It seems that Congress has accepted the defeat in the upcoming Punjab elections and will contest the ballot just to stay relevant in politics. With the recent feud between Captain Amarinder Singh and part-time politician, Navjot Singh Sidhu already made headlines in Punjab, their support for the Khalistani movement in the garb of farmers’ protest is causing more and more dent in their image. This situation in Punjab favours the victory of the BJP in the upcoming elections.
Riding on all this trouble, Congress top brass Sonia Gandhi has called for an all-party meeting on 20 August 2021. With Punjab Assembly elections to be held within few months, anarchic party AAP, which won 25 per cent of votes in the 2017 assembly elections have not been invited to the meeting. However, Siromani Akali Dal (SAD) which left BJP led NDA coalition in 2020 have decided to attend the meeting, despite not been invited.
As predicted by TFI, this is going to be one of the most divisive elections in Punjab. Punjab politics has largely seen a hegemony of the JAT Sikhs community at the top. Despite being only 21 per cent in number, JAT Sikhs have to consolidate their positions. Whether it’s the SAD and BJP alliance or congress, a Dalit chief minister was never a priority till now. With 31 per cent of Sikhs being Dalit, not having a Dalit face at the big table is soon going to crack some political walls in the state. The winning of 22 seats out of 225 by AAP in the 2017 assembly election was exactly the call for SAD, BJP and CONGRESS.
Siromani Akali Dal lost its political clout after it left NDA in 2020 on the issue of the Agriculture reforms bill. It compounded its problems when it decided to hand its supportive hand to the Khalistan backed farmers. Exactly at the same time, Congress also decided to support Khalistan as well as those fake farmers who were making malls and creating a small parallel economy in the name of farmers’ protests. SAD and CONGRESS are largely seen as a party of upper caste people in Punjab and so SAD decided to make a coalition with Mayawati led BSP. It is still not clear, how Congress will target the Dalit vote bank of Punjab.
As the fight between Captain Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Siddhu is still not over, the Congress support of Khalistan has made it lose more credibility. Similarly in an astounding and suicidal move, Siromani Akali Dal decided to support the Taliban which is against the nationalistic policy of the Indian Government. With the majority of Sikhs fed up with JAT domination, presenting a DALIT supportive face by Congress and SAD is the only way forward, but Congress and SAD party members have huge differences on the ground level. Even with BSP coming along, CONGRESS, SAD and BSP coalition will prove to be futile just like BSP and SP coalition proved to be in the 2019 General elections. The incoherent political coalition led to loss-loss for both SP and BSP.
Read More: With a cabinet overhaul, Captain Amarinder plans to show Sidhu who the boss in Punjab really is
BJP on the other hand has its biggest ever opportunity to form a state government on its own in Punjab. With Congress being involved in feuds and lack of credibility, and SAD losing its relevance by supporting the Khalistan movement, Taliban as well as fake farmer protest, BJP is eyeing a victory. The Sikh vote bank is already divided, and just by presenting a Dalit face for the post of Chief Minister in Punjab, BJP can create a miracle in this election. BJP already has the support of a majority of Hindus, who comprise 57.7 per cent of the fifth largest economy of India, and with the implementation of OBC quota in medical colleges all around the country, BJP has already made a stronghold among the OBC community.
Any coalition among Congress and SAD is only going to be beneficial for BJP. All BJP needs to do is to get a Dalit Sikh candidate for the post of chief minister.
