Punjab: Swinging between hope, despair and indifference, voters get set to pick new govt

He is a teetotaller, while his two younger brothers and father are not. As the young man elaborates on the free rations being distributed to households in his ‘gali’ in an Amritsar constituency and ‘finest quality of ladies suits’ for women, his co-worker, Pooja, laughs. The 32-year-old is a matriculate and a widow with a son. She has re-married, but still has to work to support her child.

“Bas khaas lokaan de kamm hunde ne, aam aadmi nu kaun puchhda. Naukriyan te midliyan nayi. Kee kare youth padh ke…(only a few special people get their work done, nobody bothers about common man. There are no jobs. What will the youth get by studying),” she asks.

Both live in the same locality in Amritsar and both of them support opposing parties with Mukesh supporting Congress and Pooja supporting AAP.

“I am hopeful for a change,” says Pooja even as Mukesh insists it is not going to happen.

“Only the Congress can do something,” he says. A short distance away from their shop, BJP leaders, including Union Minister Hardeep Puri, Lok Sabha MP Manoj Tewari and BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh arrive for customary tea at the famous Giani Tea Stall and get mobbed by the media.

Around 40 km away in the border town of Bhikhiwind, a Sarpanch (who does not want his name to be disclosed) is despairing that despite all the work done in the villages, the villagers are not coming out and supporting his party as they should. His village falls under Khemkaran constituency which has a Congress MLA. “This is happening not only here but in the neighbouring Patti as well,” he says with concern. The fight in this area is between the Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), he says, adding that the people say they want change and that a nearby village has decided to vote overwhelmingly for AAP.

In Khadoor Sahib, around 20 km from the district headquarters of Tarn Taran, Hardavinder Singh says the issue of drugs is high on the agenda of voters.

“Ask those mothers who have lost their sons and husbands to drugs if they can forget it. No party has done anything to curb this menace. Can it take place without government nod? Nobody is interested in doing anything,” he says. In his early 30s, Singh says the contest in his constituency is between SAD and AAP because of loyalty towards the ageing veteran Akali leader Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and a desire for change via AAP for others. “SAD has an advantage here,” he opines. More than 150 km away in Balachaur, in the Doaba region of Punjab, Ravinder Kumar of Aasron village is going around on a two-wheeler selling women’s clothes. Armed with a battery operated loudspeaker he goes around from morning to evening in neighbouring villages selling the clothes which he buys in bulk from Ludhiana.

The 26-year-old will be voting for second time in his life in Assembly polls but he cannot remember the names of candidates in his constituency of Balachaur. He says he would rather have a steady job. “Getting jobs is a priority in our area but we see no hope. Jhadu hai saade wal ta (AAP is strong in our area),” he says.

Nearby, 60-year-old Joginder Pal of Taunsa village is on his way to put up wooden protection for saplings planted on the banks of the nearby canal by the forest department. When asked about issues which affect him in his village and daily life he says.

When asked who he will vote for he says he will vote for whoever his fellow villagers vote. “Hor kee kariye,” (What else can we do) he says. “Jhaadi vee hai, BSP vee hai hun (There is AAP and now there is BSP too),” he says.

Not very far away in neighbouring Nawanshahar, 26-year-old Gurcharan Singh of Bhagat Singh’s ancestral village, Khatkar Kalan, works as a labourer at Bhagat Singh’s memorial near the village. He is non-committal about what he wants from parties saying it is no use hoping for anything. “Half of our village is for Akalis and other half for Congress. Jhaadu da zor si par hun enna nahi (There was a wave of AAP but not anymore),” he says as he goes about helping lay interlocking tiles for new shops coming up at the martyr’s memorial.