A group performs an act before Taranjit Singh Sandhu speaks at a rally in a small village near Ajnala in Amritsar. The artists rue about drug abuse in Punjab, unemployment and sheer hopelessness.
“People realise they have been taken for a long ride for the last 10 years… they want an educated MP like me. Amritsar will get a BJP MP finally,” Sandhu, a career diplomat and BJP’s Amritsar candidate, tells News18. He is up against two-time Congress Amritsar MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla who had nabbed intruders that jumped into the new Parliament’s Well last year.
Sandhu is also up against BJP’s jinx from Amritsar — the party has failed to win the seat since 2009. Arun Jaitley and Hardeep Singh Puri have had to bite the dust here. Navjot Singh Sidhu won from Amritsar three times for the BJP till the year 2009. Congress’s Aujla says he will now achieve a hat-trick. “People won’t buy the dreams Sandhu is selling,” Aujla told News18.
AAP, which won seven of the nine assembly seats in Amritsar in 2022, is facing public anger, given that key promises like Rs 1,000 a month to women are still unfulfilled. But the challenge for BJP is also compounded by the fact that it no longer has an alliance with the Akali Dal, which has a good hold over rural Amritsar. A four-cornered contest is hence on.
Why it is Taranjit Singh ‘Samundri’
On BJP’s posters in Amritsar and at public rallies, Sandhu is addressed by his family prefix ‘Samundri’. This seems an attempt to reinforce his old connections with Amritsar as his grandfather Teja Singh ‘Samundri’ was the co-founder of SGPC who fought against the British and died in Lahore jail in 1926. Sandhu retired as India’s Ambassador to the US a few months ago and is now straight into the heat and dust of Amritsar elections.
“You can see the atmosphere here…for 36 years, I was in public service. This is also public service but in a different way. I must say that in Amritsar, including in rural areas, the focus is on development. People are realising they have been taken for a long ride. You can go around and ask people where development is in Amritsar,” he told News18.
The BJP leader also cites problems of law and order, drug abuse and decreasing incomes and employment in Amritsar. “Connectivity of Amritsar needs to be improved. There is no cargo flight till here. There is a lot of scope for our industry and agriculture, possibility to export to UAE and Saudi Arabia. Lulu group wants to come here, Walmart wants to come here. There is one million Punjabi diaspora in USA. If they could buy Hero Cycles, they would love to buy phulkari, papad, and Punjabi jutti,” he told News18.
Aujla looking at hat-trick
Meanwhile, Gurjeet Singh Aujla says Amritsar is a “secular” seat and his politics rests on taking everyone along. “We fought for farmers and BJP had to withdraw laws. People defeated Hardeep Puri, not me. Taranjit Singh Sandhu speaks of his grandfather who led the agitation against the British but why is he sitting in the lap of the RSS now? His grandfather fought that legacy. The farmers are asking BJP candidates why they had to sit on dharna,” Aujla told News18.
Aujla cites development in Amritsar like the new Ring Road, IIM, Vande Bharat, and increased air connectivity. “People can see that as an MP, I helped get these projects to Amritsar. BJP MPs in Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur could bring no development but I raised my voice in Parliament and got jobs done for my constituency,” he told News18.
Sandhu, however, accused Aujla of trying to take ownership of central schemes. “Perhaps he may be in the wrong party…he should be in BJP if he has taken ownership,” he told News18. Sandhu said after 10 years, Aujla was realising the value of development and talking about it. “That is my success. Earlier, he was just slinging mud,” he added.
Sandhu said the only factor that matters in these elections is the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Development has been brought to India by PM Modi. Last 10 years I was associated with foreign policy and the relationship with US and Bharat has changed to a partnership. So much investment has come from abroad. We want to bring that to Amritsar. Modi ki guarantee is the biggest factor in these elections. We are taking it to people,” he said.
AAP under Attack
Both Aujla and Sandhu agree on one thing though — AAP has failed on its promises. Aujla is particularly scathing against AAP despite the two parties being allies in Delhi.
“AAP was voted in with lot of hope, but they work on lies and advertisements. Ration has been cut, drug abuse is at an all-time high, sand is being sold at higher rates, and law and order is bad. The government could not hold corporation elections in Amritsar. The Rs 1,000 promised to women per month has not been given even two years after elections,” Aujla told News18.
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