New politics in Punjab, an article about Jassi Khangura by Ms. Lindsay Shepherd

She has known Jassi Khangura for a number of years, worked with him, and is a supporter of change.

NEW POLITICS IN PUNJAB Punjab is a land influenced by centuries of invasion and battles, which it sometimes feels are represented in contemporary form by some of the roughest politics in India. Brilliant men are slain by assassins, a population is diminished by genocide as recently as 1984 and “freedom fighters” are remembered vividly, and all while the State continues to produce the majority of the country’s food and a huge amount of its industrial exports and, therefore, forex.

There is also an overwhelming feeling of plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. So, when Jassi Khangura returned to India from London, where he had grown up from age 2, and declared that he was standing for the seat of MLA from Qila Raipur constituency, to the South of Ludhiana, many scoffed, and still more questioned his motives.

Why would a successful businessman and entrepreneur, a UK citizen but of Indian origin, want to leave it all behind (including the passport) and return to India – and that too to politics? It was almost becoming normal in metro cities that NRIs with Ivy League educations would return and set up Private Equity funds, or real estate businesses or perhaps enter banking. But politics? That too in Punjab? That was another story. Enough to have the Times newspaper from London write an article.

But the doubters didn’t know Jassi Khangura. The drive that took so many Punjabi’s overseas, before the green revolution, and as the ripples of upheaval still spread across this state, is in the blood of people from this area. And it was that drive, that determination to make lives better, that brought Jassi back.

That is not to say that he left a life that was 100% London for one that was 100% Ludhiana. He had already built Punjab’s first 5 star hotel in Ludhiana in the late 1990s. His father and mother spent a lot of time in Punjab, and a branch of his e-learning company was expanding here too. He spent more time in India running those businesses and getting to know the lay of the land. And the more time he spent, including in his ancestral village of Latala, 40 minutes drive away, the more he was convinced that there was a fundamental problem with the political arena, and a gaping chasm between the needs of the people and what politicians were providing them.

Jassi’s father, Jagpal Singh Khangura, is a senior Congress leader and spends much of his time holding surgeries in the villages or his office. Likewise Jassi’s mother, Bibi Gurdial Kaur Khangura is a highly respected local leader. Jassi’s parents would give speeches at local rallies and support election campaigns. Jassi would go with them when business allowed and these trips were the turning point. Eventually one day Jassi’s father handed him the microphone at a rally, and since then there has been no looking back.

When he stood for the Qila Raipur seat it was the only one in Punjab which had never been held by Congress. When he won it, conclusively, people said they were hoping that he was “different” – as in different from the usual politicians who people feel are only visible in time to garner votes at election time.

In the two and a half years since being elected, Jassi has strived to prove that difference on a daily basis. He holds weekly surgeries in his office in Ludhiana, but many other days can be found in the villages themselves. He does not feel that he can appropriately represent the needs and opinions of a rural constituency in the Vidhan Sabha unless he is present to experience the constituency.

A rural MLA theoretically does not have much reach. However, Jassi’s continuous support for NRI rights, and his eye for issues of national as well as local significance, mean that he is often outraged into writing strident and eloquent letters to State and Centre leadership or newspapers on matters such as education, power, poverty reduction, healthcare and agriculture.

These open letters and articles, such as one to Finance Minister Manpreet Badal on Punjab’s financial efficiency, or to Bibi Harsimrat Kaur Badal regarding women’s representation in the state, or his article on the role of legislators, often provoke discussion and response. Jassi’s objective is to bring to the fore issues that are otherwise glossed over with deft political spin, so they can be properly addressed.

Apart from challenging the political status quo Jassi has also been working to develop his own strategies for rural upliftment. He decided to apply his business acumen along with the family experience and know how and develop a sizeable dairy farm, starting in his ancestral village. The project is known as Macro Dairy Ventures Private Limited and has an overall objective of providing meaningful employment and rural upliftment for the local population. The uniqueness of the project though is in the Women Entrepreneur scheme, on which it is based. Local village women own cows and keep them in satellite units. The milk is purchased by the central unit of the dairy and processed onwards through a full cold chain.

The project has been heralded as the ideal model for providing genuine upliftment beyond which can be achieved through cooperatives. Ground was broken on the first unit just over 1 year ago, and June 2009 saw the first cow owning Women Entrepreneurs come on board. Feedback has been very positive so far, with even sceptical husbands seeing merit in the project – along with a much improved household income.

Jassi says “without a project like this in the rural areas we will not be able to progress at a speed which will give enough gainful employment. We will have 3,200 women entrepreneurs in the scheme, owning 16,000 animals. Local farmers will also be able to escape the problems of the wheat paddy cycle by growing fodder crops for our cattle which we buy at a good rate with regular payments”.

And his ongoing goals? Jassi says he will not stop fighting for NRI rights, that he wants to keep finding ways to give genuine opportunity to people in rural areas so their lives can be improved. He admits that the problems are many, but also insists that it is possible to make a tangible difference by being innovative and keeping corruption at bay. He already employs several hundred local people through his business ventures. With the rise of MDVL this will become thousands.

And how about the Lok Sabha? Many people suspect that is part of his strategy (because you know there definitely is a strategy!) Jassi says he has no designs in that direction at the moment, being focused on his local villages and ensuring that the MDVL scheme goes smoothly. He also throws down the gauntlet that he is perhaps the most connected legislator, responding to emails from his halqa and beyond, most likely from his ever present blackberry. He is also re-working his website to make it much more multi-media in format, and more accessible with clear areas for NRIs and locals.

Jassi says that he will soon also be making electricity from all the dung from the MDVL cows then perhaps branching out into goats. The ideas just never stop flowing!

Lindsay Shepherd