It was jampacked Ludhiana's Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan, the venue of APP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s interaction today with the representatives of trade and industry in Punjab. Though being a segment specific, the interaction turned out to be an indoor mini-election rally.
Unmindful of the hot and sultry weather, the attendees from all parts of the state thronged the venue with expectations that they would be listened to. And indeed they were and in the manner they probably never ever had experienced before. A woman representative even broke down while expressing herself, so emotionally charged the atmosphere had got even as the interaction was meant to elicit views of the Punjab's Trade and Industry representatives to be incorporated in the party's manifesto for both segments on the lines of the Manifesto for the Youth unveiled by Kejriwal at Amritsar a day before.
Not because that they had a Chief Minister of a state so close to speak with-our own state Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal’s Sangat Darshan is like that-but the hope Kejriwal’s presence kindled among them turned out to be the pick of the event. An ample testimony of the expectations people have from him and his party. On the flip side, this as well demonstrated their dissatisfaction with the incumbent SAD-BJP combine government.
Exemplifying growing pan political appeal of APP was the presence of Vinod Thapar, head of Ludhiana’s Knitwear Club, and an industry leader since 1972 aligned politically with the Congress. “The reason I came here to articulate the knitwear industry’s problems is the hope Kejriwal has generated in terms of connecting with the people. He stands apart from the entire political class as much in responding to the public problems but also in resolving these on the ground,” he remarked.
It was a measure of this dissatisfaction with already tried and tested SAD-BJP and the Congress that those present jostled, shoved in almost suffocating auditorium to be heard and responded to. And Kejriwal in his own inimitable style lived up to their expectation. His conversational mode of interaction and accompanying accessibility left a mark.
It was in this context that a young entrepreneur in his desperation to be heard created sort of commotion. He came in for some allegedly rough treatment from some overzealous AAP volunteers trying to ‘discipline’ him. Kejriwal intervened and called him up the stage to hear him and the ‘peace’ prevailed. All this entrepreneur wanted was to elicit an assurance from Kejriwal to implement what was being promised to them in lieu of supporting APP in the government formation.
Striving all the while crystallize his core point: his party and the government being different from others-Kejriwal waxed eloquence on trade, industry-friendly taxation regime and prevention of harassment at the hands of concerned bureaucracy. Saying that “asli samasya niyat ki hai (the real problem is of intent),”Kejriwal skilfully played his sworn anti-corruption card evoking applause.
End of the interaction and he comes across as a winner at least in this round. Looks convincingly so especially because today’s interaction and the overwhelming response he got has come just a day after arrest of his Principal Secretary Rajinder Kumar by the CBI on graft charges almost coinciding with the name of his Delhi MLA cropping up in the case of Quran’s sacrilege. Could allegations of corruption, disturbing communal harmony against Kejriwal and APP be election issues in Punjab?
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Raju William, Associate Editor, babushahi.com
raju.william@gmail.com
Phone No. : 98551-01121
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