fray independently thereby making the contest multi-polar. Then there are two other eruptions in the electoral matrix making the multi-polar contest all the more interesting, and also important for future dynamics of not only Punjab but also India as the roots of this phenomena are not in too distant a past but in not so recent period of militancy. It is after decades that Punjab is going to the polls without a...
Post a Comment
Read more