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NRI threatens Akali citadel in Qila Raipur

Gargi Parsai

QILA RAIPUR (LUDHIANA): Personal agendas mark the fierce battle of the ballot in this Punjab constituency, a citadel of the Shiromani Akali Dal. The Akalis have never lost the seat.

Two-time sitting MLA and Akali candidate Jagdish Singh Garcha is having to contend with Oxford-educated hotelier Jasbir Singh Khangura. Mr. Khangura's mother, Gurdial Kaur, lost to Mr. Garcha in 2002. As such, winning has become a prestige issue for the (till recently) NRI and Congress candidate. "We have to teach these criminals a lesson," he says with a heavy accent.

Mr. Khangura has pulled out all the stops to influence voters and is giving a tough fight to his Akali opponent. But Mr. Garcha is unfazed. He claims he has been with the people in all their dukh and sukh (happiness and sorrow) and will win the seat "500 per cent."

Mr. Garcha's younger brother was allegedly involved in a criminal case a few years ago. Mr. Garcha, a Minister during the Akali rule, was himself charged with financial misdemeanour when the Congress came to power. The Akalis call it "vengeance" of the Maharaja (Chief Minister Amarinder Singh).

In fact, one of the Akali charges is that during the four-year rule of the Congress the leadership used the police and the bureaucracy to harass its political opponents and frame them, called parcha katna in local lingo.

Citing Mr. Khangura's proximity to a senior police officer, Mr. Garcha's supporters allege that their workers are being framed. Voters fear this kind of situation could lead to violence on polling day. Despite the presence of eight candidates in this rural constituency of 1.28 lakh electorate, with 60 per cent Jat Sikhs and the rest Scheduled Castes, it is a direct contest between the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal.

Most voters are critical of politicians for "forgetting about them once they get their votes".

Mr. Garcha says that since he was from a rival party, funds for development were not routed through him. "They were given to Mr. Khangura, who neither holds a public position nor is a government officer, nothing. It was I who got pucca roads made. The Congress has only got them repaired and that too on the eve of elections."

Mr. Khangura says he lobbied with the powers that be in Chandigarh to get the village roads repaired "as the MLA was doing nothing".

Having faced years of terrorism, people are still afraid of the police and no amount of coaxing makes them reveal their mind.

A common thread, however, is the concern at the growing unemployment and exposure of youth to alcohol and drugs. For the poor and landless labourers, it is a question of survival.

Says Lachchman Das in Dango village (from where Bollywood actor Dharmendra hails): "No one gives us roti. We won't vote."

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