NRIs unenthused

Iqbal Sidhu

India is in the midst of the “most important election” in its history but the political fever among Punjabi NRIs in Canada is no higher today than it was six months ago. It’s nowhere near the pitch it reached during 2014-2016.

In 2014, Aam Aadmi Party’s success story in Punjab (during the Lok Sabha polls) was partially scripted by golden letters bought from dollars donated by Punjabi NRIs who were believed in its agenda. Some estimates show the amount of money sent by these NRIs for the 2014 campaign was about 1/3rd of the total donations that AAP managed to raise from Punjabis. However, the party never revealed the exact figures. To raise such amounts from people who don’t even live in the country was as good as a political feat of winning 4 Lok Sabha seats! 

During that period, there was palpable enthusiasm among Punjabis in Canada about this new political outfit and its 'revolutionary' leader. They were interested in knowing more about the agenda of the party and discussing the issues of Punjab (sometimes too much finer detail than their own issues in Canada). As all politics is local, so became this one. 

Local units were formed and funds were raised en masse for supporting — what was called — a war effort against the allegedly entrenched sordid political class which was superficially manifesting itself as different traditional political parties. The 'revolutionary' leader was calling out this a marriage between the corrupt and repeatedly saying from any pulpit that he could climb onto “sab chor hain ji, sab mile hue hain ji”.  But now in 2019, the same ‘revolutionary’ leader tried hard albeit unsuccessfully, to form his own alliance with one of these ‘chors’. 

There is one serious flaw in populist politics, and that is that it's unreliable. What was popular today may not be popular tomorrow, and what might be popular for one group might be extremely unpopular with another — you can never bank on a rigid vote bank such as caste or religion, or even that of ideological fanatics. As the anger seethes down or turns into cynicism, the populist capital evaporates and the revolutionary becomes a mere shadow of his/her former self, and for his disillusioned followers a subject of derision and contempt. 

Nowadays, people still talk of the ongoing election and make armchair predictions about the results but there is no mental or emotional investment — perhaps they are fatigued after being on campaign mode for three years, from 2014-2017 (in 2017, Punjab had the Assembly elections). The two traditional political parties of Punjab have their dedicated pockets of supporters in Canada, most of them are related to party leaders or have business interests back home. By and large, the strength of these supporters increases or decreases depending upon the ruling party of Punjab. Most of this support is limited to hosting their leaders when they visit or financially supporting their election campaign for the measured utility. 

It has gone on like this for decades except for the recent minor disruption in the pattern and there are no indications that the trend will change.  If anything, many think the status quo will only solidify with time as the angered NRI Facebook revolutionaries cool down and withdraw from the centerstage and the revolutionary zeal transforms into a sober, pragmatic worldview. 

Though the Punjabi NRIs have left their home and are unlikely to return permanently, their unrivaled passion and commitment for their home country is commendable. It shows an emotional connection that transcends distance, time and reality. It shouldn't be surprising if their passion wrests free from the bland flow of pragmatism and surges again in the future. After all, Punjab is anywhere the Punjabi is, and all politics is local.