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.
Esta historia es de la edición June 28, 2021 de India Today.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición June 28, 2021 de India Today.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Grand Young Master
Seventeen-yearold D. Gukesh has become the youngest player to win the Candidates chess tournament
SPORTING SPIRIT
BADMINTON PLAYER ASHWINI PONNAPPA, 34, IS OFF TO HER THIRD OLYMPICS, THIS TIME WITH A NEW PARTNER, TANISHA CRASTO
PORTRAITS OF A PEOPLE
Etchings by the colonial Flemish artist F. Baltazard Solvyns are getting a new lease of life in an exhibition at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
Centennial Man
A seminal exhibition of K.G. Subramanyan's works in his birth centenary year at Emami Art, Kolkata takes an imaginative and immersive curatorial approach
Rhythms of Nature
ARTIST AND MUSIC COMPOSER GINGGER SHANKAR'S LATEST SINGLE COMBINES SOUTH INDIAN MUSIC WITH INUIT THROAT SINGING
SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND
Kashmiri musician Faheem Abdullah’s debut album Lost; Found is a collaborative effort
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
With its excellent translations, Songs of Tagore makes Rabindrasangit accessible to the non-Bengali reader
Of Freedom and Friendship
T.C.A. RAGHAVAN'S CIRCLES OF FREEDOM FOLLOWS THREE YOUNG MUSLIMS DRAWN INTO THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE
The Razor's Edge
Salman Rushdie's Knife is an eloquent, first-person account of the horrific attack on him. It's also a love story
THE LAST-MILE PUSH
The India Today Smart Money Financial Summit had top experts discussing how technology could be leveraged to widen the reach of personal finance tools