Punjab: AAP’s Mounting Problems
Asia News Agency
The grenade attack on a temple in Amritsar on 15 March is only the latest in a series of disturbing incidents that suggest attempts by vested interests to upset the tenuous social peace in Punjab after its bruising tryst with terrorism in the 1980s and 1990s.
The incidents, writes The Hindustan Times, “need to be seen in the broader context of attempts to revive the separatist sentiment in the state by exploiting religious, economic and political fault lines. Terrorism in Punjab was largely eliminated through police action and political outreach, but the Khalistan agenda is kept alive by groups in Canada, the UK and the US. Economic factors that created the ground for extremist politics in the state are yet to be resolved: Protests by farmers and cases of illegal migration indicate an underlying economic crisis. The electoral rise of leaders such as Amritpal Singh, the Khadoor Sahib MP, indicates an expanding constituency that is soft towards radical agendas….”
Farmers’ stir
Other than Khalistan, battle lines are visible between protesting farmers and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government after Punjab police, on the orders of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, evicted agitating farmers from two protest sites on the Punjab-Haryana border. The agitating farmers Thursday issued a call for a nationwide protest accusing the AAP government ‘backstabbing’ them.
Political commentators said the shift in AAP’s stance signals a change in Mann’s approach that a has been farmer friendly so far. This ‘calculated move’ could pit Punjab’s urban population against farmers and may even turn into ‘political suicide’ for AAP in the assembly polls.
But the Mann government has made it clear that it will not allow protesters to hold the state to ransom. Punjab’s borders have been blocked for over a year, leading to significant economic losses, reduced investments and decline in tourism.
AAP’s handling of the protests stood in sharp contrast to its stance during the 2021 agitation when it supported the year-long sit-in by farmers at the Delhi border.
AAP’s prospects in the 2027 polls
As a background to the present situation in Punjab, is the stinging loss in Delhi has prompted the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal to focus his attention on the State. Both Kejriwal and chief minister Mann know that they can’t afford to put a foot wrong from here on. However, issues on drugs, corruption, law and order indicate that the AAP government in Punjab has a lot on its plate after three years in power.
A sweeping mandate in the 2022 elections, writes The Tribune “had helped AAP blow away well-entrenched parties such as the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP. Public anger over the disappointing performance of previous governments raised hopes of a new dawn. Starting from scratch, AAP has found it hard to turn the tide. The drug menace continues to eat into the vitals of the border state……The campaign against corruption has been intensified, partly in view of the graft taint that dented the party’s image in Delhi….The CM has also not shied away from confronting farmers, a key vote bank that successive state governments have been unwilling to antagonise. It’s a big gamble that can have a bearing on AAP’s prospects in the 2027 polls, especially in the rural belt.”
AAP better than Cong, SAD
However, despite setbacks, AAP remains Punjab’s best bet, in the view of The Tribune “as the Congress and the SAD have repeatedly failed the people of the state. Unlike its predecessors, AAP has at least shown the political will to address key issues, though execution needs improvement. With two critical years ahead, Punjabis must choose between flawed yet intent-driven governance and reverting to past regimes that delivered little beyond broken promises. While some promises, like making the state drug-free in three months, are over-ambitious, AAP has taken bold steps against corruption and incompetence."
