The verdict is out. The Shiromani Akali Dal - Bharatiya Janta Party has won 5 more years of leadership (or should I say dictatorship?) in Punjab. My first reaction to that: "Yeh to hona hi tha."
I have been following the campaigning season in Punjab very closely especially for the last few months and what I can say is that the only party I heard doing something were the Akalis. When I say, doing something, I don't mean development and running of some amazing programs in the state; I mean campaigning for themselves. Whether you picked up the newspaper, listened to the radio, switched on the TV (punjabi news obviously flooded with Akali favoritism since Badal owns PTC channel) or heard about rallies happening around you, it was mostly all SAD shouting about how great they had been in the last 5 years and why they deserved a chance to come back to power. They talked about their farmer, education for girls, save the girl child, free cycles & aata-daal schemes; the building of Khalsa Heritage, the organization of the world kabbadi competition etc. etc. ( although most of these were either last minute stuff they pulled to attract voters or a means for them to swallow some more of the tax payers hard earned money). But the point is that no matter what their inside intentions were, they were out there, visible, shouting and leaving imprints for the naked eye and ears of a voter to absorb and remember.
On the other hand, Congress was no where to be found. This election season, Congress depended mostly on what I call negative marketing of the competitor. The only time I would hear a Congress party person speak or hear/watch their campaign ad (which were almost non-existent), they were all about how Badal and family had eaten up Punjab and how they were not worthy of being in power. But, I never heard Congress mention what their own personal agenda and goals for the state were if the people of Punjab gave them a chance to rule for the next 5 years. Nor did I hear about what they did against the evils of the Akali corruption for the last 5 years while sitting in opposition. There was no clarity of thought, no focus and I thing Captain Amarinder Singh just spent most of his campaigning days sleeping in his palace in Patiala. Moreover, I think Captain Amarinder was so dependent on a so called "strong Centre" (thanks Rahul Gandhi for showing up your face in Punjab exactly three times, not that it helped with your 200 rallies in U.P. either) that he did not feel the need to campaign himself regionally. As if the problems of the entire country are same as the problems of Punjab and that the Central govt. when it comes to power is going to banish every other state in order to think and work only for Punjab. Bad strategy, Captain!
People's Party of Punjab (PPP)- now that was a whole different stunt. Although many hoped that a new party might come and bring a sigh of relief to people who are sick of both the SAD-BJP and the Congress, I knew from day one that a party formed on grounds of "Ok, I don't like you anymore so I am going to go start my own shit. Oh and by the way, in asterisk, if I don't win (which Manpreet Badal did not), I will come back and join you" wasn't going to go too far. Pretty evident by the 0 seats they won, isn't it? I mean, people ARE stupid, but not THAT stupid.
So, is it a good thing that SAD-BJP is going to rule Punjab for yet another 5 years? Hell, no! Would it have been a good thing if Congress had taken the winning spot? Hell, no! I don't think any of the parties is truly worth it. But then again, we do a need a government. So, I think the only good thing in all of this is that with the break-up of seats as the results have come out, there will be a strong opposition which is always needed in effective running of any government. It ensures that the state stays in balance and away from dictatorship by one single party.
Before the elections, there was clearly no one-sided inclination and most people you talked to said that the results could go either ways. However, my personal opinion is that election 2012 in Punjab was purely a marketing win. No party was any better than the other. But the party that campaigned better clearly won over the party with a losing marketing strategy. So, I think the celebration and congratulations goes to the back-end campaigning team and marketing strategists of SAD-BJP, it truly is their win. As for the people of Punjab, get ready for 5 more years of Badal-ship. He is 85, single and ready to rock his 5th term.
I have been following the campaigning season in Punjab very closely especially for the last few months and what I can say is that the only party I heard doing something were the Akalis. When I say, doing something, I don't mean development and running of some amazing programs in the state; I mean campaigning for themselves. Whether you picked up the newspaper, listened to the radio, switched on the TV (punjabi news obviously flooded with Akali favoritism since Badal owns PTC channel) or heard about rallies happening around you, it was mostly all SAD shouting about how great they had been in the last 5 years and why they deserved a chance to come back to power. They talked about their farmer, education for girls, save the girl child, free cycles & aata-daal schemes; the building of Khalsa Heritage, the organization of the world kabbadi competition etc. etc. ( although most of these were either last minute stuff they pulled to attract voters or a means for them to swallow some more of the tax payers hard earned money). But the point is that no matter what their inside intentions were, they were out there, visible, shouting and leaving imprints for the naked eye and ears of a voter to absorb and remember.
On the other hand, Congress was no where to be found. This election season, Congress depended mostly on what I call negative marketing of the competitor. The only time I would hear a Congress party person speak or hear/watch their campaign ad (which were almost non-existent), they were all about how Badal and family had eaten up Punjab and how they were not worthy of being in power. But, I never heard Congress mention what their own personal agenda and goals for the state were if the people of Punjab gave them a chance to rule for the next 5 years. Nor did I hear about what they did against the evils of the Akali corruption for the last 5 years while sitting in opposition. There was no clarity of thought, no focus and I thing Captain Amarinder Singh just spent most of his campaigning days sleeping in his palace in Patiala. Moreover, I think Captain Amarinder was so dependent on a so called "strong Centre" (thanks Rahul Gandhi for showing up your face in Punjab exactly three times, not that it helped with your 200 rallies in U.P. either) that he did not feel the need to campaign himself regionally. As if the problems of the entire country are same as the problems of Punjab and that the Central govt. when it comes to power is going to banish every other state in order to think and work only for Punjab. Bad strategy, Captain!
People's Party of Punjab (PPP)- now that was a whole different stunt. Although many hoped that a new party might come and bring a sigh of relief to people who are sick of both the SAD-BJP and the Congress, I knew from day one that a party formed on grounds of "Ok, I don't like you anymore so I am going to go start my own shit. Oh and by the way, in asterisk, if I don't win (which Manpreet Badal did not), I will come back and join you" wasn't going to go too far. Pretty evident by the 0 seats they won, isn't it? I mean, people ARE stupid, but not THAT stupid.
So, is it a good thing that SAD-BJP is going to rule Punjab for yet another 5 years? Hell, no! Would it have been a good thing if Congress had taken the winning spot? Hell, no! I don't think any of the parties is truly worth it. But then again, we do a need a government. So, I think the only good thing in all of this is that with the break-up of seats as the results have come out, there will be a strong opposition which is always needed in effective running of any government. It ensures that the state stays in balance and away from dictatorship by one single party.
Before the elections, there was clearly no one-sided inclination and most people you talked to said that the results could go either ways. However, my personal opinion is that election 2012 in Punjab was purely a marketing win. No party was any better than the other. But the party that campaigned better clearly won over the party with a losing marketing strategy. So, I think the celebration and congratulations goes to the back-end campaigning team and marketing strategists of SAD-BJP, it truly is their win. As for the people of Punjab, get ready for 5 more years of Badal-ship. He is 85, single and ready to rock his 5th term.
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Parkash Singh Badal
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