Delhi Police had booked gangster turned activist Lakhwinder Singh, better known as Lakha Sidhana, after violence broke out at Red Fort during a tractor parade organised by farmer unions on Republic Day last year. He went underground only to resurface a month later to address a rally in Bhatinda teasing Delhi Police. A year later, on bail, he is busy holding babies, touching the feet of the elderly and, posing for selfies as he goes door to door campaigning for votes as a candidate of farm leader Balbir Singh Rajewal’s Samyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) in the Punjab Assembly Elections.
We are at an anganwadi at Badiala village, where a crowd of a few hundred men, women and children are waiting to hear Mr. Sidhana. But before he comes in Kabbadi commentator Amrik Khosa keeps the stage going. He begins with a morbid story about his own younger brother who died of drug abuse leaving behind two daughters, the youngest of who is just a one-year-old toddler. The crowd listens in silence, the story strikes a chord. Many eyes tear-up in the audience. Badiala, like the other Punjab villages has its own statistics of deaths from drug overdose. Mr. Khosa also talks about his own attempts to find employment abroad touching upon two enduring themes of Punjab elections - drug abuse and unemployment.
Mr. Sidhana, who has been carrying on door-to-door campaigning walks just in time as Mr. Khosa’s story wraps up. Dressed in green sweat pants, jacket and sports shoes he begins his speech without any dramatic flourishes.
“ Chitta [drugs] openly sell in our Punjab. And we all know who is behind this. I can not promise that I will stop the sale. Those who claim they will are also lying to you. What I do promise is that I shall stand by you in every high and low,” he says and the crowd listens impassively. His attack is directed both at Akalis who are accused to have started this culture and at AAP who claim that they will put an end to it.
“My fight is for your future generations,” Mr. Sidhana says, dismissing the usual infrastructure development works such as road and sewerage as routine work that are given as part of an elected representative’s duty.
He has a straightforward pitch. He is not here to form government, because clearly, SSM does not stand a chance. Instead his promise to the people to provide a responsible Opposition that will hold the government of the day accountable. “An assembly is run by the Opposition, not the government. If need be, to fight for you, Lakha Sidhana will stand against the entire Punjab assembly,” he says.
The Maur voters compare him to Robin Hood who provides financial help to the needy and also to take cudgels on their behalf against the administration. He is also a therapist, who mediates between feuding couples. He is an environmentalist who holds protests against the government for polluting river water and equally is a parochialist who is campaigning for the Punjabi language supremacy in the State over English or Hindi.
But all these are recent additions to his CV. He was originally Lakha Sidhana, the gangster. As per his election affidavit, there are 14 pending cases against him including those of arms act, attempt to murder, and murder. And he remains upfront about it, almost revelling in this image. “They say Lakha is a criminal. I have never denied my criminal past. But remember none of the cases against me are for stealing, cheating or fraud.”
His supporters, also inflate it further with implausible claims like the number of bullet shots he has survived from or about his skirmishes with police constructing a larger than life persona. But will this help in these assembly elections? In 2017, AAP’s Jagdev Singh won the seat only to defect later to Congress. The Congress has fielded Manoj Bala Bansal, who is considered an outsider as she lives in neighbouring Mansa. The contest, Mr Sidhana’s supporters claim is with AAP once again, who have now fielded Sukhvir Maiser Khana. The final answer though lies with the voters.
