2022 Punjab Assembly polls

With Punjab Voting For Change, Even Doaba Has Failed to Save Congress’s Face

People appeared to have keep traditional political and caste equations at bay, upending Congress’s calculations.

Jalandhar: While the Aam Admi Party (AAP) won with a thumping majority of 92 seats in Punjab, Congress’s move to bank on Dalit politics by appointing Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief minister could not help the party, especially in Doaba where Dalit communities hold the key.

Doaba, with an over 32% Dalit concentration, delivered a mixed verdict on the 23 assembly seats, out of which eight are reserved. The region also somehow proved to be a bit of a saving grace for the Congress.

In Doaba, AAP won ten seats, Congress nine, and Shiromani Akali Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and an Independent candidate, one each.

In the 2017 elections, Congress had won 15 out of the total 23 seats of Doaba region while AAP could bag only two seats.

However, this time, keeping traditional political and caste equations at bay, people appeared to have voted for change. AAP’s lesser-known candidates gave stiff competition to both the Congress and SAD on all seats.

AAP also got a major boost in the Malwa region, where it won 66 out of the total 69 seats. In Majha, AAP won 16 out of the total 25 seats, while the Congress won seven and SAD and BJP one each.

With Channi’s appointment as the first-ever Dalit chief minister, and the SAD-BSP alliance, Punjab assembly elections seemed to be revolving around Dalit politics. It was witnessed as a major political move and a possible game changer in the state elections.

Charanjit Singh Channi. Photo: PTI

However, Channi lost from both Chamkaur Sahib, his home turf, and Bhadaur seats. He was also unable to strongly impact the turnout of Dalit votes in Doaba. The discourse focused on Dalit consolidation had a limited impact and affected Congress’s tally, while AAP emerged with flying colours across the state.

Out of the eight reserved seats in Doaba, Congress won four – Adampur, Phillaur, Phagwara and Chabbewal.

The other four reserved seats include Jalandhar West, Kartarpur in Jalandhar district, Sham Chaurasi in Hoshiarpur district and Banga in Nawanshahr district.

In Adampur, Congress’s Sukhwinder Singh Kotli, also a former BSP leader, defeated two-time sitting SAD MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu by 4,567 votes.

In the Phillaur seat, Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary won by the highest margin of 12,303 votes among all the 18 Congress winners. He defeated sitting SAD MLA Baldev Singh Khaira.

Also read: In Punjab, Congress Proved Its Own Enemy and Paved Way for AAP’s Rise

Similarly, in Phagwara, sitting Congress MLA Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal bagged 37,102 votes by defeating AAP’s Joginder Singh Mann. In Chabbewal, sitting Congress MLA Raj Kumar defeated AAP candidate Harminder Singh by 7,719 votes.

Apart from this, the Congress managed to wrest control of Jalandhar Cantt, Jalandhar North, Shahkot in Jalandhar district; Phagwara, Kapurthala, Bholath seats in Kapurthala district; and Chabbewal seat in Hoshiarpur district.

An Independent candidate, Rana Inder Pratap Singh, won from the Sultanpur Lodhi seat of Kapurthala. Pratap is the son of senior Congress leader Rana Gurjeet Singh, who also managed to win his own seat in Kapurthala. Despite strong opposition from the party, Rana had fielded his son against sitting Congress MLA Navtej Singh Cheema, but he won.

On the other hand, the Congress failed to open its account in Nawanshahr district, where all three seats went to SAD, BSP and AAP.

What voters want

Talking to The Wire, Chandigarh-based senior journalist and author Jagtar Singh said, “Basically, people have expressed their latent anger against the traditional parties Congress and SAD. Both the parties are corrupt and degenerated. The way they have been operating in Punjab, people had this time made up their mind to reject them.”

Jagtar also said that with the historic victory of AAP in Punjab, people have started a new trend of politics. “Punjab’s politics has always been different from the other states. This time, people not just shunned traditional parties, their politics, Deras and all ways of wooing voters. The results showed that people voted for transparency, good governance and wanted the ruling class to remain among them. Till now mafias, bureaucracy and elites were operating in Punjab, now it is the turn of the common man,” he added.

Reacting to the dismal show of the Congress in Doaba and Punjab, Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary, who won from the Phillaur (reserve) seat, said, “It is unfortunate that the Congress could not perform well and even Charanjit Singh Channi lost from both the seats, but we managed to retain our seats in Doaba. We are ready to perform the role of a responsible opposition.”

Chaudhary pointed out how Congress’s Sukhwinder Kotli defeated two-time SAD MLA Pawan Kumar Tinu from the Adampur (reserve) seat and said that the Congress had a strong presence in many seats in Doaba.

In the 2012 elections, the then SAD-BJP alliance had won 15 out of the total 23 seats, while in the 2007 elections, the alliance had won 17 out of the total 25 seats. However, this time, Doaba gave mixed results.

AAP’s clean sweep in Malwa

The major push in AAP’s seat tally came from the Malwa region, where it won 66 out of the total 69 assembly seats. While SAD won only one seat, the Congress won two.

Interestingly, from the Malwa region itself, AAP crossed the majority mark of 59 seats (out of the total 117) required to form the government. Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda’s impact was also negated in the Malwa region to such an extent that neither the BJP nor SAD could win any seats.

Ahead of the polls, Dera Sacha Sauda’s infamous chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, convicted of rape, was released on furlough. The move assumed significance with respect to the Deras’ influence and their role in elections. As per experts, Singh’s parole was expected to help the BJP win some seats in Malwa.

“The Dera supporters have released ‘double engine ki sarkar’ slips and this can be a game changer for the BJP,” a BJP leader had told The Wire, a week before the polls.

The Malwa region had already emerged as an AAP stronghold when the party made its foray in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It had won four parliamentary seats, stunning election experts, and paving the way for its growth in the biggest region of Punjab.

Also read: Why an AAP ‘Tsunami’ – And Not Just Wave – Has Come Over Punjab

AAP’s maiden victory in Majha

Punjab’s Majha region, comprising Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts, has 25 seats. AAP won 16 seats, while the Congress won seven, and one seat each went to the BJP and SAD.

Out of the 16 seats, AAP managed to wrest control of ten out of the 15 ‘Panthic’ seats of the Majha region. These include Sri Hargobindpur, Attari, Amritsar South, Jandiala, Baba Bakala, Ajnala, Tarn Taran, Khadoor Sahib, Khemkaran and Patti.

The other five seats which AAP won were Dera Baba Nanak, Fatehgarh Churian, Qadian and Raja Sansi.

For SAD, the lone face saver in the region was former MLA Bikram Singh Majithia’s wife, Ganieve Kaur, who won with 26,156 votes. Bikram lost from Amritsar East seat, where he was pitted against his arch rival Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu. Both Majithia and Sidhu lost from Amritsar East while AAP’s Jeevan Jyot emerged as the dark horse.

Punjab: Two-Time MLA From Ferozepur Quits BJP Over Farm Laws

Sukhpal Singh Nannu said due to the death of several farmers during the ongoing agitation against the farm laws, his supporters were upset and forced him to take some decisions ahead of the 2022 assembly polls.

New Delhi: Two-time Ferozepur MLA Sukhpal Singh Nannu on Thursday quit the BJP, citing the death of farmers during the agitation against the Centre’s farm laws. Nannu had won twice as a BJP candidate from Ferozepur city in 2002 and 2007. However, he lost to Congress’s Parminder Singh Pinky in 2012 and 2017.

Addressing the media at his residence, Nannu said due to the death of several farmers during the ongoing agitation against the farm laws, his supporters were upset and forced him to take some decisions ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls.

Refuting speculations of joining the Shiromani Akali Dal, Nannu said he is not going to join any party right now. “I will only follow what my workers say,” he added.

Earlier, Anil Sareen, Punjab BJP spokesperson, had tried to persuade Nannu not to leave the party. Sareen had a closed-door meeting with him. However, Nannu did not budge and resigned from the party.

Nannu alleged state BJP president Ashwani Sharma should be held responsible for the present scenario. He said, “The top leadership of Punjab did not present the right picture to the central high command. I was the first one who opposed those Bills.”

He added that in few states these are beneficial while in states like Punjab, these are destructive. In an emotional tone, Nannu said his father had joined the saffron outfit 54 years ago in the presence of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Earlier, Nannu had released a press note in which he thanked his supporters for their “unflinching love and support”. He said though his supporters always stood by him like a rock, due to the “betrayal” of some fellow BJP leaders, he could not win a third consecutive term in the assembly.

Punjab BJP Chief on Party’s Future in the State, Infighting and Upcoming Polls

Even with a precarious standing, the BJP’s state president tells The Wire that is optimistic about the party independently contesting 117 seats in the upcoming polls in Punjab.

Mohali: The agitation against the three agri-marketing laws, which started in Punjab last year, has visibly impacted the politics of the region.

It started with Punjab’s grand old party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) first severing ties with its oldest ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Now, the SAD hopes that its seat-sharing arrangement with its newest ally, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), will help the party in the state assembly elections, to be held in the early months of 2022.

The BJP, on the other hand, has arguably emerged as the biggest loser in the game thus far. It has witnessed one of the strongest social boycotts from masses in the state in recent history. Recently, two of the party’s ex-legislators have, for the first time, openly spoken about their dissatisfaction with the BJP’s top leadership in handling the farmers’ protest.

Earlier this year, after three members from the BJP’s OBC front resigned to join the SAD, various other members wrote to the top leadership to look into the matter of the agriculture laws personally as it was harming the BJP and its cadre’s political future in the state.

Speaking to The Wire, however, BJP’s state president Ashwani Kumar Sharma was on the defense when asked about concerns raised by his party’s own cadre and dismissed any fears over the party’s future in the state. Kumar said that the BJP’s state cadre stood united in the state despite the “personal opinions” of two ex-MLAs.

According to Sharma, the BJP at the centre and within the state has “done everything” to dispel the fears of the peasant community unlike what a section of Punjab BJP members have said publicly.

In line with what many senior ministers of the Modi-led cabinet have said in the past about the farmers’ movement, Sharma told The Wire that the protests against the three agriculture laws is a political tool being used by the opposition to paint a false picture of the BJP in the country, and is not a genuine issue related to the agricultural economy.

Also read: Punjab Is in Bad Need of Political Leadership. Will Optics Reap Dividends?

“The BJP state unit formed committees to speak with the farmers in Punjab. The efforts that we’ve made as a state unit have not entirely gone to waste. The Centre too has done everything. They even offered to temporarily suspend the farm laws. Then why didn’t the protest end?” Sharma said. “This is a politically motivated movement. The Centre will do everything to help the Indian peasants,” he added.

Sharma said that it wasn’t the stalemate between the peasants and the Centre which was harming the BJP in Punjab, but the lack of law and order exercised by the Congress government in the state which had lead to incidents of attacks on the party’s cadre.

“No, it [the prolonged stalemate between the farmers and the Centre] is a problem for us,” he said. You must see how in broad day-light, the police let goons attack BJP members. The genuine motives behind this farmers protest must be questioned,” he said.

When asked whether the concerns raised by party members in the public were being discussed and addressed in party meetings, Sharma responded by saying that the BJP was better than “dynastic parties” and paid attention to everybody.

“We speak to everybody in the party about our affairs on a daily basis. We listen to everyone. We aren’t like the dynastic parties in the state,” Sharma said.

Sharma remained tight-lipped when The Wire asked him about the issues the party might raise in the upcoming elections, in light of new developments occurring elsewhere in the state’s politics. “Party politics is not for newspaper headlines,” he said.

The BJP in the past has enjoyed the support of upper-caste traders and baniya commission agents of agricultural markets in the state but not anymore. The recent urban local body polls showed that the BJP is losing its trust even among the urban class after facing a severe boycott from the rural peasant community. But Sharma said that the results of the urban body polls will have no bearing on the upcoming assembly elections. Instead, he believes that the trader community, running small and medium businesses, will restore their support in the BJP.

Also read: As Defiance Erupts Across States, BJP’s CEO-Style Party Command Is Floundering

“Every election is different. The reality of the assembly elections will be entirely different from municipal elections. The trader class, the city dwellers are watching Congress’s inaction in dealing with the pandemic. This will play out in our favour,” Sharma said.

Even with a precarious standing, the BJP’s state president is optimistic about regaining the trust of the party’s key vote bank, the Hindu upper-caste community, and independently contesting 117 seats in the upcoming polls in Punjab.

SAD Inks Pact With BSP in Punjab, Opens Possibility of New Jat-Dalit Coalition

Of the 117 assembly seats, SAD will contest 97 while the BSP will contest 20 seats, mostly from Punjab’s Doaba region, where the party still holds some influence due to its Dalit vote bank.

Chandigarh: Months after pulling out of alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the controversial farm laws, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday formed an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for upcoming Punjab assembly polls due early next year.

Under the new pact, Akali Dal will contest 97 seats while the BSP will field its candidate in 20 seats which are mostly in Punjab’s Doaba region, where the party still holds some influence due to the presence of its core Dalit vote bank.

The sudden political development in Punjab that was kept under wraps for some time is being seen as an electoral compulsion for Punjab’s grand old party that has been struggling hard to revive after its worst ever political defeat in 2017 assembly polls.

The last election was held under shadow of SAD’s alleged mishandling of sacrilege issue that is believed to have dented its core Sikh vote bank. Then polity of the state went for a change due to emergence of a third political front – Aam Aadmi Party.

If this was not enough, its alliance with the saffron party became a burden after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre enacted controversial farm laws, which triggered massive protest among Punjab’s peasantry class that for long has been associated with SAD.

SAD had to snap ties with the BJP, following the farmers’ protest against the new laws.

The alliance with the saffron party had stitched a perfect Hindu-Sikh coalition in Punjab, making it win three out of five state polls held following their pact in 1997.

Will Jat-Dalit combination work?

SAD has realised that ahead of the next assembly elections, an alliance of Jats and Dalits will be necessary for the party’s success. SAD insiders said that the party is working to launch Hindu faces so that it doesn’t lose support of the Hindu vote bank after breaking alliance with the BJP.

For the BSP – that had a considerable influence in state politics in the 1990s but later became a non-player due to lack of winnability factor – it is an opportunity to regain its lost ground in Punjab that has also been the home state of its founder Kansi Ram.

The electoral arithmetic too appears to be in the favour of the new coalition. As per the 2011 census, Punjab has approximately 25% of Jat Sikhs while it has highest percentage of Dalit population in the country at 32%, out of which 60% are aliened to Sikhism while the remaining are Hindus.

Also read: Rift in Punjab BJP as Senior Leaders Ask Central Leadership to Repeal Farm Laws

Hence, the SAD-BSP alliance has a potential to capture at least 57% of the state’s overall vote bank. In the 2017 polls, Congress with 38.5% vote share formed the government in Punjab with a two-third majority.

“It is a winning combination and poised to change the state politics,” SAD’s senior leader Daljit Singh Cheema told The Wire soon after the announcement of their alliance in Chandigarh.

“Last time, we entered into a pact with each other in the 1996 Lok Sabha polls that worked wonders for us. Out of 13 parliamentary seats, we won 11 seats, eight for SAD and three for BSP. It was during this election only that BSP founder Kansi Ram won Hoshiarpur parliamentary constituency,” said Cheema.

He said this new alliance would repeat history and bring a new social paradigm in a state where Dalits will be equal stakeholders in government formation.

Political analyst Pramod Kumar, who is director of Chandigarh-based Institute of Development and Communication, said that SAD’s alliance with the BJP in 1997 was more of a political compulsion than an electoral need. The state then had just come out militancy and alliance was stitched to give the state a long lasting peace. It had to end someday.

“But BSP is SAD’s natural alliance because in Punjab’s agrarian economy, Jats and Dalits are interdependent on each other. The class and caste conflict between Jats and Dalits may be real to some extent here but this alliance is an opportunity to bridge that conflict and empower the communities,” said Pramod.

Kumar believed this alliance may prove a booster for both the parties and change the course of the coming elections. When SAD had a pact with the BSP in the 1996 parliamentary polls, its vote share was just 29%, yet the alliance won all parliamentary seats except two.

He said one may argue for a moment that BSP does not have that much of sway over Dalit population in Punjab as it used to have earlier. From 16% vote share in 1992 state polls, it recorded below 2% vote share in previous 2017 state polls.

“But I believe it is natural for any political party to face such a situation when it is not in position to win elections. But with this new alliance, there is every possibility that BSP will regain its lost ground,” said Pramod.

On how the new combine can win over Hindu vote bank that makes up 38% of total population, he said SAD is a moderate party. During the SAD-BJP alliance, Hindus continued to vote for SAD. “I presume SAD will cultivate new Hindu leadership with its party so that it does not lose them,” he added.

‘Alliance should not be a one-time political opportunity’

A retired professor of sociology from Panjab University, Chandigarh, Manjit Singh, who is former head of Ambedkar chair, said that this alliance should not be a mere political opportunity as it must address the existing concerns of class and caste conflict between Dalits and Jats in Punjab.

He said there is no denying the fact that Dalits in Punjab have extremely poor economic conditions. They are landless and face continuous exploitation in the rural economy. There are examples how panchayats even today are passing resolutions to limit their wages, a sign of economic exclusion.

Also read: After Political Hibernation, Will Navjot Singh Sidhu Emerge as a Key Player in Punjab Congress?

“Then they are in a continuous struggle to reclaim their right over panchayati land. At the social level too, all major Sikh institutions that are mainly under SAD did not work on the ground for social inclusion. That is why we have separate gurdwaras and cremation grounds for Dalits and Jats in villages,” he explained.

He further said if the SAD-BSP alliance is just a ploy to win votes, it may work one or two times but not permanently.

“For it to work longer, we need a serious effort to have a religious acceptability of Dalits among Sikhism. Dalits also must be economically empowered through land reforms. Their housing needs must be addressed like what happened in Kerala many years ago so that they can live dignified lives,” said Manjit Singh.

A change in Congress camp expected

Senior journalist Hamir Singh told The Wire that this SAD-BSP alliance will definitely have some serious political repercussions in the state politics.

He said the alliance may do well in Doaba region where BSP still has strong pockets, and that is why SAD has given 20 seats to the BSP around that area only.

Elsewhere too, the alliance may work since Punjab has a total of 34 reserved seats out of 117 total assembly segments. It may also help tilting the reserved votes in general seats too, given that Dalits have in the past voted for the Akalis when it announced free Atta Dal scheme for them in the 2007 elections, he added.

He said as far as Congress is concerned, it would have wanted the BSP to fight alone in order to divide the Dalit votes. But this alliance that may consolidate the Dalit votes, will definitely increase the worries in the Congress camp.

He said historically speaking, Dalit and Hindus were the main core vote bank for the Congress in Punjab. Jats attached with the party in a big way only after the arrival of Captain Amarinder Singh in the 1990s.

“As several Dalit leaders in the Congress like Shamsher Singh Dhullo are voicing concerns that Dalits are being ignored in the party, we may see some organisational changes in the Congress in a few days’ time. There may be a post of deputy chief minister or acting party chief for Dalit leaders, in order to keep the Dalit vote bank with them,” said Hamir Singh.

But he is of the view that Punjab politics is still in the middle of confusion. It is because the farmers’ protest is not over yet and we don’t know for sure how it will impact Punjab politics in the weeks to come.

What is the SAD-BSP arrangement?

Announcing the tie-up at a press conference, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal described it as a new day in the politics of Punjab.

“Today is a historic day, a big turn in Punjab’s politics,” he said in the presence of BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra.

Among the seats which the BSP will contest are Kartarpur Sahib in Jalandhar, Jalandhar-West, Jalandhar-North, Phagwara, Hoshiarpur Urban, Dasuya, Tanda, Mehal Kalan, Nawashehr, Chamkaur Sahib in Rupnagar district, Bassi Pathana, Sujanpur, Pathankot, Ludhiana North Mohali, Amritsar North, Amritsar Central and Payal.

Farm Laws Protest: Harsimrat, Sukhbir Badal Detained at Chandigarh Border

“We detained them (Akali leaders) for a brief period and they were later released,” Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police said.

Chandigarh: Punjab farmers stepped up their agitation against the new farm laws on Thursday with rail blockades at over 30 places, even as top SAD leaders, including party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, led ‘Kisan’ marches from three revered places of the Sikh community.

The ‘Kisan’ marches led by Sukhbir Badal from Akal Takht, the top temporal seat of the Sikhs in Amritsar, Harsimrat Badal from Takht Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo, and party senior leaders Prem Singh Chandumajra and Daljeet Singh Cheema from Keshgarh Sahib in Ropar culminated at two different places on the outskirts of Chandigarh as police stopped them from moving towards Governor V.P. Singh Badnore’s residence to submit a memorandum seeking revocation of the laws.

Police used water cannons and mild cane charge at the Chandigarh-Mullanpur and Chandigarh-Zirakpur borders to disperse the Akalis and later, several of them, including Sukhbir Badal and his wife Harsimrat Badal, detained as a precautionary measure.

To prevent the protesting Akali workers from entering Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, the authorities had imposed section 144 of CrPC which prohibits the assembly of five or more people.

“We detained them (Akali leaders) for a brief period and they were later released,” Chandigarh Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Chahal, who assumed charge on Thursday, said.

“We wanted to hand over a memorandum to the governor but it is sad he did not meet us. We were lathi-charged which we strongly condemn. It is an injustice. They tried to suppress the voice of farmers,” Sukhbir Badal said.

Former Union minister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur is stopped by the police while she was leading a protest march over the new farm laws, Chandigarh, Thursday night, Oct. 1, 2020. Photo: PTI

Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal condemned the “repressive use of violent force let loose on peaceful Akali workers, farmers and SAD leaders” by the Chandigarh Police and called it “a painful and dark day for democracy in the country’s history”.

“If those in power think that this would break the spirit of the peaceful Akali workers, then they are sadly mistaken and have learnt nothing from history. Punjabis have fought the worst form of repression during the Emergency and in 1984,” he said in a statement.

Also read: Three Farm Bills and India’s Rural Economy

“This kind of repressive and authoritarian response to peaceful democratic activity disfigures the image of our country abroad,” Parkash Badal said.

Last week, the SAD had announced to part ways with the NDA, the third major party to walk out of the BJP-led coalition in the last couple of years.

On September 17, 2020, Harsimrat Kaur Badal had quit the Union cabinet after the SAD Chief strongly opposed the Agri bills in Lok Sabha, claiming the legislations will “destroy” the agriculture sector in Punjab.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday gave his assent to the three contentious bills – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill.

Meanwhile, a total of 31 farmer organisations have joined hands to intensify the agitation in Punjab. They had announced to block rail tracks from October 1, 2020, for an indefinite period.

Krantikari Kisan Union President Darshan Pal said farmers blocked rail tracks at 30 places in the state to press the Centre to revoke new farm laws.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) General Secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan said they blocked rail tracks at Dhablan (Patiala), Sunam (Sangrur), Budhlada (Mansa) and Gidderbaha (Muktsar).

Some other farmers’ unions also blocked rail tracks in Barnala, Bathinda, Faridkot, Gurdaspur, Rupnagar, Phillaur, Moga and other places.

However, farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee have been squatting on rail tracks in Amritsar and Ferozepur since September 24, 2020.

Krantikari Kisan Union President Darshan Pal said farmers staged sit-ins in front of the residences of several BJP leaders, including former Punjab BJP Chief Shwait Malik in Amritsar.

Farmers in the state have already given a call to boycott some corporate houses and their products.

According to them, the Centre wanted to “benefit” a few corporate houses with these “black laws”.

Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee General Secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher slammed political parties for holding their own protests, saying they were doing so keeping in mind the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls.