Ahead of Bihar polls, Litti-chokha parties for Biharis in Punjab

CHANDIGARH: A breakfast invite from the local BJP unit last week surprised Jalandhar sports good factory labourers Ramesh Jha, 47, and Subodh Kumar, 39.

About 80km away in Amritsar's Lakhuwal and Romana Chak villages, their mates from Gopalganj, Purnia and Madhubhani in Bihar, who work as contract farmers, too, were treated to Bihari delicacies "littichokha" and "ghugni" in air-conditioned comfort. The Bihar polls have come to Punjab, and BJP is homing in on the 30-lakh strong Bihari workers in Punjab ahead of the assembly polls in their home state.

Though migration to Punjab has declined according to the 2001 Census, BJP is doing its best to woo the migrant vote.

While most Biharis are employed in the roughly 6,000 small to medium scale knitwear factories and 200 woollen yarn mills of Ludhiana and with dry fruit traders in Amritsar, a significant number works as daily wagers with rich farmers. Others ply rickshaw and autos in key towns.

In the industrial hub of Ludhiana, the parties are campaigning the smart way, banking on social networking sites to reach voters.

They have worked out their poll math, as a 2007 Punjab Agricultural University survey estimated that Ludhiana has more than 10 lakh migrants against its 50 lakh population.

BJP's Punjab affairs in charge Prabhat Jha, who's from Darbhanga, is focusing on youngsters."You Biharis are hardworking and don't form unions. You've shown honesty and dignity , be it in the southern or the eastern part of the country or during the Green Revolution. It's unfortunate that people of Bihar, especially the youth, did not get the recognition. Now is the time," he says.

During interactions BJP leaders hardsell PM Narendra Modi's "Make In India" campaign, setting up of a Rs 1,600-crore of mega skill university and employment generation plans.