Winner or loser? Meet the ‘common man’ in her

Deepti Verma in Chandigarh

Politicians talk of common man, while common man struggles to find a person who can set things right in a manner that an aspiration first becomes a hope and then a realization of a goal. Sadhavi Khosla is one such ‘common man’, who was restless for a change in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. She saw that change unfold. All that until the end of 2015; when she ‘quit’ the BJP social media cell as a volunteer, accusing the party of trolling, defaming and ‘manufacturing truth.’ The party said she was never a member. She did not mind much. Her disillusionment was so stark. 

Sadhavi (37) comes from Patiala, and though settled in Gurgaon, she is conspicuously and consciously a first-timer in the poll process of her home state Punjab. Last year she came out with a documentary on the state’s drug problem and had Rahul Gandhi and Capt Amarinder Singh invited over in Amritsar to release it. Today, she tends to revisit everything that has happened in the last about three years. Being an entrepreneur, a social activist and TV panelist, her instincts seem to forewarn her against siding with any party/individual openly. Disillusioned, yet again? 

Ask her and she would tell you why her quest for a political alternative remains incomplete. “I was devastated when I lost two of my childhood friends to drug addiction,” she says. “I never realized the situation was so alarming. My documentary ‘Fading Glory - Punjab, hope not lost’ highlights the drug problem.”

She says she wants Punjabis in and out of Punjab to see what’s ailing the once-prosperous state.

Married to a non-Punjabi, the activist in her has seen enough. “In December 2013, I had received a call from Narendra Modi’s campaign office asking me to be a part of his canvassing team. My Twitter profile probably caught their attention. Modi’s promise of better India motivated me to join the BJP’s Mission 272-plus team of volunteers. Little did I know that the mission’s innovative campaigning meant suppressing the voices of opposition. They remove anyone speaking against Modi,” she says.

But why did Congress leaders, not the others, attend the screening of her documentary? “I had invited everyone. I have been continuously drawing everyone’s attention towards Punjab’s alarming drug problem. I have posted around 5,000 tweets addressed to the PM in the past 2.5 years, but he continues to ignore them. Rahul Gandhi chose to attend the launch of my documentary.”

In the intervening months came the third alternative, the AAP. “This party believes in agitational politics and blames the Centre for anything and everything. If a war-like situation ever arose, they would not be able to handle this border state,” she says.

Granddaughter of a freedom fighter, Sadhavi did her high school from Patiala and graduated from MCM DAV College, Chandigarh. She got married in 2003. “My husband supports my activism and understands my concerns for Punjab. But when I was targeted after I quit the BJP media cell, he is concerned about my safety. I invited the ire of Modi bhakts after I exposed the BJP’s style of suppressing dissent through social media trolling in Swati Chaturvedi’s book ‘I am a troll’,” she says.

She is working on a book, “Punjab, the enemies within”, along with former DGP KPS Gill. Slated for release this month, the book focuses on Punjab’s downfall. “The state has no one to blame but its past and present rulers. Punjab used to be one of the fastest-growing and richest states of the country with the lowest poverty figures. The state, which was known to be the food bowl of India and had always boasted of its entrepreneurship, has lost its economic leadership,” she says.

On co-authoring a book with Gill, she says the former top cop was instrumental in eliminating militancy from Punjab. “Writing a book with him does complete justice to the issue because he knows the state inside out. Recollecting 50 years of Punjab was easier with him.”

She says solution to Punjab’s problems lies in the hands of Punjabis. And yes, she wouldn’t like to be disillusioned, this time. “Trust the voters,” says Sadhavi.