AAP is new Akali Dal, goes all out to woo panthic voters

LAMBI/FARIDKOT: From punishing the guilty in the threedecade old 1984 anti-Sikh riots to raking up the numerous incidents of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib in the run-up to elections – Aam Aadmi Party is the new Akali Dal in Punjab.

The new entrant in the largely bipolar politics of Punjab is following a careful strategy of courting the traditional Panthic votebank, which had largely been faithful to Shiromani Akali Dal.

As the parties enter the last leg of campaigning before February 4 elections, AAP is openly taking up the traditional issues of panth (or religion). Kultar Singh, AAP’s candidate from Kotkapura in Faridkot district, says, “Pulna nahin hai (Don’t you forget it).” He is referring to the first incident where pages of Guru Granth Sahib were found torn in the nearby Bargari village.

Though the village falls in the reserved Jaitu Assembly constituency, it is reverberating in nearby Kotkapura and all the way to chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s Lambi constituency.

AAP’s Lambi candidate Jar nail Singh is also talking about it openly. “Yes I have been telling people that this is a serious issue and the Badal government has not been pursuing it.

In fact, 3-4 serious crime incidents like Nabha jail break have happened after that. All these cases have been solved but not the desecration incidents,” he says. Singh, a former Delhi journalist, had lobbed a shoe at former finance minister P Chidambaram after he had refused to reply to a question on 1984 riots.

Singh had quit his job at a leading Hindi language daily and entered politics. “People remember this incident. They appreciate my sacrifice,” he says. In public meetings, he openly speaks about bringing 1984 riots accused to book.

While AAP is wooing the traditional Sikh voters in the name of panth, Akalis are shying away from it. A leader of Dal Khalsa, the radical organization which regularly boycotts Punjab elections, told ET, “Akali Dal under Sukhbir Badal (deputy chief minister) has changed. It is no longer asking for votes in the name of ‘panth’.

We remember how just 3-4 days before elections Akalis used to play the card ‘panth khatre mein hai’ (Panth is in danger) through the gurudwaras, which they control.

This would go in their favour and Sikhs would vote for Akalis. But they don’t do this now.”

The leader also attributed this change with the growing realisation among Akalis that if they seek votes in the name of the religion they would also have to fulfil that agenda. “It is difficult to fulfill that agenda because the most important priority on that agenda is punishing the anti-Sikh riot accused,” he said.