Against Modi wave, urban Sikhs come to Bittu’s rescue in Ludhiana
Saturday, 25/05/2019
https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/05/24/against-modi-wave-urban-sikhs-come-to-bittus-rescue-in-ludhiana/
LUDHIANA : The urban Sikh population, so far, has mostly and overwhelmingly voted for the Shiromani Akali Dal, come what may. However, for the first time, the community voted for Congress candidate Ravneet Singh Bittu in overwhelming numbers, which provided him an edge in four of the six urban constituencies, against a sweeping pro-Modi wave in the Hindu dominated areas. Thanks to caste rivalries within the Akali Dal and a sense of grievances among the urban and nonJat Sikhs that the party (Akali Dal) is dominated by the Jat Sikhs, the community in a revolt of sorts opted for the Congress this time, thus providing a crucial lifeline to Bittu who was faced with the toughest challenge of his political career. Bittu has always banked upon Hindu votes. In fact, in the previous election in 2014, while losing badly in the rural segments, he got handsome lead in Ludhiana East, Ludhiana North and Ludhiana Central and lost in Ludhiana West, dominated by the urban Sikh community.
His cumulative lead from these segments in 2014 was about 30,000, which helped him cover the losses in the rest of the six segments. However, due to strong Modi wave among the Hindus, the Hindu dominated three constituencies provided him with a marginal lead of 8,000 votes only. In the last election, Bittu trailed by 2,000 votes from Ludhiana West. However, this time he led by about 8,000 votes, a gain of 10,000 votes, which was primarily because of the support of the community, that has large concentration in the Ludhiana West constituency. Even in the rest of the urban constituencies, if Bittu managed to retain a marginal lead, it was mainly because of the urban Sikh votes which went in his favour, against Maheshinder Singh Grewal of the Akali-BJP combine and Simarjit Singh Bains of the People’s Democratic Alliance. And it was primarily because of this shift that the SAD-BJP alliance candidate was ranked third in the final result. He trailed behind Bains, the runner up, by 7,000 votes. The urban Sikh community, as well as the non-Jat Sikh community, has been feeling aggrieved that despite their unfailing loyalty towards the Akali Dal, they were being ignored and everything was pocketed by the Jat Sikh community. With the party having fielded a Jat Sikh this time again, the community unanimously revolted and voted against him.
