"My brother was serving the poor and now there is no one to listen to their grievances" is what slain gangster Jaswinder Singh Rocky's sister Rajdeep Kaur says as she campaigns for Punjab Assembly polls.
The 35-year-old, who is up against Davinder Ghubaya of Congress and Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani of BJP, has jumped into the fray as an Independent candidate from Fazilka.
"I will fulfill my brother's dream of serving the poor," she says.
The state goes to poll on February 4.
Rocky was killed in Parwanoo last April. At one time, 23 cases were filed against him in many police stations of Punjab and Rajasthan. He was later acquitted in many of these.
In 2012, Rocky had contested and lost to BJP's Surjeet Kumar Jayani by a small margin of 1,595 votes.
"He won more than 40,000 votes, so one can imagine his popularity," said Kaur, a graduate and an Amritdhari Sikh.
"My brother was serving the poor and now there is no one to listen to them, so I am contesting to fulfill his dream and serve the poor."
Asked about Rocky's criminal records, Kaur said, "No one asks me any questions about that. Moreover, for the past many years, he was serving the people."
Anurag Kamboj, a friend of Rocky, is looking after her election campaign.
"Rocky was no longer involved in any criminal activity for many years," Kamboj said. "We aim to provide better education facilities and employment opportunities."
She was hoping for a Congress ticket but Rajdeep has now filed his nomination papers as an Independent candidate from Fazilka.
She is better known as "Rocky di bhen", (sister of slain gangster-politician Jaswinder Singh Rocky).
Rocky, who had finished a close second on his electoral debut, was shot dead allegedly by rivals near Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh on April 30 last year.
It was at his bhog (memorial prayers) that Rajdeep came into the limelight, and supporters of "Robin hood Rocky"-- who was known to operate a parallel system of "justice besides carrying out public welfare programmes"--declared that she would contest the polls.
While Rocky was said to have tacit backing of SAD in 2012, when SAD ally BJP's Surjit Kumar Jyani won, she had sought the Congress ticket. MORE.
"Rocky's well-wishers want me to carry on his public
welfare works through politics," she said.
The equation has turned even murkier this time as the Congress ticket has gone to the SAD MP's son Davinder Ghubaya. The MP, too, has all but officially switched allegiances. The BJP has fielded Jyani again.
Kaur says, "Whosoever remained in power did nothing for the poor of the region. A live example is Akali MP Sher Singh Ghubaya who despite being in power for more than two decades (as MLA or MP) did nothing for the poor, including Rai Sikhs, the community in whose names he bargained for the Congress ticket for his son."
Kaur, a baptised Sikh, explained why she is in politics. "It is the most powerful tool to serve people. Whoever wishes to join it must follow that in letter and spirit," she said.
Interestingly, she tries to draw support in her brother's name, who was booked, among others, in murder cases.
Rocky had been eyeing a life primarily as a politician for some years.
During the 2011 floods in Fazilka, he had earned goodwill in the border villages by distributing essentials much before the state government could come to the people's aid.
He would often "resolve disputes" of locals here, and in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he openly supported Akali nominee Sher Singh Ghubaya, who won.
Born in a farming family at Chugian Kesar Singh village, Rocky did his schooling from Fazilka. His tryst with crime, that too within the family, came when he was barely 20, when he got a case registered against his brother, Romi Singh, for firing a shot at their father, Mahinder Singh.
Romi was jailed but was later acquitted.
Travelling in her Toyota Fortuner with two police bodyguards followed by other vehicles, Kaur connects with the public immediately as she says that "no one has done anything for the area and you can see for yourself".
She is eldest among her siblings.
Her brother was "famous in the area for solving the problems from matrimonial issues to property disputes and people used to approach him".
"The authorities did nothing when floods came in the area two years back, my brother distributed sugar and tea to the people of at least 15 villages. Where was the government then," Kaur asks.
Her mother Harminder Kaur and youngest brother Roman Singh, besides other family members and friends, are fully involved in her campaign.
