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Lalit Mohan
The entire political dynamics of the Kangra Lok Sabha seat will depend on the presence of BJP stalwart and former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar as there is still uncertainty over his candidature.
Veteran leader and two-time Chief Minister Shanta Kumar had won the Kangra Lok Sabha seat on four occasions in 1989, 1998, 1999 and again in 2014. He is a widely respected leader and even though search is on to find a suitable candidate to replace him, the possibility of Shanta being asked to take the plunge once again cannot be ruled out. Owing to age, Shanta is keen to drop out of electoral politics, but maintains that he will abide by the party dictate if asked to contest.
This segment has traditionally been a BJP citadel with Shanta becoming the first non-Congress Chief Minister of the state in 1977. The Congress on the other hand had fared badly in these two districts during the 2017 Assembly polls as it managed to win just four of the 17 segments.
Unemployment remains a major issue in the Kangra constituency. As per data available, of 8,92,988 unemployed registered in employment exchanges in the state, 2,29,058 are from Kangra constituency.
Ram Kumar of the Nurpur area in Kangra said there’s hardly any industry in the area, so most of the youth are forced to move out for jobs. “The government developed an industrial area in Kandrori village, but no major industry has come up that can provide employment to a sizeable number of youth,” he added.
A sizeable population from the area serves in the Army and other paramilitary forces, thus giving it the name of “money order economy” in the earlier days. There are more than one lakh serving and retired Army personnel from Kangra alone.
Tourism remains a primary vocation as a large number of tourists visit Dalhousie, Khajjiar, Dharamsala-Mcleodganj and the Pong Dam area. The tourism industry in the region has also been hit severely with declining tourist arrivals. Sanjeev Gandhi, general secretary of the Upper Dharamsala Hotel Association, said, “Poor infrastructure in terms of roads, lack of parking spaces and traffic congestion are driving away high-end and foreign tourists from the area. The closure of many hotels due to illegal constructions has added to the problem.”
Absence of air connectivity between Chandigarh and the Kangra valley and exorbitant air fares between Dharamsala-Delhi is another hurdle. In remaining areas, people are mostly engaged in agriculture or have jobs in private or government sector. While the foothills have natural streams for irrigation, there are areas like Changar which are arid and completely dependent on rain for irrigation.
In Kangra district, tea farming is spread over 800 hectares, but the tea industry is ailing with labour and marketing issues, hampering its growth.
KG Butail, leading tea farmer from Palampur, said tea farming had become increasingly unviable for small farmers. The irony of tea farmers of Kangra is that they can neither sell their land nor do viable tea farming on it. Many a time, the government has proposed tea tourism as a viable alternative to farmers.
“However, currently no policy has been framed for tea farming so that small tea farmers having smallholdings can use it for tourism purpose,” he added.
The setting up of a cement plant in Chamba district has been a long pending demand of the people of the area. However, no investor has shown interest in setting up the plant which could herald economic prosperity in the area by providing employment to 1,000 persons.
Sitting MP Shanta Kumar
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP’s Shanta Kumar polled 4,56,163 votes, while his nearest rival Chander Kumar of the Congress received just 2,86,091 votes. Shanta Kumar won by a record margin of 1.7 lakh votes
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