In hinterland, voters weigh choices discreetly

Aparna Banerji

Bundala (Phillaur), April 27

“Kihnu paiye vote. Gareeban de kamm tan kisene karne nahi, jinnu marzi pao. Ameeran di fer vi sun lainde,” says 80-year-old Darshan Singh as he squats beside his house at Bundala village in Phillaur.

Fate of poor will remain same

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‘Kihnu paiye vote. Gareeban de kamm tan kisene karne nahi, jinnu marzi pao. Ameeran di fer vi sun lainde (whom should we vote? Nobody listens to the poor. The rich still get their work done.)’

Darshan Singh, Bundala resident

A huge cavalcade of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Jalandhar bypoll AAP candidate Sushil Rinku has just passed from the road. Darshan stayed unmoved at the same spot, catching the CM’s speech from there.

Darshan, who has 2 marla land in the village, says he hasn’t received his pension despite repeated visits to officials. He says the household earnings are from his sons and grandsons who are daily wagers.

Haven’t decided whom to vote

‘Jaaida sareyan di rallia ch hai. Vote jihnu pani hovegi panvange (we go to everyone’s rallies and roadshows, but we will vote for whoever we think is suitable.’

Surinder Kaur, Bundala resident

A few moments later, his grandson, clad in a black T-shirt and a baseball cap, comes in after attending the road show. A bit more upbeat, he says, “Baba’s pension is a worry, we need it. But other than that that, we are doing fine.” A few yards further is a wall on which posters of both AAP candidate Sushil Rinku and Congress Candidate Karamjit Kaur command attention.

As the poll fever hots up in the Jalandhar hinterland ahead of the bypoll, people attend rallies and political meetings but are wary to speak about their electoral choices. While the pitch of the bypoll is more laidback and relaxed than previous elections, the campaign goes on full throttle. The walls and bazaars are the biggest witnesses. Right from Goraya to the AAP roadshow venue at Bundala – where the state CM delivered his speech today – the road is dotted with AAP posters, big and small.

Shop fronts bear blue and yellow AAP flags all through – heralding the roadshow. At the event, before the CM comes, workers hand out and stick AAP flags in every nook and corner. An ignored Ambedkar statue behind the huge village peepal tree peeks out from the background. Marigolds in a plastic bag are distributed to workers and audience, to be thrown when the CM comes, but many eager villagers rain them a bit earlier as someone prematurely declares his arrival. The bus stand walls and all major throughfares on the road bear huge posters of the AAP candidate in violation of the code of conduct.

While Darshan Singh bemoans his pension, two elderly women who came in from Phillaur to Bundala to attend the roadshow are much more discreet.

“Jaaida sareyan de hai. Vote jihnu pani hovegi panvange (we go to everyone’s rally-road-shows, but will vote for whoever we think is suitable),” says blue-clad Surinder Kaur. Her companion when asked about AAP’s yet-pending promise for Rs 1,000 in women’s accounts, says, “Hauli hauli houga” (Things will happen, slowly.)

The CM’s speech is intermittently laced with applause but when he mentions that he got many toll plazas closed in the state, some voices in the crowd say, “Phillaur vala band kara deo ji.”

An elderly woman who sits beneath the peepal tree with a flag in hand says, “We judge governments by works done so far. We have seen the works of previous governments too. It is too early to say with this one because they have just started. People will make up their minds, then and there.”