Broomstruck In Bathinda

Akalis are seen as useless amid economic distress; the Congress is patchily popular. It’s the AAP many in Punjab are turning to.

- Pragya Singh

FROM the fog that descends on winter nights over Punjab’s yellow and green mustard fields emerges a glimpse of an unpredictably theatrical electoral verdict. Cruising through the state’s verdant malwa and Doaba regions, where lie about ninety of its 117 assembly constituencies, it seems the Aam Aadmi Party has parachuted deep into the electoral terrain here.

Two months ago, the usual pre-election debates dominated Punjab: The scourge of drug abuse, the related grouse over lack of employment and the decline of agriculture. From contributing almost 60 per cent to the state GDP in the ’70s, the share of agriculture declined to under a quarter in the last decade, while the agricultural growth rate twice plunged into the negative zone.

These factors were steadily eroding the Shiromani Akali Dal vote bank, and creating support for the Congress and AAP. But then, the Centre’s demonetisation, announced in early November, dramatically changed scenarios. Where discontent and anti-incumbency were already writ large, the war on black money added another deep wrinkle to the pre-electoral process.

In several villages in the Mansa, Moga, Sangrur and Bathinda districts, many people say that they will shift allegiance in the upcoming state polls to the ‘jhadoo wali party’ due to dissatisfaction with the ruling coalition. A good many say they are undecided, but are also considering AAP.

These districts are part of Punjab’s Malwa region, with people considered to be boldly outspoken. The reason they cite most for considering a party with no track record in Punjab is their anger against existing alternatives, which they perceive to have fostered a wide chasm between the rich and poor. The Congress is popular, especially in Patiala—Amarinder Singh’s hometown—but many more seem to hold the view that even that party has allowed the poor to turn poorer and the rich richer.