PUNJAB'S D-FACTOR

DALIT VOTERS

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

With the assembly election in Punjab due in February next year, political parties and pollsters, veteran leaders and wannabes are all busy sussing out possibilities. On June 12, at a political event in Chandigarh, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal announced the revival of his party’s old alliance with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The announcement came on the heels of a promise that if it were voted to power, the SAD would pick a Dalit deputy chief minister. Evidently, Badal hopes these manoeuvres will help swing the Dalit vote towards his party and make up for possible deficits on account of breaking up with the BJP.

This development has also pleased SAD hardliners. Following the parting of ways with the BJP over the Centre’s farm laws, Sukhbir has been pushing a narrative of the SAD returning to its former panthic agenda, aimed at minimising his political losses among rural farmers and religiously-inclined voters. In this regard, there are questions about how useful the crisis-ridden Punjab unit of the BSP will be. It has remained a second-rung power in the state over the past 25 years, never winning more than five per cent of the vote. In fact, it has been reduced to something of a poaching ground for larger parties, besides being a springboard for BSP leaders to find their fortunes in other parties. The trend began with the BSP’s then-top man in Punjab, Satnam Kainth, and current minister Charanjit Channi joining the Congress before the 2002 assembly election. Later, Sukhbir poached several of its leaders, including Pawan Kumar Tinu, Avinash Chander and Des Raj Dhugga. Even the BJP gained, winning over a portion of Dalit cadres in the Doaba districts.