General’s poll campaign gets final push as son reaches out to voters
Manish Sirhindi
Tribune News Service
Patiala, January 31
Undeterred by political impediments being thrown his way in his run for the state elections, SAD-BJP candidate and former Army Chief Gen Joginder Jaswant Singh (retd), has started giving his election campaign some final touches as the campaign comes to an end in the next two days. He had even pitched in ‘foreign power’ to prop up his winning prospects in the elections with his son Vivek Pal Singh, who is the first Sikh to be elected as councillor in France, giving a push to his father’s campaign.
An educationist in France’s Normandy, Vivek said it was never an easy decision for the family to let their General father contest an Assembly poll given the ‘dirty politics’ that involve Indian election scenes. “However, he prevailed upon us with the determination of an Army General and we finally gave in to his decision,” Vivek said.
Vivek had recently taken up the reins of the General’s campaign and went door-to-door to garner support for his father. Unlike his father, who is quite aggressive in his campaign, Vivek bears the look and attitude of a polite academician, instantly clicking with the masses.
While interacting with a group of students, he said his father was not after power as he had seen enough being the former Army Chief and governor. But the General felt that he had so much to give back to society and, thus, he decided to contest the elections. “My father could never see himself living a retired life, playing golf,” he said.
While trying to cut ice with a group of locals, who he met while campaign, Vivek said “My father’s closest rival Capt Amarinder Singh epitomises the gap between policy makers and layman, while the General wanted to move among commoners.”
Meanwhile, speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the election campaign, he also spoke about the issue of turban ban in France. He said while the SGPC did its bit to raise the issue, the matter remained unresolved and now the Sikh body should use social media to generate a worldwide opinion in favour of the Sikh turban so that the France government could be persuaded to roll back anti-turban laws.
