On assuming office Prime Minister Modi had also foretold what would happen during his government’s five years term. But after two years of having been in power, he and BJP leaders have already started explaining why the promised achhe din have not arrived blaming the Opposition, as incumbent rulers always do to cover up their own lapses.

The Badals heading the Akali-BJP government had also made promises foretelling what would happen during their rule. But after Assembly elections due early next year, they will have to explain why it did not happen during the ten years of their being in power. Contrary to their loud claims, the sliding down of Punjab has continued unabated on most fronts.

In a recent week-long publicity blitzkrieg, the government quoted statics to claim that Punjab had made all-round progress, particularly on economy front. But statics often hide more than they reveal. If the state’s economic health is sound, as claimed, why its growth rate has steeply fallen which at the end of the current 2012-2017 Five-Year Plan will be almost at the bottom compared to all the states. Whenever the media carried reports about the near bankruptcy of the state’s coffers and the debt having spiraled to over Rs. 135 lakh crore, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh had claimed that the government’s financial health was sound with the government not facing any financial crisis. But the media have been carrying reports about the government’s failure to fulfill its commitments. Some recent headlines:

State has not paid 29,000 government teachers employed on contractual basis for between three and 11 months; Thousands of teachers hold march in Bhatinda demanding payment of arrears since December 2015; Not enough money to buy school children’s uniforms; Filling stations refuse fuel to police vehicles as overdue bills not paid for months; State’s assets being sold to meet financial commitments; Auditor General of India says Punjab “is utilizing 70 % of its borrowing for repayment of its earlier borrowings”.

Even as the state’s fiscal health has been in the ICU, the top Akali brass assets have piled up. In reply to a question by an Indian Express reporter sometime back Sukhbir Singh whose family owns multi-business empires had asked “Is there a law which says that a politician cannot have business interests?” Though he was not wrong but he would not care if such business empires are raised by using/misusing official influence. During the debate on the Governor’s address in the Assembly on March 11 the Dera Baba Nanak Congress MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa in his sarcastic comments on the Badals said “jithon da raja vyapari, uthon di prajabhikari”.

The above scenario indicates that Akali Dal presently is not in a comfortable situation with the elections only a few months away. The rising incumbency has also made the party vulnerable. The government claims it is “doing far more for farmers (its main vote bank) than any other state. They are being provided free power costing over Rs.5000 crore a year.” The irony is that it is the rich farmers who are the main beneficiaries of free power. The government had rejected the Opposition demand to provide free power only to the holders of less than five acres.

Despite its claim of “doing for farmers far more than other states”, the government has not cared to explain why an increasing number of farmers are committing suicides. Had there been UPA government in Delhi, the Akali leadership would have blamed it for the farmer suicides!

Despite the pre-polls adversities the ruling party faces, Akali leadership can draw some consolation from the factionalism that has been haunting the Congress. Some of its prominent state leaders have rebelled against party president Capt. Amarinder Singh’s style of functioning. Realising the adverse impact the dissidence may have on the party’s electoral prospects, the central leadership has initiated damage-control measures. Its newly appointed strategist Prashant Kishor is now trying to placate particularly the two rebel leaders -former Deputy Speaker Bir Devinder Singh and Congress working committee’s former member Jagmeet Singh Brar.

If Prashant succeeds in forging unity in the party as indicated by his on-going efforts, a united Congress will be able to pose a serious challenge to the Akali Dal in the coming Assembly elections. Capt. Amarinder Singh also must have learnt his lesson from his 2012 drawbacks when complacency, over-confidence and inaccessibility had largely contributed to the party’s defeat when its victory looked certain.

Punjab’s pre-election scenario may radically change if the talk of the secular parties joining hands materializes. In West Bengal the Left and Congress have already reached an understanding for contesting the elections against Mamata’s Trinamool Congress. Although the Left stands marginalized in Punjab, it has some pockets of influence in the state, mainly in the Akali stronghold Malwa region.

Although Kejriwal’s AAP had won Punjab’s four Lok Sabha seats, it is too early to predict what impact AAP’s on-going grassroots-level campaign in the state will have on its electoral prospects in Punjab. But the party’s jumping into Punjab’s electoral arena will make the polls three-cornered. (IPA Service)