As Punjab goes to the election next year in February 2022, a coalition of the ‘intellectual bourgeoisie’ called ਜੂਝਦਾ ਪੰਜਾਬ جوجھدا پنجاب did a Press Conference in Chandigarh. A set of very familiar names were found in it, Gul Panag, Babbu Mann, Devinder Sharma and some other singers and well-meaning people. The tragedy of this coalition is that it operates within the premise of middle-class politics, similar to India Against Corruption or वादा न तोड़ो अभियान। Not to forget, Sharma’s own role in creating legitimacy for regressive fellows like Swami Haramdev and Govindacharya, in the wider society. Will this coalition make a change or become another set of middle man in politics, that time will tell. History states that such coalitions do not last long, but they do more harm than good. If they do last long, they take the form of something similar to what we have in Bengaluru: B. Pac and others, do the NGOisation of governance.

How?

Those who are leading the coalition become the middlemen between the state and the people. The actual average fellow citizens have no say in deciding the programme and agenda of the coalition. It is decided by those who consider themselves more woke than the others and believe that they know better than the average people out there. Where do they derive their legitimacy? From the other social movements, where they played the role of mostly celebrities or occasional public speakers. This sense of mentality and appropriation is neither good for democracy nor brings any radical change. I was amazed by the audacity of this group in saying that they will support any party which follows their agenda. I mean who are you to decide what elected representatives should do. Shouldn’t the constituents decide what their representative should do? Last point, what if, BJP agrees to all their points or the party floated by Captain Amrinder Singh. What do they do? Do they become agents of the Supreme Leader? Something one should be very careful about when dealing with the likes of Sharma and Panag.

I don’t know what is the answer to Punjab’s problems or concerns. But it surely ain’t gonna come from these fellows. At best, they can help a right-wing populist with leftist rhetoric win the elections, as had been the case in the elections at the national level and later in Delhi. Conventional trade unions and other representative forms of organisations can do a lot more than these fellows, and the recent victory has shown the same. I am more hopeful of farmers who are planning to join politics, either through the conventional mainstream party or forming their own party. That route leads to more politicisation of society and democratization of power relations than these apolitical coalitions.