Ten years ago, when Aam Aadmi Party first tested the ground in Punjab, the soil was fertile for a newbie that would upset the bipolar contests between Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP and Congress.
The Punjabi diaspora, largely Sikhs, had earlier displayed its yearning for change through Manpreet Badal-led PPP. But it ended in failure. After the 2012 polls, restlessness on Sikh issues was palpable — first on Balwant Singh Rajoana’s scheduled hanging and then on Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners). Amidst this, AAP projected prominent faces identifying with Sikh issues pertaining to 1984 and drew support from all sections, across communities and castes. The biggest push came from diaspora and despite its skeletal organisation, AAP won four seats with onefourth of vote share.
After 2014, Punjab’s political landscape was three-cornered till farm movement forced a breakup between Akalis and BJP in 2020. In 2021, AAP used Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan issues to its advantage and in 2022 assembly polls capitalised on sentiment of change among people through its “guarantees” — from 300 units of free power to monthly Rs 1,000 to every woman. AAP gained support across castes, communities and classes and every fault-line was transcended as big guns of other parties were decimated. AAP romped home with 92 of 117 seats.
Now that BJP with massive resources has jumped into the fray solo in Punjab’s political landscape, here is an attempt to decipher how caste and community cards can work in this election and afterwards:
The caste gambit played by Punjab’s then ruling Congress party in the 2022 assembly elections failed when despite appointing Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief minister and later making him the CM face, it failed to consolidate Dalit votes. Congress could win only five of 34 reserved seats and Channi lost both seats he contested as Dalits too responded to the AAP’s call of ‘badlav’ (change).
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What worked for AAP was the strong desire of people for a qualitative shift in Punjab politics, which was fanned by the farm movement, and its two “guarantees”.
Just as caste failed in the 2022 polls, class seems to be a bigger factor in these Lok Sabha polls. Even now, 300 units of free power is the single biggest issue favouring AAP, considerably blunting caste, and community factors. It has helped the party create a constituency for itself based on class.
BJP’s Dalit Challenge
BJP expects consolidation of Hindu voters in Punjab as it is contesting on its own after more than two decades. Other parties are wary as Hindus account for 38.5% of the population and Sikh voters appear to be in a disarray. However, there are layers and blocs within Punjabi Hindus and ‘Hindu consolidation’ has essentially meant upper caste Hindus.
Despite BJP’s success in winning over backward classes and Dalits in other states, Punjabi Dalits, who make around one-third of the state’s population, have so far remained a challenge for the saffron party. Caste contradictions exist but they are not as deep and wide as in other northern states. At times, religious identity across castes also decides political behaviour. This is true for Sikhs across castes as well as for upper-caste Hindus, whose caste becomes secondary when they vote as ‘Sikh bloc’ or ‘Hindu bloc’.
In the last 10 years, BJP has made a lot of efforts to get Dalits on its side. Elevating first-time MPs Vijay Sampla and Som Parkash, both belonging to Ad-dharmi/Ravidasia community, as Union ministers and then appointing Sampla as the first Dalit BJP state president were part of this exercise. However, its success has been limited to a few pockets till now.
BJP’s challenge comes from two levels as most Dalits are Sikhs — comprising 19.4% of the total population — and Hindu Dalits, who comprise 12.4% of the total population, are not adherents of Hindutva politics.
Uniquely, a major chunk of Hindu Dalits, especially the Ad-dharmi/Ravidasia community, are closer to Sikhs in religious practices. “Except for registering as Hindus in official records, a major section of Ad-dharmi/Ravidasias prefer to use caste identity instead of Hindu religious identity. In religious practices, they are closer to Sikhs than upper caste Hindus and their shrines are separate. This is a major factor in their politics too,” says Kulwinder Bagha, former sarpanch of Bolina village near Jalandhar, who belongs to the same community.
Amid these fault-lines, BJP appears to be trying hard to make inroads into the Mazhabi Sikh/Balmiki community that is relegated to the lowest step of the caste ladder. Apart from fielding Mazhabi candidate Hans Raj Hans from Faridkot and Balmiki candidate Gejja Ram from Fatehgarh Sahib, BJP has also fielded a Mazhabi Sikh, Mandeep Singh Manna from Khadoor Sahib seat.
Originally, Punjab SCs were a strong support base of Cong and Akalis. BSP disrupted Congress’s easy-going relationship with SCs and weakened it by taking away a section of Ravi dasia/Ad-dharmi voters.
At least two BJP candidates have tried to play the caste card by talking on Jat Sikh vs Dalits divide. On April 25, when farmers gathered to protest against him in Jalandhar, BJP candidate Sushil Rinku called them “gundas” and “anti-Dalit” and claimed they were there to insult Dalits. Rinku, who belongs to the Ravidasia community, urged Dalits to boycott these “antiDalit farmers”. In Punjab, most farmers come from the Jat Sikh community.
BJP’s Faridkot candidate Hans Raj Hans, who has a Mazhabi Sikh background, after facing several protests by farmers, said that his people were also heirs of Baba Jiwan Singh — a much respected Sikh warrior from the same caste, who brought the severed head of Ninth Sikh Master Guru Teg Ba hadur after his execution in Delhi to Guru Gobind Singh. This seemed not just an impulsive reaction but a careful positioning of Jat Sikh vs Mazhabi Sikhs.
Reacting to Hans’s statements, Pendu Mazdoor Union, largely representing rural Dalit labourers, repeatedly issued statements alleging that BJP was playing its divisive agenda through its can didates and there was an attempt to create a wedge between farmers and Dalit labourers.
Despite their same caste background, there are differences, mainly of religious identity and practices, between Mazhabi Sikhs and Hindu-Balmikis. The former are largely in rural areas and involved in farm labour and the latter are in urban areas. For Mazhabi Sikhs, it is only the caste card that can work, but for Balmiki-Hindu identity, BJP is already working at the level of religious identity by re peatedly highlighting that it named Ayodhya airport after Maharishi Valmiki.
The caste factor among Mazhabi Sikhs/Balmikis has the potential to act on two levels as they can be positioned against Jat Sikhs and can compete with Addharmi/Ravidasias in the Dalit space. “BJP is making strong attempts for outreach among Balmikis. Though earlier also there were some people in our community aligned to them, this time their attempts appear unprecedented,” said Darshan Ratan Ravan, founder and head of Adi Dharam Samaj (ADS), a major organisation of Balmiki com munity in Punjab. He said that like other SC communities, apprehensions of changes in the Constitution among Balmikis also had percolated deep.
When BJP fielded former Lok Sabha deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal’s son Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal, a Mazhabi Sikh and a former SAD MLA, in Jalandhar bypoll last year, his caste card worked among sections of Mazhabi Sikhs/Bal mikis.
“Things are much different in Punjab due to the Sikh Gurus’ influence across castes but still there are caste contradictions between upper and lower castes and within Dalits. There are regular discussions within well-informed Dalit circles and activists on how to tackle the emerging challenge when attempts are being made to widen the fault-lines for political purposes,” said Gian Chand, vice-president of All India Ad-Dharam Mission.
For now, the perception of ‘change in the Constitution’ which seems to have travelled deep and wide among Dalits, can become the biggest roadblock for BJP.
Courtesy : TOI
Note: This news is originally published in timesofindia.com and was used solely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights.
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