Punjabi farmers have thus far been lucky in that the Akali-BJP alliance ruled the state when the NDA ruled at the Centre, and then there have been Congress governments at both levels. This ensured that economic rationale could be bent to suit political convenience. What will happen if the Akalis come to power in Punjab while the Congress rules at the Centre, or the Congress comes to power in Punjab while the BJP heads the government in Delhi?

Will the two major political parties in Punjab stop populist promise-mongering and admit that Punjabi farmers will have to be on their own, that crop diversification is not an option but a necessity, and that ecologically unsustainable paddy cultivation must give way to alternative commercial crops?

Is there a difference between the two parties on this score? The answer is yes and no. The Akalis have traditionally thrived on mixing religion with politics and showing how Sikhs in general and the Punjab peasantry in particular have been discriminated against. They have not budged from this position and are unlikely to do so. The Congress government did try to encourage diversification in the beginning. Of late, however, electoral compulsions have forced it to revert to populism.

The second issue is of demographic change resulting from the unceasing influx of migrant labour into Punjab. Of course, these workers from poor eastern states have every right to migrate in search of livelihood, and Punjabis, habitual migrants in search of greener pastures, have no right to complain.

... contd.