Amritpal factor, AAP test, Congress ‘fig leaf’: 5 reasons Punjab parties are excited for Jalandhar LS bypoll

Chandigarh, As the high-octane campaign for the Jalandhar by-election ends on Wednesday, key political players in the state — the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BSP alliance and the BJP — are at stake .

The death of Congress leader Santokh Singh Choudhary has led to five reasons for the Lok Sabha by-election being necessitated – such aggressive campaigning is being witnessed by all parties.

These include the emergence of Amritpal Singh as a self-proclaimed Bhindranwale successor, and fears about a revival of Sikh fundamentalism in Punjab.

There is also a factor that the election has taken place after the death of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of the Akali Dal, a stalwart of state politics.

ThePrint explains.

Dipstick Test of Radical Revival

This is the second by-election for a parliamentary seat in Punjab to be held after AAP came to power in the state in the 2022 assembly elections.

The first took place in Sangrur in June last year. It was vacated by Bhagwant Mann after becoming the Chief Minister. The victory of Simranjit Singh Mann, a well-known supporter of Khalistan, came as a surprise.

Simranjit heads the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and attributed his victory to ‘Khalistani’ militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.

Simranjit’s election was perceived as a foothold for radical elements in Punjab. The state has since seen the rise of radical preacher Amritpal Singh, who is now under arrest.

At the Centre’s prodding, the AAP government remained silent for months before going after it. In fact, the first scene of state action against Amritpal played out in Shahkot, one of the nine assembly constituencies that make up the Jalandhar parliamentary seat. Punjab experts believe that the growing radicalization element in the state has been on the back foot since March 18, when the Punjab Police attacked Amritpal and his men.

To what extent the sentiments of these fundamentalists have decreased, it will be clear when the results are declared on May 13.

Professor Manjit Singh, a renowned sociologist from Panjab University Chandigarh, said, “This will be an important test of the popularity of radical sentiment.”

Simranjeet has fielded her personal secretary Gurjant Singh Kattu in the Jalandhar bypoll and actively campaigned for him. His campaign focused on the need to counter the BJP’s claims of establishing a “Hindu Rashtra”, “after which they would implement the Manusmriti scripture in Punjab”, which he says is very dangerous for Sikhs. Will happen.

He has also spoken openly in favor of Amritpal during his campaign. However, unlike the Sangrur election, when Simranjeet’s campaign was actively supported by Sikh youth, the same enthusiasm is conspicuously missing in the Jalandhar campaign.

Leaders of other parties did not talk much on the issue of Amritpal in their election campaign. Even AAP has not openly sought credit for the action against Amritpal.

The SAD-BSP touched on the issue during their campaign but mainly focused on the alleged atrocities by the AAP government on youths who were arrested in the state-wide crackdown leading to Amritpal’s arrest.

“During this election campaign, there have been at least two attempts at sacrilege – one of the Guru Granth Sahib and the other of a Sikh gutkha. There have been two explosions of low intensity around the Golden Temple in Amritsar,” said Professor Manjit Singh.

“These incidents cannot be seen in isolation. There are forces which profit by keeping the fundamentalist element among the Sikhs on the sidelines and remain active.


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another test of your appeal

The results will be an indication of whether AAP has recovered from the Sangrur debacle or not.

The importance of the election for AAP is clear – for the past two days, party chief Arvind Kejriwal himself has been camping in Jalandhar, conducting roadshows for Congress’ former MLA candidate Sushil Rinku.

The Jalandhar bypoll comes at a time when Kejriwal’s party is in trouble following the arrest of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in an alleged multi-crore excise scam. Kejriwal is also facing flak for the alleged expenditure of Rs 45 crore on the renovation of his official residence.

During its campaign, the party has focused extensively on free electricity. While the campaign was underway in Jalandhar, Bhagwant Mann decided to hold a function in Chandigarh last week and open 80 more Mohalla Clinics in Ludhiana on Friday.

In their campaigns, the opposition parties have alleged gross failure of the Mann government to control the law and order situation in the state.

Citing almost daily incidents of killings, kidnapping and snatching, opposition parties accused the government of making Punjab an unsafe place for the general public.

Balkaur Singh, who has been demanding justice for the murder of his son, singer Sidhu Moosewala, for over a year, campaigned in Jalandhar on Saturday and asked voters to shun AAP. Although Balkaur Singh is not seeking votes for any particular party, the fact that his son was a Congress candidate in the assembly elections has not gone down well with anyone.

The ruling party is also facing trouble due to the resignation of ministers due to allegations of corruption. Cabinet minister Fauja Singh Sarayari was removed after an audio clip purportedly of him extorting money from transporters went viral. Earlier, the party had sacked minister Vijay Singla on charges of corruption. MLA Amit Ratan Kotphatta was arrested in February on similar charges.

Congress is looking for fig leaves

The Jalandhar by-election is important for the Congress, which has suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2022 assembly elections.

In 2021, the Gandhi family removed the then Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and appointed Charanjit Singh Channi in his place. After winning a record 77 seats in the 117-seat assembly in 2017, the Congress has come down to 18 seats in 2022. Congress candidate Dalveer Singh finished third in the Sangrur bypoll.

A victory in Jalandhar would indicate whether the party’s downfall continues or it is on the path of revival.

The Jalandhar seat has been a traditional bastion of the Congress, which has won the seat every time since the 1999 elections. Santokh Singh Chowdhary, who died during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo visit, had won the seat for two consecutive terms since 2014.

His wife Karamjit Kaur is banking on sympathy among voters following Chowdhury’s death to win the election.

BJP pitch

The BJP has fielded a Sikh candidate, Iqbal Singh Atwal, who belongs to a traditional Akali family with some holdings in the area.

The party may benefit from polarization following the rise of Amritpal Singh and the revival of the “Khalistani” agenda among Sikh hardliners.

Iqbal Singh, along with his father – former Assembly Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal – joined the BJP on the eve of the election.

The Akali Dal, after breaking its decades-long alliance with the BJP, contested the assembly elections in collaboration with Amarinder Singh’s new outfit, the Punjab Lok Congress, and the SAD (United), a breakaway organization of the Akalis. However, BJP had won only two seats. Party candidate Kewal Dhillon finished fourth in the Sangrur bypoll.

Gagandeep Singh, a prominent leader, said, “It seems that the BJP is sure that the Hindu vote will go to them at any cost, and it is the moderate Sikh voters who are against the radical agenda that they want to attract.” Doctor in Jalandhar

“Atwal is a humble candidate and the BJP – if not won – can make a huge dent in the vote bank of every other party.”

Gurdit Singh, a shopkeeper at Rank Bazar, said that after the death of Parkash Singh Badal, the BJP will also use sympathy, as the entire BJP leadership reacted to his death.

He said, “From that point of view, the combination of BJP and Akali Dal would have been a winning combination in this election.”

Atwal has largely campaigned on a positive note, promising to avail of national schemes, which he claims have not been utilized by the ruling government.

Will the wave of sympathy for the Akalis work?

The Akalis have made Dr. Sukhwinder Sukhi, the sitting MLA from Banga, their joint candidate with the BSP. Sukhi commands respect largely because of his personal equation with the voters in his constituency. The Akali campaign was led by former state minister Bikram Singh Majithia, who attacked CM Bhagwant Mann and the promises made before the 2022 polls.

The Akali Dal’s campaign was suspended after the death of Akali patriarch and five-time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. At Badal’s reception, his son Sukhbir, who is leading the party, decided to be the first to apologize for any wrongdoings committed by his family, knowingly or unknowingly. The apology was apparently aimed at trying to woo the Akalis, the main vote bank of rural Sikhs, into forgiving and forgetting the sacrilege incidents involving the Guru Granth Sahib in 2015, when Parkash Singh Badal was chief minister.

The Badal government was seen doing very little to bring the culprits to justice. In the 2017 assembly elections, it faced a crushing defeat and won only 18 seats.

Since then they have not been able to revive their position. In last year’s assembly elections, the party had won only three seats.

In the Sangrur bypoll, Akali candidate Kamaldeep Kaur Rajoana had slipped to the last position. Kamaldeep Kaur is the sister of militant Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is on death row for his involvement in the assassination of former chief minister Beant Singh in 1995.

The Akalis are also hoping for sympathy votes after the demise of Parkash Singh Badal.

(Editing by Sunanda Ranjan)


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