Farmer’s daughter who won big is now youngest MLA in Punjab Assembly

Days after the results of the Assembly elections, Bharaj’s win is still being talked about for the incredulity of the feat — she defeated Congress heavyweight and Cabinet minister Vijay Inder Singla by a margin of 36,430 votes.

Bharaj, whose father is a farmer, was up against candidates who had both experience and money on their side: while Bharaj declared assets of Rs 24,409, Singla, 50, had assets worth Rs 7 crore; BJP’s Arvind Khanna, 54, declared Rs 27 crore, and the Congress’s Winnerjit Singh Goldy, the 46-year-old Shiromani Akali Dal candidate declared Rs 6 crore.

On March 10, as the results came in, jubilant AAP supporters had screamed: “Chhoti jahi kudi ne vadde vadde thamm gira ditte (a small girl has defeated the big guys).”

Bharaj says she rarely felt intimidated by the might of her challengers as she toiled it out – her scooter a faithful companion all through her campaign days.

“I rode my scooter, with my mother Charanjit Kaur riding pillion, when I went to file my nomination papers. Again, on March 10, as the trends started coming, I went to the market with my mother on my scooter to have some juice,” she says, while insisting that her election to the Assembly won’t change her. “I will remain the same Narinder Kaur Bharaj. People wanted an end to VIP culture, so here I am to do the same,” Bharaj told The Indian Express.

Her father Gurnam Singh owns five acres in Bharaj village in Sangrur. Her elder brother, her only sibling, passed away in 2002.

Often during the campaign, Bharaj would bring up her modest background while talking about the AAP’s campaign promise of Rs 1,000 a month to every woman in Punjab. “I am from a family of small farmers. I know what it means for a woman to have Rs 1,000 a month in her hand — students can pay their bus fare or buy a book, a mother can gift something to her daughter or grandchildren… We girls from middle-class families understand the importance of this money,” she would say.

Bharaj, who has a Master’s in sociology from Patiala’s Punjabi University and a law degree from a local Sangrur college, was inspired by AAP as early as 2014. In the Lok Sabha elections that year, Bharaj, then 19, worked as the polling agent for Bhagwant Mann, who was then the AAP candidate from Sangrur. In November 2018, Bharaj was made the Sangrur unit president of the AAP’s youth wing.

Bharaj says she has a roadmap in mind. “Development is not just making roads or improving sewage systems; development happens when we end corruption, and make progress in health and education. Our focus is on implementing the Delhi model in Punjab. This is what we promised the voters while seeking votes.”

She adds, “I am the youngest MLA but have the same responsibility as the others. Sangrur has trusted this chhoti kudi and I will not disappoint them.”