Farmers Movement Archive

Battle for 2022 Punjab polls: First off the blocks, Akali Dal campaign runs aground amid farm protests

With the Punjab assembly elections around the corner, the Badals-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) took a head start over its rival parties in terms of preparedness in the run-up to the 2022 assembly elections and its cadres were full of enthusiasm. Though the party was first off the blocks, its ‘Gal Punjab di’ campaign starting August 18 ran aground in the face of dogged protests by farmers in Moga last week even as it galvanised the workers and forged ahead in the perception game for a while. Earlier, the party had faced sporadic protests by the farmers, but the last week’s backlash in a constituency traditionally seen as it bastion forced SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal to put his on-ground mobilisation on hold for a week or so and set up a three-member panel to negotiate with the farmer bodies. The SAD leadership is worried over these developments which can potentially undercut the party’s efforts to live down the charges of having initially supported the Modi government-piloted three contentious farms laws perceived by the peasantry against their interests. The party has offered to resolve the matter by indulging the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), inviting leaders of 32 farmer bodies for talks. A four-member committee is seeking to initiate talks with the farmer leaders in an effort to reach a middle ground so that the party’s rallies are not disrupted. So far, a response from the farm bodies is awaited. Party spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema tried to play it down, saying the party is resuming mass contact programme from September 11 from Amloh as was announced earlier. “Before that we are hopeful of reaching a common ground with the farmer leaders who have already advised their volunteers not to disrupt the rallies of political parties other than the BJP,” he said, adding that it’s worrying that activists of the Congress and the Aam Admi Party are disrupting their rallies and are adversely impacting the farmers’ agitation. “We have identified the persons who are disrupting our rallies and made public their antecedents and the two parties have not rebutted our claims,” he added. A key electoral contender in the state, the SAD suffered a serious setback over the 2015 sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib as it was in government at the time but is keen on coming clean. After its worst-ever performance in the 2017 polls when it secured only 15 seats, the party says it is on a course correction now. Also, having snapped ties with its two-decade old ally BJP, which is leading the government at the Centre over the contentious farm laws, the SAD wasted no time in entering into an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the state that has a sizeable Dalit population. As part of the seat-sharing arrangement, the party has offered 20 seats total 117 in the state assembly to its new ally and sees the move as a game-changer. With just 5 months left for the polls, its rivals — Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and BJP— have not come up with their poll programmes so far. On the other hand, the SAD-BSP combine has announced a 13-point vision programme to be implemented in case it forms government after the 2022 polls, offering 400 free power units for domestic sector, ₹10 per litre rebate on diesel and interest free loan of up to ₹10 lakh for students planning to study abroad. Moreover, it has announced 22 candidates for the upcoming polls and 12 halqa heads. But then, the issues of sacrilege, drug peddling and mining and transport mafia operating with impunity during Akalis’ tenure in government continue to hound them.

Hindustan Times

10-09-2021

Chandigarh