Political parties in Punjab gearing up for 2022 assembly elections

Experimenting with potpourri of political ideas spun out of opportunism, weak and floating ideologies by respective political parties coupled with lack of idealistic and towering personalities have so far failed to make a telling impact on the mindset of Punjabi’s and is instead causing political instability in context with the assembly elections to be held in 2022.

Capt Amrinder Singh led Congress government is ruling the state for about four years but the Congress party seems to be facing anti-incumbency owing to delay in fulfilment of pre-poll promises especially those made to farmers and youth and its inability to create job opportunities.

The internal unrest and rift in the party which is no more a hidden fact have only caused embarrassment to the party especially with regards to MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu and member of parliament Partap Singh Bajwa who have been singing their own tunes while ignoring chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. 

Congress party’s main political opponents  Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD(B)) and BJP are fighting their own battle of survival.  The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) after a dismal end of its political honeymoon with SAD (B) and Aam Admi Party (AAP) are still finding their ground in Punjab and splinter Akali groups watching and waiting to redefine their own political narratives have left the voter perplexed. 

After SAD (B) broke its ties with alliance partner BJP on the issue of recently introduced three controversial farm bills and the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the central cabinet, the latter is finding hard to make its base in rural Punjab due to lack of its own grassroots support despite the presence of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak (RSS) cadre. SAD (B) had been facing the wrath of the alleged sacrilege issue as it claims to be a “Panthic” party, as the sacrilege incidents including Bargari incident happens during the regime of Akali Dal in the state. 

BJP also lacks a public face especially a Sikh face in Punjab to project as its chief ministerial candidate and has ideological differences with Akali’s which were deliberately ignored by the saffron party due to its political compulsion when in alliance with SAD (B) whose leadership often attends the ceremonies held in memory of those whom centre government termed militants but SAD dubbed them as ‘jewels of Sikh nation. Political experts say that there is no state-level leadership of BJP. 

Who can create an appeal in the public and most of the centre level leaders, who are somehow related to Punjab, are victims of self-sufficiency, unable to connect with the public. 

Kartarpur corridor initiative was an achievement of BJP but there were many claimants, including Navjot Singh Sidhu, to take credit of opening of the Karatrpur corridor. BJP also scraped almost all the names included in Blacklist but again SAD claimed to have this decision into their bag. s

When contesting alone in Punjab without the support of  Akali’s, BJP has to come clear on its stand on Sikh hardliners besides it would require not one but several Sikh faces to contest all the 117 assembly seats in Punjab as against around two dozen seats which the party used to contest in partnership with Akali’s. 

After parting away by the stalwarts like Sewa Singh Sekhwan,  Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Ranjit Singh Brahampura, Dr Rattan Singh Ajnala, the SAD (B) has lost its grip in several parts of Majha and Malwa. However, SAD largely depending upon MLA Bikram Singh Majithia, the brother in law of Sukhbir Singh Badal,  for the Majha area. Though Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD (B) president claims that division in the party had a negligible impact but it has certainly taken toll of its reputation. 

Political analytics in Punjab opined that besides Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Bikram Singh Majithia and Harsimrat Kaur Badal, SAD(B) has not allowed other leaders to be the party’s face which has led to brewing of resentment within rank and file of the party. 

The splinter Akali groups, for now, have concentrated their attention only on Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elections where they claim to make a significant impact and successfully dent the prospects of SAD (B) and could shake hands with former Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh who is heading Panthic Akali Lehar and has focused his energy to topple Badal’s applecart SGPC in the ensuing elections with the support of splinter Akali’s. 

Among all the politics going on among the traditional parties, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is gradually making its presence felt in the state but it also lacks a face and largely depends on the charismatic personality of its supremo Arvind Kejriwal. However, budding political youth leaders banking upon AAP, hoping that Kejriwal would choose new faces who are not having any past history of politics or controversies.  AAP also has the advantage to have support from the strong diaspora of Punjab which though living abroad is much concerned with Punjab politics. 

All the old political parties are to face challenges including the extent of drug problem in Punjab, increasing unemployment or lack of jobs, larger problems in rural areas,  the deterioration of soil quality and declining water tables, worsening of the agrarian situation in Punjab resulted in the increase of farmer suicides in the state, the failure of local industries, increasing of migration abroad.

Though the state might have been facing the above real changeless but political experts says the election would be focused on religious and partly rural issues.