Not aam issues, it’s Sikh sentiment that drives AAP’s poll campaign

Never mind its high-pitch election campaign on quotidian power and water tariffs in the Delhi of 2015, the Aam Aadmi Party’s poll strategy in Punjab 2017 is focused on fanning Sikh religious sentiment by invoking incidents of alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in various parts of the State.

Promises to address issues such as farmer distress, infrastructure in health and education sectors, pensions and the fight against corruption have not found adequate space in the party’s campaign.

“Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was known as the

panthak (religious) government. But if even the Sikh holy texts are not safe under their rule, why people would vote for them?” asks Kuljeet Singh. Singh is the AAP’s campaign-in-charge for the Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency and the five Assembly constituencies in the city. He had quit the SAD soon after the first reported incident of desecration.

Like him, a number of SAD activists had joined the AAP in the last few months, including Upkar Singh Sandhu, the Akali candidate for the Lok Sabha by-election from Amritsar. “No action has been taken by the SAD government against those who are behind such incidents,” says Sarabjit Ghuman, an AAP volunteer who was earlier with newly-inducted Congress leader and former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu. Ghuman also makes it clear that the key issue in the polls is religious sentiments.

This campaign is apparently drawing both the affluent and lower-income groups of Sikhs. Dalit Sikhs, who have been supporting the AAP, have also found the campaign attractive. “It is a very serious issue,” said Manpreet Singh, a Dalit farmer near Bathinda.

‘A manufactured debate’

However, some people view the campaign with suspicion. “It has nothing to do with our lives. It is a completely manufactured debate. Punjab faces a lot of issues in agriculture, industries and all,” said Anil Verma, an entrepreneur based in Ludhiana.

The key backers for this campaign are the turncoat leaders from SAD and other parties, along with NRI supporters of the party, mainly from the Sikh community.

Mann’s their man

Singrur MP Bhagwant Singh Mann, the AAP’s most popular campaigner after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, is apparently their chief ministerial candidate. Those who back Mann say reports of Kejriwal becoming Punjab Chief Minister in the event of an AAP win are mere rumours spread by the opponents.

However, not projecting a leader is harming the party’s prospects since the NDA and the Congress have announced their CM faces for the polls — incumbent Parkash Singh Badal and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh — both faces, incidentally, from the Sikh community. “We are trying to make up this limitation by campaigning in a structured and united manner,” Kuljeet adds.

The AAP is also trying to emulate the campaign strategies it had adopted in Delhi. At least 25 volunteers from Delhi are deputed to each constituency. “AAP was traditionally strong in Malwa region. Now we have spread out to all regions. Results from Majha and Doaba regions will be very good this time,” says Atul Gupta, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2015 Delhi Assembly elections.