Change without changing the system is meaningless in Punjab that has turned into auction house going by the bids
Is Punjab
for sale going by the offers to voters that have been made by political parties?
Ground Zero
Jagtar Singh
Punjab that
witnessed more than a decade long militant political struggle in eighties and a
successful agrarian struggle last year that attracted global attraction seems
to have turned suddenly apolitical in the run up to the electoral battle.
This is the
summing up for the electoral narrative that characterise the Assembly elections
for which the polling is scheduled for February 20 with just hours to go.
The political
formations have made their bids taking for guaranteed that the voters in this
border state are for sale. Paradoxically, this is one state whose
religio-political dynamics is different from all other states but this is for
the first time that this characteristic has been blurred. It is the open market
that has taken over.
If one
political party offered Rs. 1000 to women as monthly assistance, another has
raised the bid to Rs. 1100 with eight gas cylinders per annum. One can’t say
what would happen when gas pipelines are laid in the state like in Chandigarh.
The parties
that have offered the bids are the ruling Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, the
Akali Dal-BSP alliance, the combine led by the BJP. The Sanyukt Samaj Morcha is
also in the fray.
At the
political level, these parties have ceased to be different from each other.
It is not
without reason that the mafias that used to be talked about in 2017 continue to
be part of the narrative in 2022.
The unprecedented
agrarian struggle that had brought about a new awakening in the rural society is
not even being talked about.
The stakes
for the Congress, and also the BJP in turn, are very high.
The Congress
can hope for revival at the national level and Rahul Gandhi can establish
himself in case the party in Punjab succeeds in retaining respectable space.
The BJP, for this very reason, would see
to it that this party gets decimated. The BJP led alliance is not at all in any
position to gain much.
The way the
BJP leadership at the highest level is giving so much importance is not without
reason. The BJP has never been an effective political formation at its own in Punjab
and the party has been playing second fiddle to the Akali Dal since 1997 and
this alliance broke last year under pressure from the agrarian struggle. The
Sangh Parivar seems to have some long term strategy.
Interestingly,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has targeted mainly the Congress and the AAP in his
speeches.
What is
lacking in the entire narrative is as to how the degenerated and brazenly corrupt system is to be
rejuvenated to make it people oriented.
Political arrogance
has become part of the ruling elite culture.
The
political leaders eat at the houses of the poor and play with the kids or are
seen sitting at some dhabas only during the elections. They distance themselves
from the people within a minute of coming into power. This is part of
degeneration.
The thrust
during the last two decades has been on privatisation. Now the emphasis is
returning to health and education.
What is not
being talked about is that no party has assured that the family members of the
leaders would not get preferential jobs or sand mines. This includes political
appointments.
No party
talks of participatory democracy or consensus based policy decisions.
No party
talks of the common man being treated with dignity.
Why should
people in cities and villages continue to talk of paved streets and drainage in
this otherwise once the most advanced state in the country? Even clean potable
water is not available.
The political
parties talk of VIKAAS.
The people
elect their representatives not to make money but focus on Vikas.
Why should
there be so many categories of school teachers and that too on contract?
The entire
system needs rejuvenation and none of the political formations has given any
credible assurance.
The political
parties seem to have taken for guaranteed that Punjab is for sale.
Any change
without changing the system would be meaningless.
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