'People Of Punjab Know BJP's Tricks'

'The BJP will not win a single seat in Punjab.'

After Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's arrest, Congress leaders shared the stage with the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi to showcase the INDIA (India National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc's solidarity with it.

However, in Punjab, the same INDIA grouping has withered away because the Congress, the principal Opposition party in the state, has refused to have an alliance with AAP which is in power.

Last week, the Congress got a jolt when its Lok Sabha MP from Ludhiana, Ravneet Singh Bittu, quit the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Three former Congress leaders -- Captain Amarinder Singh, Sunil Jakhar and Bittu -- are now in the Punjab BJP.

Will this trouble the Congress which won eight out of Punjab's 13 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 in the face of the Modi wave in North India?

Can the Congress maintain the same tally or do better in the 2024 general election?

"Punjab has 65 percent of secular and nationalist vote and the Congress always has a chance in the state. Both Congress and AAP have the same vote bank," Pratap Singh Bajwa, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab assembly, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com.

The concluding segment of a two-part interview:

• Part 1 of the Interview: 'What BJP did in Maharashtra they are doing in Punjab!'

It is being said that the Punjab BJP is the old Congress party because so many of your leaders have moved to the BJP.

The BJP's old cadres are very upset with the current Punjab leadership. They have as their leader in Punjab Sunil Jakhar who was Congress state president.

Captain Amarinder Singh is calling the shots in the BJP. His wife Preneet Kaur is their Patiala candidate. She was a Congress candidate earlier.

I openly challenged that the BJP will not win a single seat in Punjab. Last time they won two seats though.

Is it not true that the BJP is banking on the 38.5 percent Hindu votes in Punjab by capitalising on the Ram Mandir?

In Punjab we have 35 percent Hindu votes. I think it is less than that because there are 65 percent of Sikhs in Punjab. And I have not counted the Muslims and Christian population. In Hindus too there are Scheduled Caste and Backward Class who do not vote for the BJP.

It is only the upper caste Hindus who vote for the BJP in Punjab.

Is this the reason the BJP got only 6.6% votes in the 20022 assembly elections in Punjab? Can the Ram Mandir play some role in improving the BJP's chances?

I am saying even if 60 percent of Hindu votes are with BJP, then 40 percent are with the Congress in Punjab.

As far as the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is concerned we have never opposed it. We are happy it was constructed. A majority of Hindus of Punjab want to have the best relations with the Sikh community.

Don't you have a problem convincing your cadres about not having an alliance with AAP in Punjab and having an alliance in Delhi?

I have been opposing the alliance with AAP in Punjab from day one. The logic that I gave to the party high command is that AAP is ruling Punjab and we are the main Opposition. If we get with them and tomorrow there is an anti-incumbency vote, then it will not come to the Congress. This anti-incumbency vote will go either to the BJP or the Akali Dal if we tie up with AAP.

As I told you, Punjab has 65 percent of secular and nationalist vote and the Congress always has a chance in the state. Both the Congress and AAP have the same vote bank.

When the entire country voted for Narendra Modi in 2014 and 2019, why did Punjab resist the Modi wave?

Sikhs have always fought against thw Delhi Darbar right from the Mughal days and the atrocities committed by Aurangzeb.

They fought against the British too and after Independence Punjab fought against the (wrong policies of) the Congress party which was ruling at the Centre.

A majority of Sikhs stand against (wrong policies of) whosoever is ruling Delhi.

The psyche of Punjab Sikhs is closer to that of Marathas of Maharashtra. They always fight against the wrong policies of the Centre. Be it the farmers issue or not giving minimum support price for crops by the central government. Not to open the Punjab border as our international border at Attari is closed for the last 10 years (for trade).

There were two (major) ports in Gujarat before 2014 and now they have made six (major) ports in Gujarat.

Punjab is not on the BJP's agenda.

Withdrawing the three farm laws didn't help the BJP?

It didn't help because the demands of farmers were not met as promised.

The main demand of the farmers of Punjab was implementation of the Swaminathan report which spoke about MSP on C2+50 percent.

They gave the Bharat Ratna to Dr Swaminathan, but rejected his report that was beneficial to farmers.

The BJP's Bharat Ratna to Dr Swaminathan is like the British giving Victoria Cross to Mahatma Gandhi and not giving freedom to India.

The people of Punjab know their tricks and therefore I am saying, the BJP will not win a single seat in Punjab.