Punjab 2022 elections: Calls for change and ‘ik mauka’ make contest keener in Malwa

BATHINDA/PATIALA: Both AAP and the Congress are seeking a ‘mauka’ (chance) in their campaign songs, but villages of Malwa seem to be in a mood for a change from the trend so far.
The announcement of Bhagwant Mann as chief ministerial candidate has energised AAP workers. The party’s hoardings now carry the slogan ‘Ik mauka Kejriwal te Bhagwant Mann nu’ (one chance to Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann).Of the 69 seats of Malwa region, AAP had won 18 in the 2017 elections and was a runner up on 21. The party, thus, already had a substantial presence and high stakes in the region.
On the ground, the people willing to talk about AAP and Mann are also not averse to giving them a chance. Even the activists of a farm group, having significant following in scores of villages, are tilting towards AAP, making other parties wary.
“We have voted for big parties in the last many decades, but our problems remain the same. During every election, parties come to people asking for a chance, and disappear after the polls. Now we want to test another party, they are waiting for a mauka,” said Balwant Singh from Sanghera village in Barnala district.
Farmer Karnail Singh from Joga village in Mansa said there was no harm in giving a chance to a party which has not tasted power in Punjab. “And if that too turns out like the other parties, we will feel that everyone is the same when it comes to governance,” he added.
A political analyst claimed the party has gauged the mood of the people in Malwa that’s why its top leadership was putting all its energies in Majha and Doaba regions, where it was not as strong. “The party knows that if it has to gain power, it cannot be from one region alone,” the analyst claimed. Faridkot farmer Gurmail Singh said, “We are looking for better days in Punjab, and feel like experimenting with a new party. We are looking for alternatives.”
Kulwant Singh, former sarpanch of Sangrur’s Johliyan village where protests had broken out after last June’s sacrilege, claimed, “I see a wave for change. Ever since Bhagwant Mann was announced as its CM candidate, many farmers support AAP instead of the farmer unions in the fray. The affiliations with traditional parties such as the Congress, and SAD are hard to break. Unfulfilled promises and sacrilege are key issues.”
A panchayat member of Saphera claimed that despite the government giving jobs to relatives of the farmers who had died, many were looking for candidates of clean image. Jagmeet Singh (39) son of Daun Kalan’s sarpanch, said, “AAP has gained momentum in villages like ours where people want a change. Some don’t even know their candidate, while others will vote for a new face even when they know that candidate is not upright. Our village of 3,000 is a Congress stronghold, where AAP is its main rival. The situation is same in many other villages.”
Congress’s Charanjit Singh Channi has asked for a full five-year term to give Punjab what his predecessor had failed to deliver. The reason for his contesting from two seats is a clear indication of the political importance of the region.
The SAD-BSP alliance has targeted the main claimants — Congress and AAP — with equal vehemence as former Akali ally BJP and its new tie-up with Capt Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s SAD (Sanyukt).