Election 2012: Land of Milk and Honey vs. Land of Drug Rivers

It is Election Time again!

While lines are being drawn here in America, the land of milk and honey, the battle has already begun back home in Punjab, where drugs flow in otherwise drying rivers. The drug problem that has been ravaging through Punjab is no longer something that can be swept under the carpet. It used to be a running joke in India that a housewife in Punnjab has to walk longer to buy the mirch-masala for her kitchen than for her son to get his alcohol or hard drugs delivered at home. What is interesting is while there are so many other ailments such as indebtedness, failed education system, law and order, mass unemployment amongst educated youth, human rights, corruption to name a few, which are dragging Punjab down, the same politicians who ignored the rising drug problem in Punjab for more than a decade, are now crying out loud to declare it as their top priority. It used to be that Punjabi politicians seeking funding from NRIs would talk about Punjab in romantic terms. Now, almost every politician tells us here that Punjab is in the Tube.

I don’t blindly endorse any particular party, but it invigorates me to see any chance of hope. Before Obama had even won the primaries back in 2007, I was so moved by the breath of fresh air he symbolized to the political landscape of American politics, that I wrote and sang a poem called “Obama de Naa’, which my son Navdeep S. Dhillon helped me to make it into a video slideshow and posted on you tube.

The only candidate from Punjab I had the oportunity to listen to live was Manpreet Badal.  Similar to my feelings on Obama before the primaries, I have great hope for Manpreet’s vision of Punjab and what he represents to the people of Punjab: HOPE!

Please also take a moment to listen to two poems: the first one I wrote back in 2008 before Obama had even won the Primaries, and the second one is taken from a radio show I co-host when I sang a poem as I see it, on what Manpreet Badal represents. As always, feel free to leave me a comment either on my YouTube Channel, down below, or on FaceBook, and I will be sure to respond!