There is no easier way to collect a crowd in Punjab than to put Navjot Singh Sidhu on the guest-list. Not that Sidhu has grown into his political role like the Sialkot willow moulds itself into a cricket bat (that’s definitely not a Sidhuism). He has been a late entrant and probably wouldn’t have taken the plunge if Atal Bihari Vajpayee hadn’t convinced him to join politics. Like Vinod Khanna and Dharmendra, Sidhu must have been swayed by the idea of becoming a part of a winning combination. But, unlike his celebrity contemporaries, he is not a fading star. His glamour quotient has only just begun paying dividends.

What Amritsar discovered in 2004 was Sidhu’s intrinsic Punjabiyat. He was no longer just a cult figure to whom cricket commentary meant exploring weirdly witty metaphors. It went into raptures as he recited Punjabi couplets in his own inimitable style. He was seeking immediate recognition as a son of the soil, as one whose command of the local tongue was flawless. He was falling back on the post-Lalu political idiom — buffoonery — to reach people’s hearts. But Sidhu has not matured into a man married to politics. At least not yet. He has retained his impulsive nature, is a shade impetuous and can, sometimes, be very unpredictable. His absence from Amritsar may never be as derisively discussed as that of Govinda’s from Mumbai North, but he does not yet understand the importance of grassroots contact-building.

For a long time, Punjab has not produced a single politician who has had an impact on the national stage. After Giani Zail Singh, only mediocre power-players like Surjeet Singh Barnala, S.S. Dhindsa and Buta Singh have surfaced. Manmohan Singh was prime minister first, before emerging as a favoured politician from that state. If Sidhu takes his politics seriously, he can fill this vacuum. He has an instinctive idea that people are probably seeking a release from the stranglehold that the Patiala royal family, the Badals and the Brars, have on the state.

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