Farmers Movement Archive

Now, SAD struggles to retain ground on farmers’ issues

Jalandhar: Its core vote base, the Panthic turf, has turned slippery for Shiromani Akali Dal and now the party is facing similar perception battle in retaining its other core base — farmers. The issue of three recent ordinances pertaining to agriculture marketing is generating a lot of heat in the political field. The Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan firing issues shifted a considerable chunk of Sikh voters towards Congress and they played crucial role in tilting the balance in favour of Congress in 2017 assembly and 2019 Parliament elections. Now, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh is attempting to dislodge Akalis from their last bastion. While there is a considerable overlapping in the two constituencies of the SAD – Sikhs and farmers – yet in the last over two decades Akali Dal appeared to be caring even more for economic issues of the farmers than traditional Panthic issues. Former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, when in power, had diluted the Panthic idiom but at the same time he intensified the focus on farmers’ interests. After 1997, when he became the CM for third time, and had also tightened his grip on Akali Dal, Badal had projected himself more as a messiah of framers. SAD’s political discourse has been revolving more around farmers’ economy than Panthic agenda and this helped to retain its core strength in rural areas, among Jatt Sikh farmers. Role reversal appears from another perspective also. Badals always built their politics by projecting Delhi as the enemy of Sikhs and Punjab. But now CM Amarinder is appropriating that idiom. Amarinder has managed to take farmers’ unions, including those with the ultra-left leanings, on board to attack union government on the issue of ordinances to build the discourse that they are anti-farmers. Even Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal), which has been working very closely with SAD, participated in CM’s video conference and lambasted union government. Other prominent unions of farmers of different ideological shades also backed the CM on the issue. Amarinder is also bringing another core theme of Akalis to his benefit – the federalism. SAD had built its narrative around more powers to the states and making India a real federal country. But now it is Amarinder who is speaking that language when he accused the BJP-led government for infringing upon states’ rights. In their defence, SAD president Suikhbir Singh Badal and other Akali leaders have already announced that farmers interests would be saved at any cost and have accused Punjab CM for misleading farmers. They have also clarified that the union government had already said MSP would stay. Yet these are finer nuances of the issues at hand and it is popular perceptions, even if they are not entirely based on facts, which influence political outcomes.

The Times of India

2020-07-03

Ludhiana