New entrant Sanyukt Samaj Morcha hopes to cash in on pro-farmer sentiment

Balbir Singh Rajewal, 80, knows Punjab as well as he knows his crops. He was the face of the farmers’agitation, and now after forcing the government to repeal the three farm laws, the farmer leader has become the chief ministerial face of the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM).

The SSM, floated by 22 farm unions, is the youngest political party in the fray. It is trying to cash in on pro-farmer sentiment, which coursed through the state at the height of the farmers’ agitation. Like many parties born of a movement, the SSM appeals to emotions with the promise of a bright future for the state. However, with less than a month to go for assembly elections, can the SSM replicate the success of the Aam Aadmi Party that grew from the anti-corruption movement? The jury is still out.

On a chilly January morning, a month after the party was floated, THE WEEK met Rajewal at his rice mill, now run by his son, in Samrala, 60km from state capital Chandigarh—also the constituency he is contesting from. “We are yet to formally launch our campaign,” says the president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal). “People are not aware of the candidates. But wherever we go, we get huge response. You will see the campaign turning into a wave within a week.”

Rajewal was in talks with the AAP for an alliance, which could have been a winning formula, but it fell through. “Every elections, we (farmers union) try to support a lesser evil,” he says. “In 2002, we supported Amarinder Singh (then with the Congress); in 2007, we supported the Akali Dal; and in 2017, we supported the AAP. We supported them on issues, and never took anything in return.” The AAP, he says, started a whisper campaign that he wanted to be chief minister. “But I never said so,” he says. “When we decided to contest, the AAP was releasing candidate lists. I told them not to. If I were to be CM, then I should be able to pick up clean candidates.”

As his talks with the state AAP leadership hit a wall, Rajewal went to meet national convener Arvind Kejriwal. “I told him how tickets were up for sale in Punjab,”he says. “I gave him proof and submitted audiotapes. Kejriwal said that he would throw out such people. After three days, they told me that I could not be given the number one position. I was relieved.”

Though Rajewal and many farmer leaders in the state exercise significant hold over their respective union members, they never contested elections. That gave them legitimacy and certain heft when the farmers’movement was launched. However, many lent tacit support to candidates or parties.

Some of the farmer unions, under the umbrella organisation of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, disassociated themselves from the SSM after its launch. The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan)—one of the largest unions led by Joginder Singh Ugrahan—said that it was against contesting elections but would not issue any direction to its members, which the SSM took as a positive sign.

The SSM has given tickets to doctors, professors, activists, farmer leaders and businessmen. Anuroop Kaur Sandhu, an assistant professor in a Delhi University college, was part of the agitation for a year where she documented the deaths of farmers. She is contesting from Muktsar, and is already knocking on the doors of her voters.

Party spokesperson and Mohali candidate Ravneet Brar says the party is relying on door-to-door campaigns as it does not have money. “My party aims to bring about administrative reforms so that we don’t have to offer freebies,” he says. “Our focus is on health, education and employment.”

An MBA, Brar says his opponent—Congress MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu—in the S.A.S. Nagar constituency comes from a political family, but age is on his side. “People associated with the farmers movement are helping as I cover five-six villages each day, while my wife leads another team in the urban areas,” says Brar. “The sentiment is for change.”

Dr Sukhmandeep Singh Dhillon, the candidate from Tarn Taran, had devoted himself to the agitation providing medical care, even as he postponed his plans to complete his MD. Being the youngest candidate, Dhillon will be taking on veterans in the area.

As the SSM had little time to prepare for the polls, it is still struggling with basic infrastructure. It is yet to come out with a website or an efficiently run social media campaign.

Though the SSM claims ground support from villages, it will be difficult to translate it into votes. Both the AAP and the SSM promise the same thing—a change from the mainstream political parties of Punjab. This makes them natural allies, but as they are political rivals now, they are likely to eat into each other’s votes. While the AAP took its time to announce Bhagwant Mann as its chief ministerial candidate, as it looked for a credible and experienced face, the SSM had a veteran in Rajewal with 52 years in public life. But the AAP has an advantage over the SSM—it has a well-honed organisation and a Delhi model to boast of. Also, the AAP has made its presence felt in villages, with party posters visible in every nook and cranny.

“[The SSM] should not have formed a party,” says Devinder Kumar, a shopkeeper in Rajewal’s constituency. “It impacts the farmers’movement. We look towards Kejriwal as he promises free health care and good school education.”A similar refrain was heard from several other people, who are yet to be convinced by SSM’s announcements sans a manifesto.

The SSM talks about Punjab’s pain, a common theme of discussion across the state dealing with drugs menace, unemployment and corruption. Rajewal bemoans the political and economic bankruptcy of Punjab. “To repay 03.5 lakh crore debt, we are taking more loans,” he says. “The political class is shameless and least bothered. Administrative corruption is at its peak as bribes are taken for plum postings. Our natural resources have been exploited. ”The youth, on the other hand, he says, wants to escape abroad. “The youth left behind agitate for jobs, some turn to drugs,” he says. “A small portion is pushed into crime; [the rest] are angry. That anger can prove costly for the state as we have seen in the past (in the form of militancy). That is why we decided to accept the challenge.”

The 2022 elections further widens the shift in the state’s electoral scene. It started in 2017 when the AAP emerged as the second largest party, altering the state’s history of a bipolar contest. With the SSM’s entry, the electorate has an option to look beyond hardcore politicians and political families.

“I had told my friends that I want to retire and write a book on farmers’ history as no one else has seen it as closely as I have in the last five decades,” says Rajewal. “I have never toed the political line, though I may have supported or opposed some. I have never fought any elections. As children, we used to listen to songs about Punjab being a prosperous and healthy state. I yearn for that.”