"Drugs, unemployment and above all, the (2015) desecration of Guru Granth Sahib are major issues," complained Bhupinder Singh, a young farmer. Singh comes from what is referred to as a committed Panthak vote bloc of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). But two years later, they discovered an alternative when Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party arrived in Punjab, he said. "If Guru Granth Sahib is not safe in Punjab, that too under the Akali government, what else is left to say," said Singh. Bhaur, 60, is a former general secretary and a former acting-president of the SGPC, the top Sikh religious administration controlled by the Akalis.

Source: India Today January 28, 2017 15:54 UTC