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The People's Court Where
Politicians Lost Before Voting
WSN
Bureau
 KAPURTHALA: In
an election so often termed as issue-less, environment sage Sant
Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal tried to force one issue. His moral
pressure made the politicians come running to participate but the
shallowness of their words was so rankling that it did not take long
for people to realise that the politicos had no intention of keeping
their word.
As for the poor
politicos, for most it was a rather disturbing experience. They have
shunned the habit of entering into a debate or an engagement with an
issue fo so long now that there seems a total disconnect between the
people's needs, concerns and expectations and the politcian's
ability to even understand it.
Baba Seechewal
thought of the novel idea of inviting the politicians of the area,
the candidates fighting the Lok Sabha election from the Jalandhar
seat and leaders of various political parties to a conclave packaged
as an environmental court. While many tried to present their case,
no one got acquitted.
The charge
against the Congress, SAD and the BJP was their failure to stop the
pollution of the state’s water bodies, and none could present the
court of the public any specific programme for cleaning up the
environment. The event was organised to sensitise politicians on
environmental issues and party representatives were told if they
wanted votes, they should first spell out specific agendas on how
they proposed to clean up the water bodies.
“We are facing
death on the banks of these polluted drains,” a group of Seechewal
residents told them.
Punjab Revenue
Minister Ajit Singh Kohar of SAD, short of concrete answers, tried
to pacify the villagers with vague assurances, but was silenced.
The villagers
pointed out how cancer, skin ailments and respiratory diseases had
increased among those living near the Kala Sanghian drain, Chitti
Bein and the Buddah Nullah.
All Kahlon could
say was his party had promised to clean these water bodies in its
manifesto. Besides reading out the manifesto, he also mentioned the
state government notification prohibiting transplanting of paddy
seedlings before the proscribed date to conserve groundwater.
Jalandhar SAD
candidate Hans Raj Hans, also present at the trial, promised to have
the Kala Sanghian drain flowing through Jalandhar cleaned up.
C.D. Singh
Kamboj of the Congress failed to mention even a single step
initiated by the previous government of his party in this direction.
He, instead, started listing out the achievements of the Congressled
government at the Centre, at which he was promptly asked to stick to
the topic at hand.
The BJP’s Hira
Lal Dheer could also do little beyond conveying the party’s
commitment to environmental issues.
CPI (ML)
candidate Hans Raj Pabbwan said it was the development and economic
model being pursued by the mainstream parties that was responsible
for the exploitation and pollution of natural resources.
13
May 2009
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