Yo-yo politics at work

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Hove Kakaji di Umar Lameri (may Kakaji live long) crooned Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans. The Kakaji is obviously Sukhbir Badal, Punjab's Akali Deputy Chief Minister. Hans Raj Hans is the Shiromani Akali Dal candidate for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat. Now, Hans, an iconic Punjabi singer is not really getting the positive adulation he might have been seeking for putting up a spectacular musical performance at the oath taking ceremony of Sukhbir Badal in Amritsar in January. His going a bit overboard in his welcoming Sukhbir Badal with his songs is not going down well with the singer's community who would rather avoid the tag of being the "royal singer" of the Akalis. But then, when development is a debatable issue, the focus shifts to populism. Enter Hans Raj Hans.

Ah well, things are warming up. The weather. So too the politics. Not yet hot. Wait a bit more. Things could get sizzling. The crackles are already there. The Akalis and the Congress are getting the spices ready. The two Badals - Senior and Junior are staking claims to almost every "developmental" activity in Punjab. A phenomenal number of inaugurations are taking place. Every day.

For now, the Akalis want to do a bit of showing off. That they are developing Punjab. The Congress wants to demonstrate the opposite. That the Akalis are not developing Punjab. The third player in the business of politics in the state - the BJP is kind of a sleeping partner with the Akalis for now. Trying to sort out an identity crisis of sorts.

The past few days have seen a spate of inaugurations. Punjab CM P S Badal laid a foundation stone for a bridge over a canal, son and Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal laid foundation stones of a business centre, AC bus services terminal and a hospital in Mohali. Full-page advertisements have become a regular feature in almost all the newspapers in the region.

Hmmm...public money being spent on telling the public what has been done for them? Debatable issue. But then why should the media mind the shower of ad revenues?

So what does the Congress have to say to all this? Here goes an angry letter from Sukhpal Singh Khaira, a Congress MLA: (quoted verbatim) "How a govt. can stoop so low for cheap political gains, can be gauged from a flurry of slanderous, misleading and bogus advertisements at the cost of public exchequer. I am quoting from a leading national English newspaper today where three full colored pages have been misutilized by the SAD-BJP Govt. at the cost of pubic exchequer to highlight projects, which are to be undertaken by private mega corporate houses to earn commercial profit. The State Govt. has not a penny to invest in these projects yet the ads issued are at the cost of Govt. money for twin purposes either to promote the private investors or to project the father son duo of the Badal's."

For sure, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) - the party that the Badals belong to, has been facing flak for doing just what they have always criticised. Running politics as what many in Punjab now believe to be a family enterprise. The Congress was always in their target cross-hairs with the Badals and other Akali leaders crying hoarse that it is a party where the Gandhi clan continues to transfer power from one generation to the next. Now, the Badal family appears to have taken a liking for the formula practised by arguably the most famous family in the business. Father and son are CM and deputy CM. Several other close relations are cabinet members. Even if there are Akali voices of dissent, they are not very audible for now. While other MLAs in the state Assembly get to spend about Rs 1.5 crore a year on, well, developmental activities, Sukhbir gets to spend Rs 2.5 crores. After all he is deputy CM and this year particularly needs some more money to be spent. It's an election year, don't you see? Only CM PS Badal gets to spend Rs 3 crores - the top of the pecking order.

One thing that is worrying the Akalis is the undercurrent of a pro-Congress tilt in the coming Lok Sabha elections. The buzz in town is that the number of seats won could be fairly high for the Congress - some say 10 for Congress out of a 13-member Lok Sabha contingent from Punjab. The Akali Dal for its part has asserted that all 13 seats will go to it.

Is it anti-incumbency once again? Punjab sees yo-yo politics with the Akali-Congress alternation (is there a word called alternation? Anyway you get the idea!). When you are in power you have to do visible tangible work and try and implement promises made in manifestoes...and that is difficult business. Requires work, after all! When you are out of power, in any case you cannot and should not do any work, since the credit will in all surety go to the ruling party. So all you can do is talk and make speeches. Positive talk? Hell, no! Criticise. Criticise everything.

And frustrated people tend to cozy up to the opposition believing all they are talking and getting a sense of relief and catharsis discussing the state of affairs with erstwhile powerful politicians (which for now are from the Congress). And then they decide to believe the talk and vote the opposition to power. Lo and behold! Things change....but then they don't really! Back to the routine of not delivering on promises and manifestoes, and the previous power center now becomes the opposition and the cycle begins again. The yo-yo formula goes on. So this time the yo-yo is going the Congress way, since the Akalis are in power. Now let's see if there can be some sudden chaotic movement in the swings. After all Nassim Nicholas Taleb says in his bestseller - The Black Swan - you never can be sure of anything!

Keep watching this space, in the next dairy will figure out what Capt Amarinder Singh, a former Akali (now now, he cannot deny, he was once an Akali) leader and also the previous Congress CM of Punjab is plotting. The Akalis for now are leaving no stone unturned in keeping him occupied in court cases and vigilance inquiries. He, meanwhile, is rumored to be taking time off in the hills in the presence of some good company. Wink wink!

See you soon.