Which way the wind is blowing in the Malwa region

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

As the private bus moves at 70 km an hour on a chilly morning on National Highway-95, flex boards carrying political posters are the only reminder that the Punjab Assembly poll is just three weeks away. Inside the bus, hardly anyone discusses politics.

As the conductor blows the whistle and the bus is about to leave Samrala, a man sporting an Akali-blue turban boards the bus and takes the seat behind me. He is carrying a sheaf of papers. We soon strike a conversation and the topic changes to election. He says for four generations they have voted only for “babe di takdi”.

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Mohan Singh, a small farmer from Sherpur Bet in Samrala, says but this time it will be different. He shuffles his papers saying he is on his way to Ludhiana to see a lawyer. “My relatives, in connivance with local Akali leaders, have taken away my land,” he says, adding that like many others in his village he will support the Aam Aadmi Party. “Ehna (Akalis) ne jo gundagardi keeti hai, ehna nu taan kise dargah te vi maafi ni milni.”

At Ludhiana, as the conductor looks for passengers for Barnala, a plump man, who seems in his 30s, takes the seat beside me. He says he is not interested in election. “I won’t vote this time. Earlier, I had hope from jharuwalas, but their candidates are no different,” he says as he puts his earplugs on.

Meanwhile, a few vendors move in the aisle shouting their wares as the bus heads towards the sandy dunes of the Malwa.

Located right on the Bathinda-Fazilka highway, a gathering—outnumbered by policemen—is waiting for Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at Bodiwala village in Lambi constituency. “Ki-ki siftan kariye Badal sarkaar diyan,” a dhadi jatha is trying to hold the gathering.

Before moving on to another village, Badal says, “I am not interested in becoming CM. Mera path-pooja karan da time hai. Bande nu agge ja ke vi hisab dena hunda hai. I had told my party to relieve me, but they refused. When a cart gets stuck, it needs a strong ox to pull it out. The party said the cart could not move without me.”

On National Highway-64, just before the roadways bus leaves Barnala for Sangrur, a posse of policemen boards it. The young conductor does not ask them for tickets, nor do they care to tell him their destination. A young constable from Sunam, who joined police six years back, says they are returning from Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s security duty at Barnala. “We started at 4 am,” he says, adding, “I want the Congress to return to power for then we would be less frequently deployed on the road as the ‘maharaja’ doesn’t travel much.” With a wry smile, he says police personnel generally favour the Congress.

From Sangrur, as the ‘AC’ bus of Punjab Roadways starts for Chandigarh, a man unhappy with its dilapidated condition takes a jibe at the driver asking him to close the door or the ‘AC’ would be ineffective, leaving the passengers within earshot in splits.

The second-last seat in the bus is occupied by one Parminder Singh, the son of a labourer and a fresh graduate from Faridkot’s Government Brijindra College, who is visiting a relative in Patiala. A bit shy, he says he has so far voted only once--in the 2014 election. He wants the new government to provide jobs and health care.

Despite it being in bad shape, the bus runs smoothly on the newly laid-out road, the very road which Sukhbir Badal had once referred to as “bomb-proof”. When pointed out that the new road means development, the youth says the roads have been laid out for the Badals’ buses to ply on.

The continuous din of conductors’ whistles and shouts besides sundry other noises at the Patiala bus stand once again remind you of the noisy election scene in the days to come.

At the Chandigarh counter, a Punjab Roadways bus full of passengers is flanked by two brand new white Mercedes Benz luxury buses of Taj Travels, a company owned by the Badals. The conductor of the luxury bus is looking for passengers to Chandigarh. With a half-empty bus, it seems he is groping in the dark.