Trying to Create a New Path Between Chitta-Neela
I have shared my views on Manpreet Badal and the PPP in the past. I still stand by my analysis, but as the election draws nearer, the youth of Punjab are making their voices heard.
Recently Manpreet Badal has been visiting the US this month and gaining more and more popularity among the non-voting NRPs (Non-Resident Punjabis), but if this show of support can be capitalized in Punjab is yet to be seen. His campaign has had a few major hiccups recently, with supporters such as Rajya Sabha member, Varinder Singh Bajwa, being re-wooed by Punjab’s greatest snake-oil seller, Parkash Badal. This loss comes soon after Manpreet had lost the support of his former “right-hand man”, Charanjeet Brar. It has been a long few weeks.
Still amongst a large number of Punjabi youth, they are still showing their support and hope, through creating videos on youtube to help galvanize the youth.
Here is one such example, a parody of rapper Wiz Khalif’a’s celebration of his native Pittsburgh – Black and Yellow. Here the artists – Sugar Cane Records and Jogi – ask who to vote for – Chitta (the color associated with the Congress Party) or Neela (the color associated with the Akali Dal). Both are thieves, the difference only the color.
6 Responses to “Trying to Create a New Path Between Chitta-Neela”
Politician – It's a two party system! You have to vote for one of us!
Man – He's right, this is a two-party system.
Man 2 – Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate.
Politician – Go ahead, throw your vote away.
Let's hope PPP is even half as capable of achieving what it says it will. A strong showing and they could surprise everyone.
P.S. £10 for the first person who can tell me what that dialogue is from.
The Simpsons.
Well done! Tenner coming your way, whoever you are.
You know I was discussing politics in Punjab with her indoors just the other day. We were both analysing what was wrong and what was needed to fix the problem. We both came to the conclusion that the problem was that there just wasn't enough Badals in power. "if only"….we said to each other…."If only even more Badals had even more power things would be ever so lovely".
I'm glad this new Badal has started a new party. I'm glad that the people of Punjab realise that the secret to rooting out nepotism and corruption in Punjabi politics is not to find the best candidates……but to find yet another person from the same Badal family. You can never have enough Badals. There's always room for one more.
Dynastic politics is a disease that seems to ingrain itself into South Asian settings. Why did people follow Manpreet and not Bittu, Mann or even Taggar? There are numerous factors from cash-for-votes and intimidation to a lack of trust or questionable integrity. CPM will always be an outsider from the establishment purely because of the way that the World now looks, but outside of the 2 main parties sadly, unless you have lots of money, security and high-powered friends, you can forget about standing as a candidate. Is this a defeatist attitude? No, believe it or not; what I would like to see is Punjabi people with the requisite skills and talent coming forward to take control of PPP at a grass roots level and beyond. It's that much harder to dismiss a thousand qualified candidates from the party than it is 1 or 2. Whilst Manpreet might be a Badal, he is no Parkash and if he begins to fill salary posts with relatives and friends, the 'people' won't let him get away with it for long.
Jodha, may I know what do you mean by Kesri revolution?