Aam Aadmi Party rolls out a potent mix in Punjab pollscape

CHANDIGARH: In politics as in sports, often all that it takes for a team of underdogs to win are a few good players. Far from the wide roads and glitzy malls of New Delhi, where anti-establishment protests are as much fashion as cause, the Aam Aadmi Party has put up a bunch of them in Punjab. And a growing crowd of supporters seem to be cheering from the baseline. A compelling AAP story is unfolding, of all places, in Punjab.

In constituency after constituency, Sangrur or Ludhiana, Patiala or Khadoor Sahib, the traditional Akali-Congress fight is being comprehensively turned into a three-cornered contest by a list of carefully-chosen candidates, something that has begun to worry the two major stakeholders.

In Patiala, where Preneet Kaur is fighting for a fourth LS stint, Dr Dharamvir Gandhi, the AAP candidate facing off against her, is giving her the jitters, especially in the urban pockets. A popular cardiologist, he is being taken seriously by both the Congress and Akali camps.

Close by, in Ludhiana, HS Phoolka, the man known for his legal help to victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, is making matters complicated for his rivals. And in Sangrur satirist Bhagwant Mann is emerging as one of the party's best bets in the state.

His poll call of 'Na bhooki (poppy husk) ko, na daaru (alcohol) ko, vote denge jhadu ko' has become a bit of an anthem among the youth in a region ravaged by drug abuse.

AAP's choice of candidates in Punjab a respected ragi, Bhai Baldeep Singh, in Khadoor Sahib; champion of beleaguered Kutch farmers Himmat Singh Shergill in Anandpur Sahib has been clever and imaginative. So have its promises and the larger agenda. Pandit Ramkishen, a former Janata Party MP from Bharatpur and perhaps one of the oldest surviving Socialists at 86 in India, has an explanation.

"Where urbanization is rapid, an organization like AAP, rebellious by nature and out to break social and cultural barriers, is bound to strike a chord," he says. "It has tapped the spirit of revolt and fi ght for justice that has always been part of Punjab's history. Arvind Kejriwal's announcement that his party would re-investigate the 1984 riots, an emotional issue AAP candidates are exploiting everywhere in Punjab, has taken away from the Akalis one of their core Sikh issues.

They're presenting to their audience some Sikh farmers facing eviction in Gujarat, clouding the Narendra Modi charm, if there was any, in the state. "Above all else, the SAD-BJP government will have to deal with widespread anti-incumbency sentiments," says businessman Balraj Sharma in Chandigarh. "Corruption, of course, remains a major issue here. AAP may just surprise many of us."