National

The Gene-Clad Prince

Sukhbir, the chief cause of the Badal-Tohra acrimony, is the hip new face of the Akalis

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The Gene-Clad Prince
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ON poll-eve in 1998, Sukhbir Singh Badal was asked why he thought he'd win the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat. "I'm young and handsome and the ladies will vote for me," he said, without batting an eyelid. That response wasn't as flippant as it sounded; Sukhbir was not-so-subtly distancing himself from the traditional image of the salwar-clad, kirpan-wielding, lushly-bearded Akali.

With his brother-in-law, Avdesh Kairon and his cousin, Manpreet Badal (both MLAs), Sukhbir represents the hip new face of the Shiromani Akali Dal and perhaps, the next generation of Akali leadership. Educated, cosmopolitan and well-travelled, the trio's common usp is their kinship to Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

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Indeed, Pashji's determination to project his son as the natural heir to the Akali mantle is seen as the underlying factor in his feud with sgpc chief G.S. Tohra. Ignoring Tohra acolyte Prem Singh Chandumajra's claim, he insisted that Sukhbir, 36, be appointed to the council of ministers with the portfolio of his choice-industry.

Political observers were surprised when Badal Sr, the compulsive compromiser, decided to carry his fight with Tohra to the finish. (In all likelihood, Tohra will be ejected from the party and the sgpc on March 16, following which he'll pronounce himself as the "real Akali Dal" at Anandpur Sahib with the support of fringe groups.) The wishy-washy, prevaricating Badal's resolve, it is widely believed, was strengthened by putra-moh (love for his son).

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Sukhbir himself makes no bones about his political legacy. "People are attached to our family. They want the chain to continue. I used to run away from politics, but the pressure was too much." However, he adds hastily, being your father's son can only work once. The second time, people will judge you on merit and if you haven't worked, they'll reject you. It's actually tougher being Badal's son, because people's expectations are that much higher and opposition that much tougher, he says.

Politics-despite being a tough profession that keeps him away from his family because he's on tour 15 days a month-comes naturally to him. Janus-faced, he presents a traditional front north of Delhi. "In the village, I have to be a different person. They (the constituents) want to identify with me." He dresses down, keeps rural hours and makes it a practice to dive for elders' feet and seek their blessings. Outside of Punjab, he's a late riser, has a taste for the good things of life-apparent in his increasingly portly frame-and was once reputed to have a roving eye. None of which does him any harm in the eyes of the Jat Sikhs.

At the same time, he feels his cast-in-denim image far removed from the religio-political overtones associated with the sad, is finding acceptability not only with the people but-a much tougher proposition-within the party. "You don't have to look like a traditional Akali any more," says the minister with a penchant for designer casuals. Firm in his belief that "You should do what you're comfortable with", he strolled into Parliament in jeans for an important meeting with suited-booted industrialists.

In the age of the electronic media, it helps to be good-looking, smart and TV-friendly, says Sukhbir. Young people are getting increasingly savvy thanks to TV and identify with politicians their own age. "In 15 years, you'll have a different scenario. Youngsters are going to come up. The voting pattern has changed with the age reduced to 18 years." He believes young politicians and bureaucrats deliver more, because they haven't spent two or three decades being contaminated by the system.

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Education and exposure" are Sukhbir's pet mantras. His own education, by which he sets great store, has been varied. He started in the village school at Badal, moved to a mission school in Bhatinda and then, following the pattern of all affluent Jat Sikh families, on to Welham's and Sanawar and an MA in Economics from Punjab University. His education was punctuated by visits to Badal Sr in various jails during the sad leader's 15 years of incarceration. Father and son shared emotional moments in Coimbatore, Panchmarhi, Dehradun.

Sukhbir is daddy's boy, alright. A lad who'd rather just have fun, his father's insistence on a degree-which would outlast political clout-saw him doing an mba in California which comes in handy now. No bureaucrat or industrialist, he says matter-of-factly, can pull wool over his eyes or intimidate him with balance-sheets and jargon. But his attempt to turn entrepreneur-hotelier and put his management skills into practice was to be foiled when the Haryana government cancelled the allotment of a 10-acre plot for a five-star in Gurgaon.

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Passing up job offers in the US, he returned in 1988, after having discovered the virtues of "exposure". The best education, he believes, is travel. If Sukhbir had his way, he would pack off all 544 Lok Sabha MPs in groups on a global darshan. How can you visualise a development project if you haven't seen it on the ground, he argues. "When you're talking about a six-lane expressway, how is the backbencher MP expected to understand what it is?" he asks.

Sukhbir loves the US and UK; every few months, the family holidays abroad, partly to get away from incessant phone calls and visitors from Punjab who have an amazing facility for tracking him down. His travels over the globe have become something of a byword in Punjab; his favourite speech recounts-at great length-the 20-odd countries he's visited, what was special about each of them and how their achievements could be replicated in Punjab.

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Sukhbir is frank about the fact that even as a union minister, his priority remains Punjab. The state needed a big thrust on industry and he's in a position to deliver. Projects worth Rs 20,000 crore are in the pipeline, infotech companies are clamouring to set up shop in the silicon city of Mohali, four expressways connecting all the major cities have been cleared, Punjab is on the verge of becoming a power surplus state and industrial growth is 12 per cent (more than three times the national average).

A rosy picture belied by public perceptions of Badal's government: riddled with corruption, bureaucratic ineptitude-and nepotism. Sukhbir's family can boast a chief minister, a Union minister, two mlas and the sad's mahila wing chief. The Lok Pal, the assistant attorney general and the CM's principal secretary are all relatives. Sukhbir's sister, Praneet, almost clinched the Tarn Taran Lok Sabha by-election but was denied a ticket when a hue and cry was raised by the party.

While Badal clearly intends to pass on the mantle to his only son, Sukhbir may face a degree of sibling rivalry from the bright and sophisticated Manpreet Badal who has a good public image, as does Avdesh Kairon. The latter, with a political legacy every bit as impressive as Sukhbir's-his grandfather was Pratap Singh Kairon-could be a formidable rival. For the moment, however, Sukhbir is centrestage.

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