Punjab wouldnt be waiting with bated breath for the results of Fridays Assembly poll. Even as two weeks of feverish campaign for the 117-member Assembly and the Ropar parliamentary election ended peacefully yesterday, it became more or less sure that the BJP-Akali combine, headed by Parkash Singh Badal, is headed for a landslide victory. And the major opposition, the Congress party, is all set to be routed.
According to reports, Chief Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal is fighting with her back to the wall at Lehra Gaga in district Sangrur. Even Congress circles feel that she is on a difficult wicket, facing Girja Singh, a debutant and staunch follower of slain Akali Dal president Harchand Singh Longowal. In this election, candidates dont matter much. It is a wave in favour of the Akalis, more precisely, Badal, says a poll pundit.
Reports from different parts of the state indicate a clear Badal wave. While the Akali supremo attracted huge crowds at election meetings, the meetings of senior Congress leaders, including party president Sitaram Kesari, were marked by poor attendance. People flocked to listen to Badal, who is a forceful speaker. He did not make any tall promises. The main focus of Badals speeches was peace for Punjab. Nothing surprising in this, as Badal, who became the Chief Minister of the state first in 1969 and again in 1977, knows that though terrorism hass nearly died, memories still linger.
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There is no denying the fact that the Akalis preferred to remain silent spectators to terrorist violence for more than a decade. The people may have got down to believing that Bhindranwale was created by the Congress, but they ahvent forgotten that the Akalis never condemned the terrorists.
Badal knows this, and has made amends. In their election manifesto, the Akalis have promised to appoint a commission to look into the reasons for the birth and rise of terrorism in Punjab.
While the Akalis repented, the ruling Congress was jittery when asked to explain its stand on terrorism. The party leadership was busy harping its favourite theme that terrorism will return if Akalis are voted to power. But the people dont appear convinced. The truth is that the wave of terrorism started during the early eighties during the Congress regime headed by Darbara Singh. That was when the Bhindranwale phenomenon rose in Punjab politics. In October 1982, the Darbara Singh government was dismissed when killings by terrorists became widespread and law and order in the state collapsed.
Though the Congress returned to power in the state in the last election, albeit by default, as the Akalis had boycotted the polls, the party lost all its credibility with the rampant corruption. A senior Congress leader and a former Lok Sabha member confessed: We know, we are heading for a poor performance. We dont hope to win more than 20 seats. Initial reports indicated that the party would win just five seats. But we certainly hope to do better.
Still, Badal did not leave any stone unturned. On an average, he covered two districts every day addressing more than half a dozen election meetings.
The BJP high command also put its heart and soul into the campaign. BJP president L K Advani and former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee spent four days in Punjab, addressing dozens of well-attended election meetings.
BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj and Madan Lal Khurana, former Delhi Chief Minister and party vice-president, virtually camped in the state.