AAP to return to time tested agitation route in Punjab

The Aam Admi Party in Punjab seems to have realised the need for a course correction after Balbir Singh recently took over as co-President. The party is gearing up to launch a series of agitations – its tried and tested way of connecting with the masses.

The party will target governments at both the state and the Centre on various issues including:

• Suicides by farmers and farm labourers
  Chit fund frauds
  Punjabi youth dying in Gulf countries 

Hyper-local protests and agitations on issues concerning the common man propped the AAP up ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls to an extent that at a point it seemed poised to top the race. One-to-one contact that AAP volunteers and supporters established made it strong at the grassroots. Before that, even in the 2014 General elections, hard work on the ground fetched the party four Lok Sabha seats from the party in the face of the Modi wave.

But over-ambitious and over-confident leaders squandered those gains away. Wrong moves included proximity to Sikh hardliners and dabbling in Panthic affairs – things that are not the forte of AAP. 

Now, a year before the next General elections, a meeting of zonal presidents, general secretaries, joint secretaries and Halqa in-charges Sunday decided to return to agtations.

In the meeting Singh said volunteers were the backbone of the party and their opinion would be given utmost importance for appointments at every level. Also, AAP would work on maintaining discipline within the party and nobody would be allowed to cross the lines. 

Four resolutions were passed unanimously, the primary one on AAP's resolve to fight drug dealers and their protectors. The party accused all its rivals – the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiromani Akali Dal and Indian National Congress – of shielding those involved in the trade. The party demanded the state acts on a special task force (STF) report.

AAP members also blamed the three rivals parties for continuing large-scale suicides by farmers and farm hands. The party criticised Amarinder for not uttering a word on the report submitted by a state Assembly committee on the issue, and demanded his government immediately releases compensation to the affected families. 

Paying tributes to the 39 youngsters dead in Mosul, 27 of whom were Punjabis, AAP demanded compensation and jobs for their families. The party said successive governments were responsible for widespread unemployment that forces the youth to migrate to other countries despite threat to their lives.

The AAP leadership also passed a resolution blaming the two current and previous governments have been for chit fund frauds over the years. It demanded the government mortgage properties of companies that cheated people and compensate affected families.

Will these pay off? Observers feel AAP needs to reach out to people at the earliest and regain their faith that has been sliding over the last one year due to disturbances within the party. The party needs to project leaders who are viewed as public faces – who talk their language and address local concerns.

In the past, the party got strong support on hyper-local agitations on subjects varying from drug menace to spurious pesticides, sub-standard seeds, procurement of farm produce etc.