The scores of farmers still sitting in protest at Delhi바카라s borders and the deep resentment within the larger peasant community, particularly in north India, against the Centre바카라s controversial farm laws had given the Congress party hope of retaining power in the predominantly agrarian state of Punjab when it goes to polls early next year. Now, even as the Congress party continues to struggle for an amicable resolution among its warring factions in Punjab, the prolonged farmers바카라 agitation, ongoing since November last, may turn into yet another headache for chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh.
With the BJP-led central government refusing the yielding to the agitating farmers바카라 demand for complete repeal of the three contentious laws, there have, over the past few days, been stray voices from among the protestors for peasant leaders to jump into the poll fray in Punjab or at least back independent candidates from the farming community. Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni had recently issued a video statement saying, 바카라the BJP and the Congress have not been able to change the system바카라 If we have to change the system, then we will have to formulate a plan. And that plan should be 바카라Mission Punjab.바카라 Chaduni also exhorted his colleagues in the peasant agitation to consider if farmer leaders should contest the Punjab assembly polls. Chaduni, who belongs to Haryana, then went on to lead a massive car rally of farmers from Punjab바카라s Gurdaspur to Delhi바카라s Singhu border and reiterated his call for farmer leaders to jump into the poll fray.
For now, Chaduni바카라s appears to be a lone voice urging his comrades to take the electoral route to address their grievances against a system that, in his view, 바카라works only for three percent of the people (industrialists and big businesses)바카라 while ignoring the needs of the proletariat. Rakesh Tikait, Chaduni바카라s BKU comrade and the face of the farmer agitation, has dismissed talk of farmer unions and their leaders taking the poll plunge when Punjab goes for elections along with other states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. 바카라No one here nurtures such ambition (of contesting elections),바카라 Tikait told Outlook. However, Chaduni바카라s comments have forced Congress leaders in Punjab, as also other protesting farmers to jump up and take notice.
Former Union minister and Congress leader from Punjab, Ashwani Kumar tells Outlook, 바카라the entire nation has joined cause with the agitating farmers and shares their sense of being wronged by the BJP바카라 it is up to the farmer unions and their leaders to decide whether an organic and apolitical protest would serve their interest better or if they indeed need to contest polls for this purpose.바카라 Kumar adds, 바카라I feel that getting conscripted into a political outfit or an existing party may harm farmers바카라 interests because they have maintained all along that they have no political ambitions and are only fighting for their rights.바카라
Congress sources say that the Punjab CM had pre-empted the possibility of farmer unions getting uneasy due to an indefinite apolitical protest and emerging as a political force that could electorally damage the prospects of his party. It is for this reason, say sources close to the CM, that he had refrained from unequivocally endorsing former Congress president바카라s 바카라fight to the finish바카라 rhetoric over the farm protests and urged the Centre to resume talks with the agitating farmers after these were disbanded earlier this year. In an interview to Outlook in March, Singh had said, 바카라dialogue is the only way out, and unfortunately, that dialogue is not happening. It stopped after 11 rounds of talks바카라 I would like to urge both sides to get back to the discussion table. At the same time, I appeal to the central government to accept the farmers바카라 demand for repeal of the laws and bring fresh legislations after due discussion with the farmers and other stakeholders.바카라
A Punjab Congress veteran tells Outlook that though the prospect of farm unions fielding candidates or backing some independents will 바카라mainly harm the Shiromani Akali Dal in all three regions of the state (Malwa, Majha and Doaba) as the Akalis were in alliance with BJP when the farm laws were first brought in as ordinances and the Akalis have primarily been a peasants party바카라, the likelihood of such a development damaging the Congress 바카라can바카라t be ruled out바카라. Another party leader agreed and added, 바카라there are constituencies, particularly in rural Punjab, where the farmers are unhappy with our government due to various reasons바카라 even if their anger against the BJP or the Akalis is far more than against the Congress, if they have a good candidate from their farming community who is covertly endorsed by the unions, our chances of victory will be hurt.바카라
In rural and agrarian pockets of Punjab, the anger against the Amarinder government is presently on the rise due to long power outages, inflated electricity bills and water shortage. Congress sources believe that these are 바카라seasonal issues바카라 that will 바카라resolve on their own once the monsoon picks momentum바카라 in Punjab and the reservoirs begin to fill up. However, they also caution that a poor monsoon coupled with the Opposition바카라s deafening blitzkrieg against the Amarinder government on these issues may steer the election away from the Congress if the farmer leaders indeed jump into the poll fray. A section of Congress leaders also says that it would be worth following how the AAP encashes the resentment among farmers against Congress as well as the SAD and the BJP. 바카라The AAP has so far focused only on the 69 seats of the Malwa region but it may also begin wooing voters from the Majha and Doaba regions closer to the polls바카라 along with their populist promises of free electricity, etc. if the AAP actively engages with the farming community, the damage to the Congress can be substantial,바카라 says a Congress legislator.
Though Tikait told Outlook that the farmer unions have no plan of entering the poll fray, he did leave the question of peasant leaders branching out as independent candidates open-ended. Tikait said any farmer who is part of the agitation and wishes to contest the forthcoming state assembly elections can do so as an individual. 바카라Such a person will need to contest as an independent or as representative of a political party; not as a union leader,바카라 he said. Another powerful voice among the protesting farmers, Hannan Mollah, general secretary, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), has also rejected talk of farmer union fielding candidates or overtly backing those of any particular political party. An eight-term former MP himself, Mollah has said that the SKM바카라s slogan during the recently concluded Assembly polls in Bengal was 바카라Punish BJP, Defeat BJP바카라 and it will be the same in the polls due next year. While this may be music to the ears of Amarinder Singh and his Congress colleagues presently, can they afford to ignore the possibility of facing independent farmer leaders as poll rivals?
