Ludhiana is the home to some big business conglomerates like the Bhartis, the Oswals, the Heroes, the Trident just to name a few. They have always maintained a safe distance from politics or have been politically anonymous or neutral, while at the same time having had the best of every political regime in Punjab. In true and characteristic businessmen’s way they have gone with the flow, enjoying cordial and working relationships with the powers that be of the particular time.
However, for a change, Ludhiana’s “business elite”, have directly jumped into the political fray for the first time. They are now on the forefront of a political battle, the by-election campaign of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in the Ludhiana West assembly segment.
This is because the party candidate Sanjeev ‘Sunny’ Arora is the protégé and a close family friend of the Oswals. Sunny himself was a reluctant contender and initially he declined to fight the by-election for the right reasons as he had no “electoral experience” to fight an election.
In 2022, Arora was among a few other “surprise choices” the AAP made for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab. He did not have any political experience. He was a dyed in the wool businessman. But Rajya Sabha was still manageable and too tempting an offer to be resisted. With Oswals at his back, he entered the Rajya Sabha and did reasonably well as an RS MP.
Since the grapevine is that the AAP supremo wants to go to Rajya Sabha himself, making Arora vacate the seat was apparently the best and practicable bet without causing any heartburn. Ludhiana West assembly by-election was necessitated by the death of the sitting MLA, Gurpreet Singh Gogi. He also belonged to the AAP.
Arora, being reluctant, was “guaranteed” a victory in the by-election with the assurance that the “by-elections” are mostly won by the ruling party. He has also been promised that he will be appointed a minister, a promise that Kejriwal reaffirmed and reiterated recently during a public meeting in Arora’s support.
While the AAP is pulling all the stops to ensure Arora’s victory, in what seems to be a very tough contest, in every manner a ruling party can, the business community, including Kamal Oswal and Rajinder Gupta, are not leaving any stone unturned on their part. Given their social standing among people in Ludhiana in general and the business and industrial community in particular, a section of industry has identified with them. It is for the first time that the business community has openly identified with a particular political party or a candidate.
Interestingly, the same business community particularly Kamal Oswal and his father Jawahar Oswal once lobbied for Bharat Bhushan Ashu with the Congress leadership for the Ludhiana West assembly ticket. Ashu has been elected twice since then.
In an ironic situation now, the business community led by the Oswals, is directly pitted against the same person they lobbied for and supported once. Probably this explains the reason that the election campaign has not turned toxic or personal against each other. Except for the general and vague allegations typical of election campaigning, there has been no mudslinging among the candidates. This is possibly because the candidates, particularly Arora and Ashu share the same social circle with a lot of common friends and possibly because the two know too much about each other. In case it starts, it will be free for all, without any restraint or restriction.
Despite almost the entire business community of Ludhiana rallying behind Arora, it is certainly not going to be a cakewalk for the ruling party candidate. The fight still remains open, with a definite edge to the Congress; there are still two more days to go for the polling. While the members of the business community do organise meetings, hold luncheon and dinner meetings for Arora, nobody, including Arora himself, is sure as to how much that gets translated into the votes. The skepticism is well reasoned as hosting dinners and voting “secretly” through the secret ballot, are two different things.
The suspense remains with a considerable amount of uncertainty. Whether politics will really be directed and dictated by the business, only time will tell. But the businessmen of Ludhiana are definitely trying their hand at the “business of politics” this time.
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