Political activity hinges around future of British-era woollen mill

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, June 12

The once famous but now sick New Egerton Dhariwal Woollen Mill has become the fulcrum around which all political activity of the local BJP leadership revolves.

So much so, ticket contenders for the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat have latched on to the entity to further their political aspirations even as the polls draw near.

Orders from the Textiles Ministry to permanently close it down are expected anytime now. As many as

329 employees have been awaiting their salaries since June 2017, when they were last paid. In the last Union Budget, Rs 102.57 crore had been allocated but this was caught in bureaucratic red-tape.

On their part, the employees are elated to see the BJP politicians coming to their rescue even if that means these leaders are engaged in an egocentric credit war of sorts.

On June 1, Kavita Khanna, wife of film star and four-time ex-MP from Gurdaspur Vinod Khanna, met Union Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal in his New Delhi office. The minister promptly got in touch with senior officers of the ministry in her presence. The officers, in turn, informed Goyal that the money would be disbursed soon.

Kavita was in the reckoning for party nomination in the 2017 bypoll and 2019 elections. This time, too, she has dropped enough hints that she is in contention. She is considered close to a leading spiritual guru of India. In fact, in the 2017 bypoll, she almost bagged the nomination till a faction opposed to her threw a spanner in the works. Again in 2019, she was a contender but a section of the party decided to field a celebrity and brought in actor Sunny Deol. That the actor was a reluctant candidate is an open secret.

Kavita’s meeting with Goyal caught her detractors napping. The counter-reaction was fast and well-planned. Hectic confabulations were held by the local leaders. Finally, it was decided that Union Ministers Som Parkash and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, MP Sunny Deol, party national general secretary Taurn Chugh and Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma would meet Piyush Goyal on June 5. Incidentally, Sharma, too, is in the running for the ticket.

Like Kavita had, these leaders too had a photo-op with the minister. Later, photographs of the meeting were released to the vernacular media. News stories, too, were planted by these leaders in some newspapers.

For the Dhariwal mill employees, this is a good omen. “This has acted as a double engine for our salaries to be released. The BJP infighting has surely come as a blessing in disguise. The fact is that we stand to benefit. Hence, we are thankful to both of them,” remarked a Union leader.

Sources say some more leaders have plans to visit the mill for photo-sessions before Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally in Gurdaspur on June 18.