Quick-witted ‘Ghuggi’ takes a sombre turn

Grasping the folded hands of an elderly man, Satwant Singh, in the narrow lanes adjoining Cinema Road in Batala, state AAP convener and party candidate Gurpreet Singh ‘Ghuggi’ Waraich says gently, “Leader te main hain nahin. Apni rooh di awaaz sunn ke tuhade vich aaya haan. Seva da mauka dau (I’m not a politician. My conscience has brought me before you. Give me a chance to serve you).”
It’s raining heavily, but his entourage seems to be growing. Waraich is surrounded by a group of youngsters providing him umbrella cover in a street full of puddles.
Attired in a light-yellow kurta and white pyjama, with a black jacket and a matching turban, Waraich lends his ear to the elder, whose body is grimed with the flour of his mill. He says in a Malwai accent, “Main karoonga. Waheguru ne badi kirpa keeti aa. Hunn jhadu chakk lavo. Saara gand maanjh dena hunn (I’ll do it. God has blessed us. We have to clean up the system).”
Entering the next house, he fondles the tiny tot sitting in the lap of his grandmother and touches her feet. “Jeonda reh Babbu putra. Khokhar Faujian vich chhota jiha vekhiya hoya,” she says, recalling the time Waraich spent in his native village in Gurdaspur district during childhood. “We are still dumping the waste of our houses in the streets. No one has ever bothered about us,” she adds.
A little ahead, he pauses to listen to senior artiste Chacha Raunki Ram, who leaves the crowd in splits with slogans such as ‘Jhadu jhadu jhadu. Badalan nu khoonje vaadu’.
Despite being famous as a comedian, Waraich is conducting the election business in a sombre manner. Interacting with an elderly man, he says: “Drugs have ruined Punjab. Our house needs to be put in order.”
Sitting in a house on a factory premises, Ghuggi tells us, “My father had to shift from the village because he didn’t have a steady job. I used to write applications outside the Kartarpur tehsil in Jalandhar. But we never lost contact with our village.” He adds: “I feel motivated to give something back to society. I was approached by the Shiromani Akali Dal and offered a plum post. But my conscience did not allow me to take the political bait. I am here out of my conviction.”
Standing in front of a shop selling tea and refreshments, 25-year-old Harman Singh asks, “Why are you not mocking the Badals and Capt Amarinder Singh like your colleague, Bhagwant Mann?” Waraich replies diplomatically: “I won’t comment on Bhagwant’s style as he prefers to do things his way.”Taking the mike, Waraich begins: “Our elders called our town the steel city (“kale sone da shehar”). Sadly, repressive policies and unfair taxation have made industrial ventures unviable.”
“Batala will get a government hospital to spare people the hassle of travelling to Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Villages will get stadiums. We will bag more than 100 seats. Ehna (opposition) nu 440 volt da current devange. 20-25 saal nahin utthange,” he declares.Peeping through grilled windows, schoolchildren can be seen clapping and cheering: “Pukka jitonge, veerji.”

Sanjeev Singh Bariana