BATHINDA: The high voter turnout in Punjab’s Malwa region has pepped up the morale of political parties, but has also revealed that people might not have paid much heed to farm organisation BKU (Ekta Ugrahan)’s appeal to stand against electoral politics.
In a massive rally on February 17, the largest farm organisation had not given a call to people to boycott the polls, but all speakers at the gathering had asked people to stand against vote politics and against political parties. It was stated that the people should not believe in electoral politics, but should believe in struggles as all demands of farmers could be met only by struggles. The rally was named Lok Kalyan Rally (public welfare rally).
BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, when contacted, said they had not given a call for boycott of the elections, but had cautioned people not to expect anything good from any political party. “They are more concerned for self, not for the people. We don’t even believe in NOTA, as it makes you believe in vote politics while rejecting only the candidates in any election and approving the system. Our aim was not to decrease any voter turnout, but to see how many people assembled to listen to our views,” he said. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) has a considerable base in Malwa. Across Punjab, it has a presence in over 1,400 villages in 15 districts.
