``The sentiment of Punjabiyat is all right but fill up the ballot box also. And remember my election symbol is wheel,''I.K. Gujral tells a small election meeting in Jalandhar.The Prime Minister has been desperately trying to sell his Punjabi credentials in this industrial city while his opponent, the Congress' Umrao Singh says he is an outsider.
Gujral painstakingly projects his link to Jalandhar where his parents lived, where his children were born, his sisters studied and where his mother-in-law went to college. ``Jalandhar was put on STD for the first time in the country when I was the Communication Minister. I got loans sanctioned for setting up Gujral Nagar and set up a Doordarshan kendra here,'' he explains to various gatherings.
However, Punjabiyat is the flavour of the month. ``I have got the support of all parties the CPI, CPM, Akalis. No party, not even the BJP, has put up a candidate except the Congress,'' he says. He adds that the Congress had acted against the Punjabi unity by contestingagainst him.
It's a tough selling hiperhaps even tougher than running a 14-party coalition government. Riding piggyback on a party which allies with rival BJP, Gujral is getting a taste of micro-campaigning. His exhaustive coverage of the constituency, holding small corner meetings, and visiting nondescript places, is being interpreted by political observers as panic signals.
Two factors must be bothering Gujral -- the BJP and the wheel. With the BJP staying away from campaigning, Gujral cannot be sure of the Hindu vote. On his part, he has been cautiously avoiding attacking the BJP, he has devoted his speeches to Congress-bashing. The JD's symbol is unfamiliar to Jalandharites, so Gujral tells people that they should not look for scales (the Akali symbol) on ballot paper but look for wheel.
In the Janata Dal's alien land, Gujral relies heavily on the Akali Dal infrastructure and workers and his own family. His son Naresh is holding charge of the campaign. Gujral's wife Shiela and his sisters Uma andNiti are also accompanying the Prime Minister on the campaign trail.
Gujral's world has shrunk to the city as he has gone around attending functions in schools, bowed before godmen, known and unknown. He addresses small meetings of traders, chartered accountants, lawyers, rotarians, sports goods manufacturers, trade unionsists and placates different ethnic groups separately. Despite Akalis assuring him victory, Gujral is taking no chances.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
