Former Aam Aadmi Party MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi is now the Congress candidate from the Patiala constituency — home to the ongoing peasant stir against central policies at Shambhu village. A cardiologist and former radical communist activist, Gandhi is known for charging nominal fees from patients, and treating the poor for free. As an AAP candidate in 2014, he trounced Congress stalwart Preneet Kaur of the Patiala royal family.
Purged from AAP, along with the rest of the activist faction of the party in 2015, he went on to form the Nawan Punjab Party and lost his deposit from Patiala in the 2019 polls. The “people’s doctor” joined the Congress, and Preneet, the BJP just before the polls this year.
Excerpts from The Telegraph’s conversation with Gandhi:
⦿ How hard is it to defeat Preneet Kaur in a four-cornered fight (also including AAP and the Akalis)?
It is very easy to defeat her now as votes are divided in four places and she has lost her credibility by leaving the Congress and joining the BJP. Punjab is not a fertile ground for the BJP because it is a land of brotherhood and equality. Moreover, our farmers had a great agitation against the BJP for the three laws, which cost 650 lives…. She couldn’t perform well in her four terms. The palace is open for a few days for a few people. I am available all the time, round the clock.
⦿ When you (as an AAP candidate) last defeated her, it was a contest on the working-class issues you raised versus hers (as a Congress candidate). How will people choose from the four choices this time?
There are two factors attracting voters to us. One, the new Congress that is emerging after the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Two, this time especially, people are not just looking at the party, but the candidate too. Both factors will make me win.
⦿ And the AAP government’s performance?
No government has gone down (in popularity) so quickly as they have.
⦿ Their power subsidy would attract some of your working-class voters...
Partly. There are other aspects of life like unemployment, general labour conditions, the state’s prestige being sold out to Delhi (AAP HQ). Punjabis are proud people who do not accept interference from Delhi like what we have now in Punjab.
⦿ Is there a rural-urban divide after the second farmers’ agitation at Shambhu?
We are getting equal support in rural and urban areas. The difference being that in urban areas, the BJP has a fixed RSS cadre. They vote for Modi in any case. This cadre has not increased significantly. A few hundred could have been added. All the rest, all Congress people, Hindus are secular, democratic and they are with Rahul Gandhi.
⦿ Many hoardings have been erected reminding people of the 40th anniversary of Operation Bluestar. Does this damage your prospects?
Punjab has moved forward…. They have elected full majority Congress governments thrice since then. They have accepted the Congress now despite the odds they have faced because of the Congress. They are with Rahul Gandhi’s new and emerging Congress. You can see our huge rallies in rural Punjab where 80% of the population is Sikh.
Sitting Patiala MP Preneet Kaur Sourced by the Telegraph
⦿ How were you able to make the ideological transition from the far-
Left to AAP and then the Congress?
Left stands for secularism, pluralism and democracy…. Both parliamentary Left and the radical Left do not have a major impact on Indian politics any more. The anti-corporate, anti-RSS, pro-poor, and pro-working class stand of Rahul Gandhi definitely shows that he is left of centre. For these reasons, there is no reason for me not to join the Congress and play a role at this historic juncture to save democracy, secularism, pluralism and the ethos of the Constitution.
Patiala votes on June 1
