Tarn Taran Diary: Doing well in Khadoor Sahib will be a miracle for the BJP

The BJP going solo in Punjab in the coming Lok Sabha election would be no less than a miracle if the party can register its presence in Khadoor Sahib assembly constituency. The constituency which includes besides Khadoor Sahib, Tarn Taran, Patti and Khemkaran in Tarn Taran district, Zira (Ferozepur), Baba Bakala and Jandiala Guru (Amritsar), Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodhi (Kapurthala) has nine Vidha Sabha constituencies. Khadoor Sahib itself is a village though it is a sub-divisional headquarter and is mostly a rural belt with Sikh dominated areas. This Lok Sabha constituency, which is spread over the Majha, Malwa and Doaba regions of Punjab, is part of the dissolved Tarn Taran Lok Sabha constituency area, which was once called ‘Panthic’ (Sikh dominated) seat. It has been represented either by the Congress or the SAD candidates till now— nine times by the SAD candidates, seven times by the Congress and once by the SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann. Till date, the BJP has not even contested any of these seats, leave aside winning. Recently, the BJP has given the party a new shape with Sikh faces — from the district president to the lower level officer-bearers — leaving behind the previous BJP ideologues who have preferred to sit at home, disheartened. The BJP, sans the Sikh face, has no strong set-up. In the present set-up, there were Harjit Singh Sandhu, district president, Anoop Singh Bhullar (son of Congress leader Gurchet Singh Bhullar, former minister), former SAD MLA Manjit Singh Manna, Gurmukh Singh Ghulla Baler and some others who were unknown even to most of the area residents. In the present situation, it must be not easy for the party to show remarkable presence in the Lok Sabha poll.

Love for sports at the age of 70 plus

Sakattar Singh, a resident of Doburji village in Tarn Taran who is over 70 years of age, has developed a love for sports, specially with athletics, as he has been regularly practicing at Guru Arjun Dev Sports Stadium, Tarn Taran. He participated in the state-level spots competition held recently at Mastuana (Sangrur) and won three medals in races. He has studied only up to middle standard as the family circumstances did not allow him to continue his studies. He was enthusiastic toward sports as he had a good physique at a young age. He recalled that just eight years back, he had read a news item about races for the elderly (Birdhan Dian Dauraa), to be held in Quila Raipur (Ludhiana) and won silver in 100 metre race with a cash prize of Rs 2,000. He said that he practiced just for 10 days. His performance boosted his morale and he started practising regularly. He said that his house is situated by the roadside in the village and the youngsters in the area aspiring for recruitment into the police force or the defence services passed near his house, which kindled his love for games. He said that in the recently held state-level games held in Mastuana (Sangrur), he won the second prize in 5 km and 800m race and bronze in 200m race. He never misses sports competitions for the elderly at the state-level now. He said that he wanted to keep his love for the playground alive till his last breath. Only milk and items made from it are part of his diet, he said.

(contributed by gurbaxpuri)

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