Home constituency of a big leader is always a wonderful subject for study. So, Lambi was definitely worth a visit. I was working with The Indian Express at that time, but if I gained any insights in Lambi, it was due to the help extended by friends like Mr Balwant Garg and Mr Bakhtaur Dhillon, both journalists with an ear close to the ground.
As I found later, the editor of The Tribune,
Mr Hari Jai Singh, was also in the constituency the same day
and his piece also appeared on the day this piece was
published by the Express. Click the hyperlink at the end of
the story to read Mr Hari Jai Singh’s piece.
Lambi gets three choices, but does it have any?
S P Singh
“Parivar kinna wadda hai? (How big is your family?)’’ I ask a 35-year-old Amarjit Singh in village Channo and pat comes the reply, “Sadian das votan ne ji (We are ten votes).”
Social paradigms shift as you move into Lambi, the native constituency of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. People talk only in terms of votes, and every new face is recognised either as a journalist, or a CID man trying to gauge mood in various villages.
Kuchha houses, dusty village lanes, hundreds of unemployed youth in each village, and only two graduates in last twenty years, neither of whom got a job. You would think with such a scenario, Channo, less than three km from Badal village, could be one village where Badal would find difficult to get a vote. Hold on, for it is an overwhelmingly pro-Badal village.
Vikaas hi bahut keeta hai ji,” Jeet Singh tells us, and as an example tells us about the high school which has been upgraded to 10+2. If in the motley crowd that surrounded us, there was no one whose kids have studied past 5th grade, it is different matter.
And if people sometimes cannot see what may be so obvious to an outsider, don’t blame them. Life in Lambi revolves around two camps within the Badal family, and a third dimension added by the family of Gurnam Singh Abulkhurana. That approximately defines the outer parametres of deliberate application of mind by Lambi’s electorate.
In Channo, Amarjit, a bawaria Sikh, and his two brothers jointly own four acres of land, apparently not enough to sustain the joint family of fourteen, including ten adults. So all three brothers are daily wagers too, weaving coarse tokras (baskets) used in villages.
“Somedays, if we are lucky, we make Rs 50, on other days the entire day may pass without any work,” he says. It is a pitiful situation, Amarjit has been working for 15 years now after dropping out of school (of course he was helping his father in work even then), and his dream hasn’t changed since then: he wants someday to buy a bicycle.
So you think Lamb’s voters lack awareness? Hold again, for you may be mistaken. “Yes, now we get drinking water at our homes. We have taps,” Nachattar Singh beams as he tells you, praising the Chief Minister for some scheme which brought him the water. “So how many taps would this area have?” It was just a query to keep up the conversation with the villager. “Forty-two,” he says, astonishing you with the exactness, and then it is the turn of the rest of the motley crowd to impress you as some tell you about the six-inch pipe that brings water, others about some Rs 2.5 crore scheme.
Keep driving, and catch up with another crowd of 20-odd men in village Maan. “The fight is an equal battle between Badal and Mahesh (Inder Singh Badal, his cousin),” they tell you. So who will they vote for? “Jehra Badal Sahib de kam karda ji, uh Badal nu. Jehra Mahesh kiyan de kamm karde uh Mahesh nu, (Those who work for Badal will vote for him, those who work for Mahesh will vote for him).” Life is simple here.
And no one notices the harsh reality that for years, they have been working for Badals and by all indicators, won’t have many choices in future. As you drive along the Bathinda-Lambi road, for a long time you are mesmerised by the beautiful Kinnow-laden trees on both sides, all belonging to the Badals. If suddenly a huge white bungalow rises up, it is Manpreet Badal’s. There are entire villages which work for these families, and no one talks of class differences here.
Politics of patronisation is written into Lambi’s sub-text, and no one makes any bones about it. “We have always helped anyone who came to us,” says Bhupinder Pal Singh Dhillon associated for decades with the Badals and now looking after Mahesh’s campaign.
Patronisation is required if you live in Lambi, most of whose 67 villages fall under just one police thana, a central entity in the constituency’s politics. It has made news too often for raids by court-appointed warrant officers. False cases in Lambi do not make for news anymore and there have been instances of political opponents being threatened not to entre police stations to complain.
Congress’ Gurnam Singh Abulkhurana, who has traditionally contested against Badal and had lost by over 28,000 votes in 1997, again bagged the party ticket and, with son Jagpal Singh directing the campaign, is hoping to cash in on the Congress wave, if there is one.
“We have always helped out those who were entangled in false cases by the Badals,” Jagpal Singh told The Indian Express and now hopes years of fighting for people allegedly harassed by those in power will vote for him.
But Badal’s cousin and next-door neighbour Mahesh Inder Singh Badal, who joined Congress a few weeks back but rebelled after denial of ticket, is posing a bigger challenge to the Chief Minister who hasn’t made many visits to the area but has made sure that his wife and Rajya MP son Sukhbir Badal make up for his absence.
“This time there is a fight because in Mahesh, people see someone able to counter the Chief Minister’s family. Mahesh enjoys goodwill, being son of highly respected Teja Singh who was a mentor of CM Badal but shunned him at the fag end of his life,” say political observers.
Badal-Mahesh-Abulkhurana is the only issue here. Schools, dispensaries, jobs are neither promised, nor asked for. Any talk of such issues is bound to provoke village jathedar to tell you how much have Badal Sahib done for his people. If you can’t see it, God help you, or the Lambi SHO.
Many see the key to Lambi results in the cluster of 25 plus villages called Sarawan villages inhabited by Majha-origin people, since the rest of the electorate has been traditionally divided nearly equally between rivals for power. The electorate in Chappianwali, Kolianwali, Dabwali Dhab, Sarawan Bodla, Karam Patti, Kandukhera and dozens of these villages knows the value of their vote, and many quote the price too.
“Last time I got Rs 500 note for each of my family’s seven votes. “Par uddon hazaar rupayiye wala note chhapda hi nahi si. Ais waari mazaa aayoo (But then Rs 1000 denomination note was not in print. It will be better times this time),” said a villager in Arniwaala.
That is the kind of awareness in Lambi where the political debate’s parametres are limited. This time there are three choices, but frankly, are there any?
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
PUNJAB POLL — AN
OVERVIEW
Lambi and beyond: Yeh dil mange more
Hari Jaisingh
Lambi, February 10
A visit to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's constituency is
an eye-opener. It is a little paradise in Punjab.
It has all possible modern facilities and amenities—pucca
well-lit streets, out-water nullahs, a sport club, a stadium,
health centres and what not. Farmers are happy with free
electricity and other benefits that go with Jat power.
Even Scheduled Caste and Backward Class people have benefited
from Mr Badal's various plans—the Shagun Scheme, old age
pension, free five-marla plots and 100 units of free electricity
for domestic use, etc.
There are big water drains in each village. The problem of
water- logging in the area, too, has been solved by digging
drains.
Voters in Lambi are, indeed, a privileged lot. One feels the
difference between Lambi and beyond. As soon as the constituency
area ends, the road becomes bumpy and jumpy.
Lambi is all set to put Mr Badal on the victory pedestal, though
with a reduced margin.
The Punjab voter today is both assertive and demanding. The
setting is very much akin to what a famous soft-drink
advertisement conveyed: "Yeh dil mange more," which means moving
away from the old dictum: "Thoray se guzara hota hai." That is
as an English poet put it: "Contentment is the true basis of
happiness in life."
In a way, this exposes a serious flaw in the prevailing highly
selective and lopsided approach to development.
Dependence on
government doles is a double-edged weapon. It cuts both ways: it
gives power, but at the same time, it also cuts the very silken
threads of power, if not properly handled.
The problem with Mr Badal is that he has not been able to manage
his instruments of power for his long-term political benefits.
In any case, the political face of Punjab is changing, so is the
political arithmetic.
Democracy has turned a full circle in Punjab.
The campaigning in the state is shrill but colourful in tune
with the temperament of the people.
There is no fear in the air. The gun of militancy years seems to
have been silenced. There are pockets of frustration and
discontent across the state. But life moves on. So are the
politicians seeking votes at any price.
There is nothing like solid vote blocks in different sub-regions
of Doaba, Majha and Malwa.
The BJP stronghold in urban Punjab looks vulnerable to Congress
challenge. The SAD's traditional rural base is somewhat shaky
but not lost. The Panthic Morcha may cut into its votebank in
some close-contest constituencies.
The people may not be all enthusiastic. But they are not
disinterested either. Their only frustration is that the leaders
of the SAD, the BJP, the Congress, the CPM, the CPI, the BSP and
the Panthic Morcha are not addressing the issues that concern
them.
"Who cares for poor conditions at primary health centres and
schools, lack of drinking water and inadequate farm returns?" an
old-timer told me bitterly.
"Where are jobs for
educated youngsters," a youth remarked.
Frustration is writ large on the faces of youth. Of course, they
are not without hope. But they wish to have a better deal.
It is the educated
jobless youth who in the past were ready combustible material
for militancy in Punjab. They would hate to see a revival of
those nightmarish days.
"We want a more responsive leadership and administration that
can set in motion a new thought process so that hard realities
of development are handled properly," this is the common cry of
youth. "We should take Punjab on a fast track of development.
Politicians indulge in shadow-boxing. They talk of irrelevant
matters whereas the real issues remain unaddressed. Take the
case of the SYL canal. Why have they failed to settle this
matter with Haryana? Everything is left to courts to decide.
This is not acceptable," an old-timer stated.
"Chief Minister
Parkash Singh Badal could have taken the initiative to sort out
the SYL canal issue with his Haryana counterpart, Mr O. P.
Chautala, utilising his friendly terms with the latter.
Development matters should not become part of votebank
politics," a lawyer in Amritsar remarked in anguish.
In the absence of main issues coming to the fore, a lot of
trivial matters have become part of competitive politics of
different political parties.
Of course, one thing everybody concedes is that the biggest
contribution of Mr Badal in Punjab during the past five years
has been Hindu-Sikh harmony. "This is not a small thing. This in
itself is a big achievement," an active BJP worker pointed out.
Indeed, this is a silver lining in the politics of mudslinging
and rhetoric. As a matter of fact, Mr Badal is seen today as a
leader who is broadly acceptable to both communities
irrespective of whether he remains the Chief Minister or not.
Democracy in Punjab has, indeed, come alive and ready to kick
out undesirable characters and welcome some new faces. The
people want change. Interestingly, unlike in UP, there are no
criminals in the poll fray in Punjab. However, the name of the
game is power. The fight among the rivals is bitter, issues or
no issues.
(February 9, 2002)