How Captain Amarinder Singh resurrected Punjab Congress

Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 11

With the Congress heading towards a landslide win in Punjab, state Congress President Capt Amarinder Singh has proved a saviour for the party. Obviously, the Congress will use the Punjab platform to improve the fortunes of the party in other parts of the country. Had it not done well this time, it would probably have been finished forever in the state.

While handing a crushing defeat to the ruling SAD-BJP combine and also rejecting the rookie Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the voters comprehensively trusted the leadership of the experienced Capt Amarinder Singh to give a decisive mandate to the Congress.

Earlier, the same voters had rejected the Congress twice--in 2007 and 2012--in a row under his leadership. What made the voters repose faith in the Congress this time was the commitment shown by Amarinder to the party’s cause. He not only devoted full time to the campaign, but reached out to various sections of society, especially youth and farmers to secure a historic win. His unwavering stand over sensitive issues like the SYL canal besides drugs, unemployment, law and order and deteriorating fiscal situation made people give him another chance to set the things right.

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In fact, this time Amarinder was a completely changed person. Whereas he remained a cool campaigner and did not play tough and aggressive against his rivals, he made all-out efforts to take all senior party leaders along besides infusing fresh blood in it in the larger interest of the party. He stuck to his stand of one ticket to one family. He tried hard to pacify the party rebels and to make them withdraw from contesting the elections. That also helped the party to do well. The Congress has done well across the state. But it has performed exceedingly well in Majha.

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which had created history by registering a win second time in a row in 2012, has this time touched a historic low. This is one of its worst electoral defeats in the state.

The election has given not one but many lessons to the SAD; most important of these is that deras, tactics and management cannot make a party win.

It is people’s perception and trust that takes a party through. The SAD-BJP combine had lost the trust of people on many fronts, including law and order, corruption, economy and governance. The open loot of state resources such as sand and gravel, excesses committed by some halqa in-charges and arrogant conduct of many ministers and party leaders made the people comprehensively reject the party and its partner, the BJP.

But above all, the concentration of power in one family and outright promotion of dynastic power axis made people ditch the party.     

As far as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is concerned, it failed to understand the complexity of the state politics because of its inexperience. It overplayed the Sikh card that proved its undoing. It did not address the concerns of urban constituency and banked on the rural Malwa, which made it sink.

The AAP has finished a poor third in almost all constituencies of Majha and in most constituencies of Doaba. In fact, in the last Lok Sabha election, the AAP was placed at number one in 33 constituencies and at number two in eight constituencies, but in the Assembly elections it will be at number one in less number of constituencies than that.