AMRITSAR: Gurdaspur Lok Sabha constituency is the ‘ground zero’ of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi kick-starting the first rally of the campaign from here on January 3.In the backdrop of India and Pakistan agreeing to build the Kartarpur corridor to link Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district with Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur in November 2018, Gurdaspur is in sharp focus.Having a mix of Hindu, Sikh, Christian and Muslim voters, this constituency has remained a Congress stronghold until the BJP brought in film star Vinod Khanna in the 1998 election. He managed to unseat Congress stalwart and five-time MP Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder.This proved to be a gamechanger for the saffron party. Khanna won this seat thrice in a row before being defeated by Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa in 2009. However, the actor’s track record ensured that he wrested the seat back in 2014.Khanna gained the title of “Sardar of bridges” for connecting remote villages in this border belt by getting bridges built on the Ravi and the Beas – in Kathlaur, over Ujh nullah and in Mukerian. He nurtured his constituency, even buying a house in the area to be accessible to the people, but still managed to notch 63% attendance in Parliament. During the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he demanded a special package to create jobs and boost spiritual tourism in the constituency.His death on October 27, 2017, necessitated a bypoll. The BJP fielded businessmen Sarwan Salaria rather than Khanna’s widow Kavita, and the former lost to ‘outsider’ Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar. Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh had played a major role in securing a ticket for Jakhar, rather than relying on his ‘challenger’ Pratap Bajwa.Jakhar recorded an impressive victory margin of 1.93 lakh votes, battering Bhinder’s record of 1.51 lakh votes’ win in 1980. Aam Aadmi Party candidate Maj Gen (retd) Suresh Khajuria polled only 23,579 votes.Before the bypoll, the Amarinder government had announced a slew of projects amounting to Rs 84 crore in Gurdaspur and Pathankot — a Rs 20 crore state-of-the-art bus stand, construction of toilets and water connections for rural households— as well as representation of Christians on boards.This time, the corridor is a talking point, and has fuelled a credit war. If the PM has been quick to take credit for it, Punjab Congress minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, too, has been underlining the fact that Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa spoke to him first about the possibility of opening the corridor during his Pakistan visit.The border district is vulnerable to infiltration and smuggling activity, a reason behind Punjab CM’s guarded approach to the corridor. On July 27, 2015, three Pakistan fidayeen in Army uniforms had opened fire on a bus and attacked the Dinanagar police station in Gurdaspur district. The attack had left three civilians and four policemen dead.However, the corridor has buoyed up people’s hopes of it giving a fillip to religious tourism.

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