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Badal brings blue turban waves to drown Cong
 CHANDIGARH: Idiom of politics in
Punjab remains jingoistic, electoral forms notwithstanding. So when
nearly 100,000-strong sea of blue and kesri turbans came swarming to
Chandigarh for a major political rally of the Shiromani Akali Dal,
the crescendo was that this was a challenge for the Congress and CM
Amarinder Singh to match.
Chandigarh’s Matka Chowk was choked with humanity, the roads were
blocked with tractor-trolleys, buses and trucks ferrying rallyists.
If numbers could be any indication, these should be worrying times
for the Amarinder government.
As the rally hurled Punjab headlong into the throes of upcoming
no-holds-barred electioneering, the talk was about numbers. "How
many?" The guessing game was on. "Lakhs," claimed the Akalis in the
next morning newspapers which were actually paid advertisements.
Congressmen tried to play down but the sea of humanity is a hard
thing to hide.
But what the Akali rally really showed was the inclination of the
people to come tumbling onto the roads as they sense a chance to
once again write their destiny. An ebullient Prakash Singh Badal,who
had put a spin of “Protest Rally” on the gathering, talked about the
soaring farm debt, suicides of farmers, disenchantment among Dalits,
industry fleeing from Punjab, police highhandedness and much else to
paint the Congress government black, finally flashed his trump card.
“The Prime Minister is anti- Punjab,” he said. In a state where Dr
Manmohan Singh is appreciated in many non-Congress quarters, the
Akalis took a calculated risk.
Apart from Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, the target of attack was
PM Manmohan Singh.Akalis for years have stuck to the
Centre-is-against-Punjab line, but this was a line they had
forgotten during the five-year-long dalliance with BJP in power.Of
course the high memory recall scenes were of Punjab policemen
molesting veterinary girl doctors in Ludhiana. Every speaker
referred to the incident as also to the Ludhiana City Centre scam.
“We have been compelled to take to the roads today. The people of
Punjab can tolerate discrimination only to a certain extent. Now
things have gone out of control and no one can stop them,” Badal
thundered. The Bole-So-Nihal sloganeering followed.Sukhbir Singh
Badal standing close by beamed, and the gauntlet was thrown.
The one thing that remained unspoken was understood by the thousands
of faces below as well as the score odd leaders on the dais: Sukhbir
Singh Badal was being clearly projected as the legacy holder of
Prakash Singh Badal.
Suddenly, Akalis demaded what they had never asked from the BJP
government. “We do not want MSP. The word MSP is a deceit. We want a
“Profit Price” for our produce. Nothing less than Rs 1,000 per
quintal is acceptable,” Badal said. He did not mention paddy or
wheat. Journalists did not ask. Politics has its
momentum, and meanings often are more understood by the
subconscious.
Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Gurdev Singh Badal, S S Dhindsa, Bibi Jagir
Kaur and many others spoke. Former Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar
Dhumal called upon the people to turn Matka Chowk into Jhatka Chowk
of Amarinder government.
Amarinder Singh is now planning a road show across Punjab, Sukhbir
Singh Badal is threatening to follow him with his cavalcade.
Challenging is a favourite Punjabi activity. Electoral dueling is
only its one form. As for the people of Punjab, the show has just
begun, and it’s going to be very nasty soon.
18 October 2006
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