When does Punjab play a lead role in National politics?.....by Prabhjot Singh
Chandigarh: It is not the size or number of MPs that represent the State in the lower House of Parliament. It is the political acumen or strategy displayed by elected representatives of the State that shape the future of the body polity of the country.
How credible are politicians of the State? How strongly they represent the case of their State or argue in support of the demands of the people they represent. These are million rupee questions .
Their answers may be baffling as Punjab does not boast of a Statesman of substance but it still shapes the destiny of national politics.
Punjab is one State that after Independence saw two of the oldest parties of the country – Congress as a national party; and Shiromani Akali Dal as a regional party – saw sharing powers for almost two decades with the former playing the lead role and the latter as a supporting role. The MLAs of the SAD would sit as part of the treasury benches without their separate or independent political identity.
It was only after Master Tara Singh, the then President of SAD, gave a call to party MLAs to come out of government and support the party’s agitation for carving out Punjabi subs on linguistic lines that only a handful of 20-odd came out.
After reorganization of Punjab on November 1, 1966, that SAD started asserting its political identity and saw it playing a major role in the initial non-Congress governments in the State. Subsequently, both Congress and SAD too turns in ruling the State.
SAD also played a pioneer as it brainchild the concept of coalitions in the State by inviting the Hindu Jana Sangha as its coalition partner. Later BJP came in for Jana Sangha.
The SAD-BJP coalition had the distinction of serving as the oldest and longest serving coalition in the history of Indian politics. It is why many may not be surprised in case the two oldest coalition partners join hands again on the eve of the 2024 general elections.
Though two of Punjab’s major parties – ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress may not be in good of any relations, they may forcibly be made to contest the 2024 general elections together as members of the new INDIA alliance.
This may, as far as Punjab is concerned, be an unholy alliance but in the game to defeat the BJP-led NDA, there is no alternative. SAD has far stood aloof from both NDA and INDIA.
The beauty of liberal democracies lies in the type of politics it veers around. Cleaner the politics better is the governance. Of late, Indian politics has witnessed a magnificent change.
Though, it has largely remained a two-party system, many smaller or regional players emerged and decimated with the passage of time. India has witnessed unprecedented number of political alliances who survived from a few weeks to a couple of years.
Every time the country headed for a general elections, new political alliances would emerge on the political horizon of the country but the majority or the ruling party would invariably devour the opposition even before it completes its gestation period. India will be heading for general elections early next year.Will an all-party alliance work this time? Is the present ruling NDA beatable? What are the choices available to the electors of India? All these issues are being debated at various forums. A substantial section of the population is confused as long standing problems facing them are getting aggravated day by day.
The INDIA alliance finds itself caught in a web over a variety of issues, including ideological and then seat adjustment issues? Can Congress and AAP work as a unified force in Punjab? Problems are many.
January 11, 2024
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Prabhjot Singh, Senior Journalist and Sports expert
prabhjot.apple@gmail.com
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