The entry of actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol into the electoral fray as the BJP candidate has spiced up the battle in Gurdaspur.
While it may not be a cakewalk for the Bollywood star, who is pitted against Congress MP Sunil Jakhar, he has created a buzz in the constituency on the International Border with Pakistan.
In a locality in the heart of Pathankot town, a debate on the political calibre of the two candidates throws up a mixed response.
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Jaswinder Arora, a dry fruit merchant, believes that a candidate’s face hardly matters in a Lok Sabha election in comparison to the party. “It’s the policies and the programmes of the party that I would vote for. Being an actor is not a minus point for Sunny Deol. People had sent the late Vinod Khanna [veteran actor] to Parliament four times from Gurdaspur seat.. I am sure that Sunny’s reel-life image of a ‘patriot’ will help the BJP,” he says.
Endorsing the view, Lek Raj, who runs a watch repair shop, says: “If the headmaster [referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi] is strong, then everyone under him would fall in line.”
The constituency was traditionally a Congress stronghold. That changed in 1998, when Vinod Khanna defeated Congress stalwart Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder. Khanna won again in 1999 and 2004. In 2009, he faced defeat at the hands of Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa but in 2014 won again by defeating Mr. Bajwa. Mr. Jakhar won the seat in the 2017 byelection following the death of Khanna. Mr. Jakhar defeated the BJP’s Swaran Salaria, a local businessman, by a record margin of nearly 1.96 lakh votes.
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As the debate over parties and their candidates continues, Rahul, 31, a marketing personnel with a pharmacy company, points out that the BJP did not have a winnable local candidate and had to “parachute” one.
“Pathankot has seen development during the regime of both the Congress and the BJP MPs. Several bridges were built, a government college came up, a stadium was developed but many things are yet to be done. While Sunny is a celebrity and could pull crowd, Sunil Jakhar has built a local connect in the last two years. The fight is going to be tough,” he says.
Ravi Gupta, who runs an optical store, believes that the BJP had fielded Mr. Deol to cash in on his image of a nationalist. “After the Balakot air strike I was sure there won’t be retaliation from Pakistan. I personally feel that it was more of an election stunt by our government for political gain in the upcoming elections,” he says.
Pathankot had seen a major terror attack in January 2016. In 2015 too, a police station in Dinanagar was targeted by terrorists.
Nearly 30 km away from Pathankot in Dinanagar, a relatively rural part of the constituency, the political discourse and sentiments among the people are more pointed towards local problems.
Kuldeep Kumar, a cook at a ‘dhabha’ on the road connecting Pathankot-Dinanagar, has no faith left in promises made by politicians. “I have been working here for the last 10 years on daily wages. Some Congress party workers in the 2017 Assembly elections promised me a smart phone but I haven’t got anything so far. Same is with the BJP. I don’t think any of BJP’s policies has improved my quality of life,” he said.