A story of change on the Centre has swept the lone Muslim-dominated city of Punjab — Malerkotla, with the Hindu-Muslim brotherhood on the forefront.
The Malerkotla Meeting phase of the Sangrur parliamentary constituency up to now voted twice for Bhagwant Mann and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann within the 2022 Lok Sabha by-election.
This time, nonetheless, folks within the city have determined to vote for a “secular celebration” to convey a few change on the Centre. “We wish to eat with our Hindu brethren on one plate. We now have been residing in full concord with all of them these many years. However the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is enjoying divisive politics. The ‘mangalsutra’ assertion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi smacks of the wedge they intend to create,” mentioned Mohd Jameel of Qila Rehmatgarh in Malerkotla.
“We select senior Mann as a result of we love him. He has been an enormous help to us. So, we voted for him within the by-election. However now, we would like a change on the Centre. We wish to vote for a celebration which may take over the reins of the nation. Mann is a single-man drive, so we’ll vote for the Congress,” he added.
Mohd Nazeer, one other resident, who drives an autorickshaw for a residing, mentioned, “Our forefathers have been residing in India since occasions immemorial. Now, we live right here. We selected to stay right here even after the partition. We’re feeling like strangers in our personal nation. My forefathers are buried in Malerkotla. I can even die and be buried right here. The place will we go now? We wish to stay fortunately right here. Please don’t help forces vying to show us out.”
“I can’t make greater than Rs 200-300 per day driving an autorickshaw. Solely I understand how I’m citing my kids with costs of important commodities taking pictures via the roof. We would like a change.”
Mohd Rafiq, a building mason, mentioned that that they had Hindu associates. “We go to their weddings. They arrive for ours.
We spend the night collectively. However the nation is seeing a divide that scares us as a minority. We don’t really feel secure.
We generally really feel it is going to create a divide even in Punjab. We by no means felt this earlier. You see our iftar events to know what we do. Our Hindu associates throw us iftar events. However there are makes an attempt to destroy this concord.”
Kulwinder Singh, an agricultural tools shopkeeper, mentioned, “Muslim inhabitants decides which means Malerkotla go. They determine throughout elections. They outnumber us.”
Malerkotla typically information excessive voter turnout. Within the 2022 Meeting elections, the best voter turnout was in Mansa (73.45 per cent), adopted by Malerkotla (72.84 per cent). Mohammed Jamil Ur Rahman of the Aam Aadmi Party received the seat, defeating Razia Sultana of the Congress with a margin of 21,686 votes.