As the battle of Gidderbaha picks up momentum, it is now the turn of Badal bahus or the darani-jethani to woo the voters. If Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s wife Harsimrat Kaur was gauging the voters mood with her sangat darshan, People’s Party of Punjab chief Manpreet Badal’s wife Veenu Badal was busy touring the constituency that her husband has represented for four times and each time winning with a bigger margin.
It is from village Bhalaiana that Harsimrat, a Lok Sabha member from Bathinda, began her sangat darshan programmes on Tuesday. Dressed in a pink suit and trendy sport shoes, she steers away from mentioning Manpreet Badal in public and only fleetingly touches on the issue of division in the family. “I have come here with folded hands to have darshan of the people who have accorded so much respect to the Badal family,” she tells the gathering.
But once back in the comforts of her SUV, she lets her guard fall. “Who is Manpreet Badal? You (media) have created him and now are over-estimating his chances in the Assembly polls. Just remove the name Badal from Manpreet and no one in Punjab will even recognise him,” she says. Over the course of 10 km, her next stop for sangat darshan, the tirade continues. “The very foundation of Manpreet and his party stands on lies which we have duly exposed.
He says that Punjab was getting a waiver from the Centre. I raised the question in the Lok Sabha and it is on record that there was never a waiver. Then he left the party claiming that we did not agree to his idea of doing away with sops for poor and subsidies. His Common Minimum Programme reeks of populism. People of Punjab can look through his lies.” But when it comes to Manpreet’s wife Veenu, who is campaigning near 20 km away, Harsimrat dismisses with a shrug. “Is she really here? Let her be. Everyone has the right to be in the constituency.”
Away from the strappings of Harsimrat’s paraphernalia, dressed in an inky blue kurta teamed with white salwar and duppata, Veenu alights from her SUV and walks in to the party office. There are no bodyguards, no government officials at her beck and call. She is just back from what she says a “very successful” PPP rally in Muktsar. A quick wash and she is ready. “She (Harsimart Badal) has landed in Gidderbaha after almost two decades. I have always been here. I have not only campaigned for Manpreet but also for Sukhbir. My children are almost as old as the day we got this constituency some 16 years back. You (media) are kind of noticing me now but I have always been here.”
But this is the first time she is not campaigning for SAD (B) and Veenu says it is a “lot easier” to do it for PPP. “The burden of having to campaign for a party with which you did not agree completely has been removed.” Veenu is also not perturbed by Harsimrat’s presence. “She is here because of me. And honestly speaking if you ask me about Harsimrat and Sukhbir, then all I can say is that I know nothing. We as a family were close to tayaji (Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal). My son Arjun used to call him from Doon School. And of course my father-in-law used to be very close to his brother. Other than him, we never shared any bonding with other members of the family.” Family talk over, she focuses on Manpreet’s agenda.
“He is not doing all this just to become a chief minister. He is a catalyst of change. No one can treat Punjab like their fiefdom. If tomorrow Manpreet starts treating Punjab for his own purposes even he will lose. If we do not change the fate of Punjab now, provide education to our children, give them good jobs, there will be rioting on the streets.” Even as she explains her husband’s poll agenda, the party matriarch throws a glance at the walls and is almost apologetic. “I have been telling them to get it painted. We even need some good crockery here but then I have been so busy touring villages that I could not pay much attention to the office.”