The five-time Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, and his son Sukhbir Singh, who is Deputy Chief Minister and president of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, may find it difficult to convince people of their own Assembly constituencies to vote to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister.
The slogan written in Gurmukhi, Hun di vaar, Modi sarkar (This time vote for Modi government) does not have takers even among the ardent supporters of the father-son duo, who represent Lambi and Jalalabad constituencies falling in Muktsar and Ferozepur districts respectively. The Lambi assembly segment is part of the Bathinda parliamentary constituency represented by Mr. Badal’s daughter-in-law, Harsimrat Kaur, who is again in the fray.
While most of them shook their heads to a question about voting to make Mr. Modi the next prime minister, one among the group of elders sitting at the bus stop of Badal village, said they did not want riots in Punjab. Nor were they prepared to see the State become a mono-cultural society. “Our memory is still fresh about a news story of the Gujarat riots when a pregnant woman and her baby were put to death in the most barbaric manner,” he said.
Badal village, which is also home to Mr. Badal’s estranged nephew and former Finance Minister, Manpreet Singh, who is contesting from Bathinda on a Congress ticket now resembles a small town in any of the developed countries thanks to the unprecedented projects brought during Mr. Badal’s last three tenures as Chief Minister.
Sukhdev Singh at Lambi’s bus stand says, “We are indebted to Badal Sahib. He has changed the destiny of this region, which was once the most backward area of the State. But after hearing stories of harassment of Punjabi farmers in the Kutch region of Gujarat, it is difficult to trust Mr. Modi.”
Jiwanjeet Singh, who runs a small eatery in Malout town, which is another Assembly constituency, says that in the run-up to his anointment as Prime Ministerial nominee, Mr. Modi has been ruthless in reducing senior leaders within his own party. “How can we believe that he would not put Mr. Badal to the same fate?”
A petty shopkeeper in Jalalabad, Dinesh, and some of his friends, who voted for Mr. Sukhbir Singh in the 2012 Assembly polls and Sher Singh Ghubaya in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, say they have “changed their mind this time” as Mr. Modi’s anti-Pakistan stance does not invoke any confidence. “First we survived the era of terrorism. Then for almost two years the Indian Army was deployed, with war clouds hovering over us. We need peace and development, which may not be possible if Mr. Modi takes a hostile stance,” says Dinesh, reminding that the entire Ferozepur district has been denied large development projects since 1947 because it was located along the volatile border with Pakistan.
The group feels that improvement in ties with Pakistan, which augured well for the region, would receive a setback with Mr. Modi becoming Prime Minister.
