Punjab Congress fully restructured in social engineering framework

Jagtar Singh

Chandigarh, December 11: The exercise initiated with the replacement of Partap Singh Bajwa by former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh as the state Congress chief has been completed with the appointment of Charanjit Singh Channi, a dalit, as leader of the Congress Legislature Party keeping in view the structural needs of social engineering. Punjab is one state whose political dynamics and demographic composition are entirely different from other states.
State’s political discourse is dictated by the Sikh dynamics while the dalit population is around 31 per cent, the highest in the country as compared to other states but not politically strong. The Hindu society constituency constitutes yet another important segment whose politics is normally reactive. Not that these are block votes but the issue is of the voting pattern.
In state’s bipolar politics, Congress used to have traditional support base among the Hindus and Dalits while the Sikhs, especially in the country side, used to be aligned with the Akali Dal. Interestingly, despite this perception of the dalits being the traditional support base of the Congress, the same was not reflected in the voting pattern at times. Going by the last several elections, the majority of the reserve Assembly seats have been won by the Akali Dal. In 2012 Assembly elections, there was a discernible shift in the dalit vote bank, especially in the Majha areas, towards Akalis and the one factor that played a major role was the social welfare schemes for this section.
What is notable is that the dalit society in Doaba is comparatively economically strong as this was the first region that witnessed migration to other countries. In the Malwa region, the dalits used to be divided between the Akalis and the Congress. The Akali Dal succeeded in demolishing a major myth in 2012 of the Hindus being the main support base of the Congress. The Akali Dal, for the first time, put up more than 10 Hindu candidates and this turned out to be trump card as most of them made it to the Assembly. This strategy influenced a significant shift of the Hindu vote bank towards the Akalis while the Sikh vote bank, especially in Malwa, tilted towards the Congress, mainly due to Capt Amarinder Singh who headed the Congress at that time, to be shifted later. Despite the dalit population constituting major vote bank, the Bahujan Samaj Party has failed to take off. Party founder Kanshi Ram belonged to Punjab but he did not succeed here and the BSP made its mark in Uttar Pradesh. There is no dalit or Hindu leader who is in a position to command some support base in this state and that precisely is the problem of the Congress here. Rahul Gandhi has finally opted for symbolism by bringing in Channi as the CLP leader and Bharat Bhushan Ashu as the deputy leader to put the message across these two major vote banks. These factors ultimately might not matter in the pattern that is emerging although it is too early to make any assessment of the situation. It is the trends available which matter that reflect the mood of the people.
The Congress exercise is complete with today’s appointments. In the first lot when Capt Amarinder Singh was brought back, Ambika Soni was introduced as a prominent Hindu face in the capacity of the chairman of the campaign committee with Lal Singh, an OBC, as the senior vice-president of the party. Soni at one time headed the Punjab Congress and is close to Sonia Gandhi.
However, what matters is the party engine, in this case Capt Amarinder Singh. Others are there only to correct the perception that Capt Amarinder Singh himself is basically a Sikh leader rather than being a Congressman. But then he cherishes this perception among the people.
The problem with the Akali Dal is that it is its traditional support base that has been drifting away, especially during the recent months while so far as its alliance partner BJP is concerned, the party at its own has little strength. Moreover, the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi too is fading. The party, at most, has been an appendage of the Akali Dal in Punjab.
With the Congress having resolved its leadership crisis, now it is the turn of the Aam Aadmi Party that is still to put in place its effective organizational structure. It is the party support base that is more active even in the absence of any effective leader.