“Greedy”, “untimely”, “nonsense” — these are not adjectives one would expect farmers to deploy while describing a leader of the electrifying yearlong peasants’ movement that culminated in the Narendra Modi government withdrawing three contentious farm laws.

Irrelevant at best and mocked at worst — this is the fate of Balbir Singh Rajewal, 78, the leader of a Ludhiana-based faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and the fledgling “farmers’ party” Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM), who is contesting from Samrala in Punjab in Sunday’s Assembly elections. Ludhiana, where Samrala is located, is Rajewal’s home district.

The SSM is aligned with the Sanyukt Sangharsh Party of Gurnam Singh — the leader of another BKU faction based in Haryana’s Charuni — as well as the CPI. There are friendly contests as well.

Alliance talks with AAP and Left parties other than the CPI have failed. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha — the umbrella group of farmers’ unions that spearheaded the protest against the three laws — has not supported the SSM, asking supporters to vote according to their conscience. The CPM kept away from the beginning. The SSM registered too late for the polls and its candidates are having to contest as Independents.

“We all went to the Delhi borders. Who made Rajewal our leader?” landlord Harjinder Pal Singh of Ajloud village asked. “We have different political choices but we united for a common cause. We fought against the laws of the BJP. What is he fighting for now? Just for power.”

With 14 candidates in the fray, the Congress spies a chance in Samrala. It has held the seat for the last two terms, but replaced its MLA Amrik Singh Dhillon with real estate baron Rupinder Singh Raja Gill, who is from former chief minister Beant Singh’s extended family.

“The youths are with AAP but educated grown-ups are with the Congress. The Akalis in every village are making their own choices. Our village’s Akalis are backing AAP. In the villages towards Samrala town, they’re backing Raja Gill. Amrik did nothing, so it’s good the Congress replaced him, otherwise this seat also would have gone to AAP,” Harjinder said.

“The road you are standing on was rebuilt in 2020 after we all marched to the Samrala sub-divisional magistrate’s office, but the new road is 1.5ft narrower than the previous one. You can guess who took the money for the 1.5ft,” he added.

AAP’s Jagtar Singh Diyalpura and the Shiromani Akali Dal’s Paramjit Singh Dhillon are also in the fray. Anecdotes on the Akalis are many but vocal supporters are few. The suggestive refrain is that the “Akalis are worth their weight in gold”. Family ties and caste, not political ideology, are dictating deals under which Akalis are backing either the Congress or AAP, or one of the two parties is tactically propping up the Akalis.

Similarly, the individual clout of SSM candidates — like Lakha Sidhana in Maur — is keeping them afloat in the polls rather than the outfit’s popularity.

In a reversal of the trend in other seats, several Jat Sikhs — the main agricultural landowners here — this newspaper spoke to expressed admiration for AAP’s chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann but said they would vote for the Congress’s Raja Gill. Both leaders are Jat Sikhs.

Asked who they would prefer as chief minister if the Congress wins, they all favoured Navjot Singh Sidhu, a Jat Sikh, over the incumbent Charanjit Singh Channi, a Ramdasia Dalit. Dalits and OBCs here largely expressed support for AAP but praised Channi.

Bhushan Singh, a worker at a machine parts factory in Samrala, said: “Why are we Dalits always asked if we vote for our caste only? All of us want a better future for our children and I see that only in Bhagwant Mann. It is us who use government schools and hospitals, not the rich.”

Trader Shiv Kumar said: “This talk of (Arvind) Kejriwal being a Khalistani doesn’t scare us (Hindus). We also want the Khalistan of Guru Gobind Singh where peace and justice prevail, not the separatist Khalistan. If Kejriwal is so bad, then why can’t other parties work as well as he does in Delhi?”

At a huddle of elders across castes in Otalan village, opinion was divided on who would win. But they were unanimous in cursing Rajewal. “This is not Delhi,” said Rajveer Singh. “Our unity defeated the BJP then, and Rajewal should have stayed united with the SKM so that any government would be forced to obey us.”

“If we were still sitting at the (Delhi) border, then we may have tactically used these elections to achieve our objectives and strengthen, expand and intensify our movement. But once we have moved out, I fail to see any purpose of Rajewal contesting elections besides entering the Assembly…. Even numerically, the SSM has the support of less than a tenth of the participants of the movement. Without an organisation on the ground, how do you spread your message?” Darshan Pal, president of the Krantikari Kisan Union and SKM ideologue, told The Telegraph.

SKM affiliates have been holding large rallies in Punjab in recent days to prepare farmers and workers to jointly fight for a common economic and political agenda, irrespective of the elections.

Pal said: “We farmers require a long-term agenda, a path that we are building to influence policy…. The movement should be broad-based with all organisations that consider working with the BJP and RSS a sin. Punjab can play a vital role in this as the ideas of federalism and opposition to the domination of corporates are already pregnant here. This should be an intensive effort that really integrates the intelligentsia and the middle class in addition to trade unions and agricultural workers.”