Punjab the only state in which AAP was able to win seats

CHANDIGARH: Punjab is the only state in which the Aam Aadmi Party was able to actually win seats, getting four, amid a nationwide BJP sweep. Apart from resentment against the incumbent Shiromani Akali Dal, the BJP’s allies, AAP party also tapped into an affinity for radicals that has a long history in parts of the state.

This came to the fore back in 1967 when Sat Pal Dang, a trade union worker, defeated the then Punjab chief minister Gurmukh Singh Musafir of the Congress in assembly elections. In Dang, Punjab found an apna banda or people’s man, which helped the communist candidate win by a handsome margin.

The constituencies that AAP won in the general election — Sangrur, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala — cover areas in which such sentiment has old roots. The empathy for rebels in these constituencies, especially Sangrur and Faridkot, was ideal ground in which AAP could establish themselves.

“It is this DNA of radicalism which the AAP candidates articulated. Not only did they further sharpen it but also gave it a right direction,” said historian MJS Waraich. He compared Dharamvir Gandhi, who defeated three-time Congress MP Preneet Kaur in Patiala, to Dang.

“People in this region prefer those who are easily accessible and approachable,” he said. The AAP candidates came across as one of their own, Waraich said. Kaur is the wife of former chief minister Amarinder Singh, who himself won in Amritsar against Arun Jaitle.