Strong tremors in Punjab's political domain as farmer leaders float Morcha to fight polls

 

 

 

Sangharsh to Siyasat: Major tremors in Punjab’s electoral domain with farmers body entering arena

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

A new political formation under the banner of Sanyukat Samaj Morcha has finally emerged from the success of the historic farmers struggle started and led by Punjab that was the most peaceful and the longest at the global level in recent history. It was a struggle that in essence was for the protection of the rights of the consumers and save the people from the corporate greed, not just the survival of farms and the farmers. In Punjab, it had assumed the proportions of mass struggle involving almost every section.

In Punjab, the success of this struggle has been perceived as victory over Delhi.

A section of the farmer organisations that commanded this struggle, 22 to be precise, has decided to take the struggle to yet another arena. This Morcha has decided to take plunge in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Punjab due in February 22.

The Morcha would be led by its senior leader Balbir Singh Rajewal who would be the chief ministerial face.

It is pertinent to mention here that only the Shiromani Akali Dal has a chief ministerial face so far in its president Sukhbir Singh Badal who has been in the field campaigning for his party for a long time, even at the risk of confrontation with the farmers organisations.

This is the only such struggle that had maintained distance from the political parties and perhaps that was also one of the reasons for its grand success.

Going by the standard set by this struggle, these leaders who have floated the Samaj Morcha now can’t be part of the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organisation that steered the struggle.

The more than a year long struggle at the gates of Delhi has only been suspended following the repeal of three farm laws that was the main demands. However, the consensus at the time of withdrawal of the struggle was to take up the remaining issues subsequently.

The decision of these organisations to announce this political formation would further shake up the electoral domain thereby providing the fifth and crucial dimension to the electoral discourse. This Morcha has the potential to dictate the poll outcome.

At the same time, yet another dimension is that the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) that has the largest following, especially in the Malwa hinterland and nine Leftist organisations, have  decided to stay aloof from this move.

Four formations were already competing in Punjab in the electoral arena and they include the ruling Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party that would enter the field in understanding with Punjab Lok Congress formed by former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Samyukt Akali Dal led by Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa.

Going by the loud thinking of some ambitious farmer leaders, this development is  not unexpected. However, it can’t be overlooked that the dynamics of struggle is entirely different from the electoral dynamics. Punjab’s political matrix is characterised by yet another dimension as its religio-political dynamics is known to dictate the political dynamics but not necessarily the electoral dynamics.

The mass struggles earlier were the characteristic of the Shiromani Akali Dal, the only political party that was  the creation of the historic Sikh struggle for the liberation of the gurdwaras that had ended with the formation of the statutory Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee under the Sikh Gurdwara Act in 1925 but the  struggles for Sikh concerns continued over the years.

The decision by these farmer leaders to enter the political space might lead to major disruptions and upset every permutation and combination in the political domain.

Interestingly, although the farmers constituency used to be represented by the Akali Dal since decades, a major shift was observed in favour of the Congress in 2017 Assembly elections. The Congress is likely to get the first hit as that shift might get neutralised to a large extent. Of course, the electoral arena is undergoing polarisation in favour of the Congress with consolidation of the marginalised sections whose number is in a position to dictate the electoral outcome in case adequate supplementary support.

The Shiromani Akali Dal, despite having suffered the worst in 2017, continued to keep its cadre base by and large intact. And this cadre base is mainly in the countryside. This base is unlikely to get eroded with the entry of Samaj Morcha for various reasons. After all, the Akali Dal continues to be the voice of the Sikhs by way of controlling the SGPC.

The BJP does not matter much and this is the party that was the worst hit in Punjab due to farmer struggle and is dependent upon the support from fractured crutches of Capt Amarinder Singh and Dhindsa.

The Aam Aadmi Party is known to have been trying to win over leaders like Rajewal but that chapter now stands closed. The AAP is at its own.

For the aspirants it is now open market.

The electoral space in Punjab has never been as crowded as now with five formations in the field.

From another perspective, the people in Punjab have now variety to choose from to end the Congress-Akali rotation that the AAP had failed to do in 2017 and collapsed even after emerging as the main opposition with nine out of 20 MLAs having deserted its ranks.

The baggage of 2017 is now unlikely to matter much.

The farmer struggle had focussed on survival issues and the model of development. This struggle has questioned the development model rooted in the free market.

Would a new model now emerge under the changing electoral dynamics? Only one leader has so far been talking about his model and he happens to be Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.

 Punjab needs more than just hope.