Protest-hopping In Punjab CM Badal’s Backyard

For the past decade, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition has been in power in Punjab, but continuing to retain power in the upcoming Punjab state assembly elections seems unlikely. In addition to a decade of anti-incumbency, the Akalis are battling serious problems that are crippling Punjab – from farmer suicides and drug abuse to corruption and unemployment. The simmering resentment against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is now spilling over into the streets of Punjab, even in the region traditionally considered the Badal family’s stronghold.

Speaking to Newslaundry on condition of anonymity, a senior journalist from Bathinda explained that Badal’s strength has always been Malwa, south of the Sutlej. “Most of his (Badals’) political struggles – the Punjab state movement, the Emergency movement – were based in Malwa,” he said. The Badal family always fights elections from seats in the Malwa region. Parkash Singh Badal’s assembly seat is Lambi, in Muktsar district; his son Sukhbir Singh Badal used to be the Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from Faridkot district (his current assembly seat is Jalalabad in the neighbouring Fazilka district). Sukhbir’s wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is a two-time member of Parliament from Bathinda, the epicentre of the Badal political empire.

Of late, though, it seems the centre of the empire isn’t holding. Data compiled by the state’s Department of Health and Family Welfare in 2014 revealed Bathinda to be the worst affected district in terms of drug abuse in Punjab – on an average, nearly 4,000 addicts registered themselves for de-addiction treatment every month in the district. Also, a survey by the Punjab government found Bathinda, along with neighbouring districts of Sangrur and Mansa, to have witnessed the most number of farmer suicides.

Understandably, then, protest rallies against the government have intensified in Badal’s backyard. While travelling through the region, this reporter encountered three unrelated protests in a single day. While the protests differed on issues and varied in scope, the object of their rage was the same: the Badal government.

A black Diwali

The village of Khara, nearly halfway between Kot Kapura and Muktsar on state highway 16, in Faridkot district, was in a state of foment on the morning of October 28. A protest was underway. A little more than 100 protestors were occupying the highway, blocking traffic and chanting “Punjab sarkaar, murdabaad! (down with the Punjab government)”. The agitators were local farmers protesting against the delay in paddy procurement by the district authorities, despite being several weeks into the harvest season. One of the protestors, Dhanjit Singh – a farmer himself – explained their predicament. “This village’s mandi (market) has been allotted to FCI (Food Corporation of India) but the inspectors and administrators of FCI are making excuses for not buying our produce,” Singh said. “There are farmers who have been sitting in the mandi for 27 days, yet their paddy has not been purchased. That is why we are protesting and we won’t move until our paddy is picked up from the mandi.”

Procurement of food grains is a controversial issue in the state, with the Badal government allegedly involved in a multi-crore scam over crop value claims. According to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in 2013, the Punjab government claimed to have spent Rs 32,181 crore on procurement, while the paddy and wheat stock generated was pegged at just Rs 17,843 crore – a difference of nearly Rs 14,000 crore. According to opposition parties, the total misappropriation of funds over the years could be in excess of Rs 30,000 crore.

However, Sanjay Pathi, district manager, FCI, Faridkot, said there was no significant delay in procurement. “We have been purchasing regularly,” insisted Pathi. “There was a problem in the last two-three days only because there were some quality issues. That must be the reason for the protest.” He also claimed that the procurement process had resumed and the issue was resolved.

Singh attacked the government for trying to deceive the public about the condition of farmers. “The Badal government is making tall claims that farmers have no problems, that each and every grain of rice is being weighed and bought. But the reality is that farmers are sitting in the mandi, completely helpless. We are being forced to celebrate Diwali in the mandi, instead of being with our children and loved ones. For us farmers, this Diwali is a black Diwali,” he said.

Teachers, towers and water tanks

On the outskirts of Jai Singh Wala village near Bathinda, 12 kilometres from the chief minister’s native village of Badal, members of ETT-TET Pass Unemployed Union gathered at an abandoned water works office. The union is of teachers who have passed the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) and completed the two-year Elementary Teacher Training (ETT) program. They’ve been protesting since May 23 this year because even after fulfilling all the requirements, they were yet to be employed by the state government. Amarjit Kamboj, president of the union, said that despite there being evidence of vacancies, candidates were not being offered jobs. “The government has declared there is a total of 6,500 vacancies (for teachers),” he said. “The number of eligible candidates is around 5,000-5,200 but still they’re being deprived of jobs. There isn’t a dearth of posts so there is either a technical problem or the government department is not doing its job properly,” Kamboj explained.

The water works office can be described as a quarantine zone. Outside the building, policemen kept guard, not interfering with protestors but alert. The risk of embarrassment to the government is real: twice since the protest began, union members have scaled water tanks in Badal in Muktsar district, raised slogans and unfurled banners, hoping to force the government into action. The government did take notice and although a meeting was arranged with the CM and the recruitment process initiated, Kambok said bureaucratic delays followed. To again goad the government, six union members climbed atop two mobile phone towers in Badal. “There was no place to sit on the towers, no food or water, and moreover they suffered from radiation exposure,” Kamboj said. “Despite all that, our comrades stayed on top for six days. Still, the government didn’t listen to us.”

When asked why they took such a drastic step to get the government’s attention, one of the six, Salinder Kamboj, said they had felt there was no other way to get the State’s attention. “Most of us are in our late twenties and early thirties,” said Kamboj. “Some are married as well and have families. At this stage, we can’t think about changing our profession.”

The union members claim the police have cut off electricity and water supply to the site, and threatened villagers living nearby not to help them. They also accused the police of lathi charging them at least five times over the course of the protest. Police officers stationed outside the site, however, denied these charges. Pradeep Aggrawal, Director General School Education, told Newslaundry he wasn’t aware of any protests and that “the government has started the recruitment and if somebody participates in it, they will get selected on the basis of merit”.

Faced with government apathy, the union has intensified its protest. On November 3, two union members – Rakesh Prashar and Deepak Kumar – climbed atop a mobile tower near Punjab Bhavan in Chandigarh, near the chief minister’s residence. Salinder Kamboj told Newslaundry that the protestors intended to stay on the tower until “all comrades get a job”. The two protestors were carrying rations with them which had since run out and their health has begun deteriorating, he added.

Power trip

In the heart of Bathinda city, contractual workers of the Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant (GHTP) and Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP) gathered outside the deputy commissioner’s office in large numbers on the evening of October 28, to protest against the governments’ plans of shutting the plants down. The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) had recently decided to halt operations at state-run thermal plants for a period of six months and instead purchase power from private players.

Addressing the protest, Rajinder Singh Dhillon, general secretary of GHTP Contract Workers Union, accused the government of hypocrisy. He said the government claimed to be working to provide employment to the youth of Punjab and yet had decided to shut down public sector ventures like thermal plants and render nearly 3,500 contractual employees jobless. Dhillon said that generating power at the government plants was much more feasible than buying it from private companies. “Private plants sell power at Rs 7 per unit, while government plants are generating power at Rs 3 per unit. This is creating an economic burden on the people,” he said.

However, A Venu Prasad, principal secretary, Department of Power, told Newslaundry that the plants had been shut down because there wasn’t enough demand for power. “If there is a demand, like one month back we operated the Bathinda plant because there was a demand for paddy,” said Prasad. The government was foreseeing no growth in demand over the next six months and hence the plants would not be functional, according to Prasad. He denied that state run power plants produced cheaper power, saying that “high price of coal and high fixed and working capital costs” have made generating power at these plants expensive. 

Unrest in Badal’s stronghold doesn’t just make for bad PR, it could cause real electoral damage too – 68 of 117 seats in the Punjab assembly are in Malwa. When asked to predict the fate of the Akalis in the upcoming elections, a senior journalist told Newslaundry it was quite certain they would end up with the least amount of seats. “This much seems clear that they are going to end up in third place,” he said. “What remains to be seen who among Congress and AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) finishes first and second.” He further added that their poor poll prospects are the result of the Badals focusing on “promoting their own family”, instead of good governance.

Perhaps, after a decade of misrule, the chickens may finally be coming home to roost for the Badals.