FROM THE GROUND ZERO: Drugs, Unemployment Core Issues In Punjab Elections

By K Ramachandra Murthy

Patiala: The issues that are being discussed in Punjab during the campaign for Assembly elections are daunting putting the ruling dispensation in an awkward situation.

The reason why the Akali Dal-BJP coalition government has become thoroughly unpopular was its apathy towards the unemployed youth and the failure to tackle drug mafia. The farmers are up in arms against the Badal regime for not going to their rescue when the farm sector when it is in dire straits.

People across Punjab publicly accuse Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal of conniving with his finance minister who is fully involved in drug business. The drug mafia has come to ruin the physical and mental health of the punjabi youth, who are taking to the vice out of frustration due to unemployment.

Poornima Singh, an M Phil, has been without a job for years. She said at the AAP meeting in Patiala that she is fighting for the sake of her children, who she wants to be well educated and settled in a decent job. She alleged that the Akali and Congress Governments are responsible for ruining of economy, agriculture and industry in Punjab. She is canvassing for the AAP.

Rajeev Kumar, a farmer at Rajpura village near the border with Haryana, said the demonetisation had adversely affected agriculture. He said farmers committing suicide has become the routine in the State, which was once proud of its farm wealth caused by the Green Revolution. The cost of inputs has gone up and the remunerative price for the yield is not commensurate with the costs, he complained.

The Congress Party ironically could not come up with an alternative agenda. It promised the same old things that were there in its earlier election manifestos. All the three important parties have promised to waive farm loans. But the farmers are not buying it. "It is not possible to implement these assurances. They promise loan waiver for the sake of votes. But when it comes to implementation, they find it impossible as it involves huge funds,' said Rajeev Kumar.

People are found discussing the welfare measures that are being implemented by the AAP government in Delhi. They particularly praise the concept of mohalla dawakhana (street corner clinics). Arvind Kejriwal Government had increased the expenditure on health and education by 200 per cent. The party is promising in Punjab what it is practising in Delhi thus carrying conviction.

While Captain Amarinder Singh has the Congress machinery at his command, the party workers don't appear to have spring in their gait and glow in their faces that the AAP workers seem to have.

Akali Government has some achievements its credit. But the overall rating is too low to hope for a straight third term. Given the severity of the double anti-incumbency the ruling coalition is suffering from, it is impossible to survive the wrath of the people this time.