Arun Jaitley should feel right at home in Amritsar. Ever since he was named the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate from the holy city, Jaitley has done everything necessary to make sure Amristar feels familiar. He’s bought a house here, reportedly for at least Rs 1 crore. He’s brought his whole family over to enjoy the place — and to get out on the campaign trail. And he’s even had his morning walk crew from Delhi’s Lodi Gardens turn up to support his candidacy.
Yet the outgoing Leader of the Opposition might not want to get too comfortable in Amritsar. He had been banking on the backing of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate to see him through, but there is no sight of a Narendra Modi wave yet in Punjab. And that’s the least of Jaitley’s worries when Amritsar goes to the polls on April 30.
1. Partnership problems
An anti-incumbency wave appears to be propelling the BJP across the country, giving the party hopes that it might break prior seat-tally records. But while the voter’s ire might be targeted at the Congress nationally, the incumbent in Punjab happens to be the Shiromani Akali Dal — an alliance partner of the BJP. After seven years at the helm, the government, run by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, has earned a reputation for being inept, corrupt and elitist.
“I have no problem with the BJP. I want Modi to come,” said Manpreet, an auto driver in Amritsar. “But I won’t give my votes to the Badals. They’ve stolen everything, and purposely stopped the good things that were done by the government before them out of spite.”
This wouldn’t be a problem if the SAD simply allowed Jaitley to run his campaign. But Amritsar is a prestige seat in Punjab, one in which they’ve promised to take personal interest. All Jaitley would have to do is to sign the nomination papers, the party suggested, and leave the rest to the SAD. Unfortunately for Jaitley, this has created the impression in many voters’ minds that if he does win, he will go back to Delhi and allow the Badals to do as they please.
“Jaitley is a good man,” Manpreet added. “He is already a Rajya Sabha MP, so he will be in Parliament. And Modi will come anyhow, so why should I support the Badals by voting for him?”
2. Game, set, Majithia
Manvendra Singh is visiting Amritsar for the first time. He has just turned up in the city from Mathura with five other friends who want to do their bit for the BJP campaign — they’re distributing Modi topis and BJP pamphlets at major intersections — and see some of the country as well. Yet even this first-timer knows the one-word answer to why Jaitley might lose Amritsar: Majithia. As in, Bikram Singh Majithia, state revenue minister, brother-in-law to deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and alleged drug kingpin in a state that has been ravaged by addiction.
His name turns in up in almost every political conversation in the city — unless it is Jaitley or the Badals’ speaking — and never with positive adjectives accompanying it. Majithia’s assembly constituency falls in the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, and he was originally deputed by the SAD to oversee their side of the campaign support for Jaitley — not a small task considering they had essentially guaranteed to the BJP leadership that they would bag Amritsar. Jaitley, however, reportedly asked not to be seen on the same stage as Majithia, although he has relied on the revenue minister to help with campaigning out in the rural areas where he is more popular.
And then Majithia went and said this: Na daroon ar seo jab jaye laroon, Nishchay kar Arun Jaitley ki jit karoon (Never may I fear when I go to fight the enemy, With surety, victory will be Arun Jaitley’s).
The quote is actually an altered version of a sacred Shabad by one of Sikhism’s ten Gurus, in effect meaning that Majithia had blasphemed. Shouts of sacrilege immediately followed from the religious and the politically opportunistic alike, and Majithia was forced into posting a hasty apology. But the damage had been done.
3. Dropped from the squad
The well-networked Jaitley brought all sorts of stars out to campaign for him in Amritsar. From cricketer Gautam Gambhir to Bollywood star Vivek Oberoi and even PR guru Suhel Seth, there was plenty of glitz on offer. Except for the one former cricketer, TV personality and politician who would have done the most good: Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu is the incumbent MP from Amritsar and remains widely popular, although you would hardly know it from the hoardings across town. He won three elections in a row and yet hasn’t stepped into the constituency to campaign once — even though he has gladly gone on the trail for BJP candidates in other parts of the country.
His absence speaks volumes and adds to the impression that Jaitley's campaign is being stage-managed by the SAD. Sidhu had managed to make a name for himself and spread the BJP gospel in the constituency, but he did so by being fairly blunt about the Badals — and now he no longer has any ticket. His wife, an MLA in the area, has campaigned for Jaitley, but only in wards that have been allotted to the BJP.
“What they did with him was wrong,” said Raghubir Singh, a shopkeeper down the road from Jallianwala Bagh. “They used him for as long as they wanted, and then suddenly ditched him. Why should he come back and campaign now? Good for him, he should stay away.”
4. Teething troubles
He’s been around in politics so long, that most people tend to forget: Arun Jaitley has never fought a Lok Sabha election before. He might have held plenty of cabinet positions and is currently the outgoing Leader of the Opposition, but all of that comes from his membership in the Rajya Sabha. Prior to that, he was a lawyer and a spokesperson for the BJP. Which makes this Jaitley’s debut campaign.
As it turns out, the 61-year-old veteran is not entirely cut out for it. Jaitley’s talents are most ideally suited to the courtroom or in the House of Elders, where he can use his erudition and rhetorical flair to make a point. Folding palms and rallying a crowd requires a different bent altogether — particularly if you’re trying to do it in a language you aren’t familiar with. Jaitley’s Punjabi isn’t bad, it’s just not local, and that fact is conspicuous enough that it managed to earn some giggles at a recent Amritsar event featuring prominent citizens.
5. Aye, aye Cap’n
None of those self-goals might have mattered if the Congress had done what it seems to have done everywhere else in putting up a lightweight against the BJP’s bigwigs. But in Amritsar, Sonia Gandhi reportedly insisted on fielding Captain Amarinder Singh, a former chief minister and the titular maharaja of Patiala.
The gamble seems to have paid off. After seven years of Akali rule, the people seem to have forgotten why they voted Amarinder Singh out of office. He also seems like the ideal candidate to leverage the anti-SAD mood that seems to be running through the state.
“If there’s one person who can stand in the way of the Badals, it’s Captain saab,” said a videographer on Election Commission duty while videotaping a rally in Amritsar city. “I’ve seen most of his meetings and rallies here, and all he has done is talk about them. The people forget that Jaitley is in this election, they even forget about Captain saab’s issues. They’re ready to fight the Badals through him.”
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Yet the outgoing Leader of the Opposition might not want to get too comfortable in Amritsar. He had been banking on the backing of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate to see him through, but there is no sight of a Narendra Modi wave yet in Punjab. And that’s the least of Jaitley’s worries when Amritsar goes to the polls on April 30.
1. Partnership problems
An anti-incumbency wave appears to be propelling the BJP across the country, giving the party hopes that it might break prior seat-tally records. But while the voter’s ire might be targeted at the Congress nationally, the incumbent in Punjab happens to be the Shiromani Akali Dal — an alliance partner of the BJP. After seven years at the helm, the government, run by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, has earned a reputation for being inept, corrupt and elitist.
“I have no problem with the BJP. I want Modi to come,” said Manpreet, an auto driver in Amritsar. “But I won’t give my votes to the Badals. They’ve stolen everything, and purposely stopped the good things that were done by the government before them out of spite.”
This wouldn’t be a problem if the SAD simply allowed Jaitley to run his campaign. But Amritsar is a prestige seat in Punjab, one in which they’ve promised to take personal interest. All Jaitley would have to do is to sign the nomination papers, the party suggested, and leave the rest to the SAD. Unfortunately for Jaitley, this has created the impression in many voters’ minds that if he does win, he will go back to Delhi and allow the Badals to do as they please.
“Jaitley is a good man,” Manpreet added. “He is already a Rajya Sabha MP, so he will be in Parliament. And Modi will come anyhow, so why should I support the Badals by voting for him?”
2. Game, set, Majithia
Manvendra Singh is visiting Amritsar for the first time. He has just turned up in the city from Mathura with five other friends who want to do their bit for the BJP campaign — they’re distributing Modi topis and BJP pamphlets at major intersections — and see some of the country as well. Yet even this first-timer knows the one-word answer to why Jaitley might lose Amritsar: Majithia. As in, Bikram Singh Majithia, state revenue minister, brother-in-law to deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and alleged drug kingpin in a state that has been ravaged by addiction.
His name turns in up in almost every political conversation in the city — unless it is Jaitley or the Badals’ speaking — and never with positive adjectives accompanying it. Majithia’s assembly constituency falls in the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, and he was originally deputed by the SAD to oversee their side of the campaign support for Jaitley — not a small task considering they had essentially guaranteed to the BJP leadership that they would bag Amritsar. Jaitley, however, reportedly asked not to be seen on the same stage as Majithia, although he has relied on the revenue minister to help with campaigning out in the rural areas where he is more popular.
And then Majithia went and said this: Na daroon ar seo jab jaye laroon, Nishchay kar Arun Jaitley ki jit karoon (Never may I fear when I go to fight the enemy, With surety, victory will be Arun Jaitley’s).
The quote is actually an altered version of a sacred Shabad by one of Sikhism’s ten Gurus, in effect meaning that Majithia had blasphemed. Shouts of sacrilege immediately followed from the religious and the politically opportunistic alike, and Majithia was forced into posting a hasty apology. But the damage had been done.
3. Dropped from the squad
The well-networked Jaitley brought all sorts of stars out to campaign for him in Amritsar. From cricketer Gautam Gambhir to Bollywood star Vivek Oberoi and even PR guru Suhel Seth, there was plenty of glitz on offer. Except for the one former cricketer, TV personality and politician who would have done the most good: Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu is the incumbent MP from Amritsar and remains widely popular, although you would hardly know it from the hoardings across town. He won three elections in a row and yet hasn’t stepped into the constituency to campaign once — even though he has gladly gone on the trail for BJP candidates in other parts of the country.
His absence speaks volumes and adds to the impression that Jaitley's campaign is being stage-managed by the SAD. Sidhu had managed to make a name for himself and spread the BJP gospel in the constituency, but he did so by being fairly blunt about the Badals — and now he no longer has any ticket. His wife, an MLA in the area, has campaigned for Jaitley, but only in wards that have been allotted to the BJP.
“What they did with him was wrong,” said Raghubir Singh, a shopkeeper down the road from Jallianwala Bagh. “They used him for as long as they wanted, and then suddenly ditched him. Why should he come back and campaign now? Good for him, he should stay away.”
4. Teething troubles
He’s been around in politics so long, that most people tend to forget: Arun Jaitley has never fought a Lok Sabha election before. He might have held plenty of cabinet positions and is currently the outgoing Leader of the Opposition, but all of that comes from his membership in the Rajya Sabha. Prior to that, he was a lawyer and a spokesperson for the BJP. Which makes this Jaitley’s debut campaign.
As it turns out, the 61-year-old veteran is not entirely cut out for it. Jaitley’s talents are most ideally suited to the courtroom or in the House of Elders, where he can use his erudition and rhetorical flair to make a point. Folding palms and rallying a crowd requires a different bent altogether — particularly if you’re trying to do it in a language you aren’t familiar with. Jaitley’s Punjabi isn’t bad, it’s just not local, and that fact is conspicuous enough that it managed to earn some giggles at a recent Amritsar event featuring prominent citizens.
5. Aye, aye Cap’n
None of those self-goals might have mattered if the Congress had done what it seems to have done everywhere else in putting up a lightweight against the BJP’s bigwigs. But in Amritsar, Sonia Gandhi reportedly insisted on fielding Captain Amarinder Singh, a former chief minister and the titular maharaja of Patiala.
The gamble seems to have paid off. After seven years of Akali rule, the people seem to have forgotten why they voted Amarinder Singh out of office. He also seems like the ideal candidate to leverage the anti-SAD mood that seems to be running through the state.
“If there’s one person who can stand in the way of the Badals, it’s Captain saab,” said a videographer on Election Commission duty while videotaping a rally in Amritsar city. “I’ve seen most of his meetings and rallies here, and all he has done is talk about them. The people forget that Jaitley is in this election, they even forget about Captain saab’s issues. They’re ready to fight the Badals through him.”