India General Elections 2024: Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, the doctor on his third dose

Dr Dharamvira Gandhi a physician is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Patiala on a Congress ticket Inspired by Anna Hazare Dr Gandhi joined the Aam Aadmi Party AAP and won the Patiala seat in 2014 However in 2019 he formed his own party and contested as an independent but lostmidday spent a day with Dr Gandhi whose daily routine includes meeting farmers and professionals in April after participating in the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Dr Gandhi joined the Congress and secured a party ticket to contest the general election He is up against Preneet Kaur a fourtime MP from Patiala who recently left Congress to join the BJP Dr Gandhi claims that Kaurrsquos switch will work in his favour predicting a victory margin of 80000 votesDr Gandhi an adherent of Stoic philosopher and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said as he was on the campaign trail an assistant was looking at patients in his clinic ldquoIn my clinic the poor are not charged Similarly there is a 50 per cent discount for tests such as CT scansrdquo he said The following is an exchange between this reporter and the Congress candidateDr Dharamvira Gandhi Congressrsquos candidate for Patiala on the campaign trail in the Lok Sabha constituency PicFaisal TandelWhat is your backgroundIrsquove been a political activist since I was a medical college student in 1971 I was also a student union activist and member of the Association for Democratic Rights of which I was founder general secretary I worked for migratory workers for three years in Ludhiana After holding a government for 20 years I retired prematurely as an assistant professor of cardiology from the Government Medical College Patiala I used to hold meetings with village youths regarding scientific temper and rationality and encourage themWhen do you enter politicsI was into politics from my college days But got into electoral politics in 2014 I was inspired by Anna Hazarersquos anticorruption movement Later I was offered a ticket by AAP and I accepted the challenge I was elected as an MP in 2014What was it like contesting on an AAP ticketIt was tough but at the time AAP was a newly formed party with lot of promises It was different from traditional parties and it had already won many seats in Delhi and formed the government there It was good to join a party to improve the systemThen why did you leave the party in 2015I soon grew frustrated with AAP There was no transparency and too much VIP culture It was a total fraud This was a party rife with conspiracies and insincerity What they propagated earlier and what they became are two different things When a national council meeting was held the partyrsquos behaviour towards Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav was quite insulting and undemocratic I took their sideHow did you manage to continue as an MPI worked as an unattached MP in Lok Sabha from 2015 to 2019 I raised issues related to Punjab and the nation as well as international matters I was involved in nine bills including the NDPS Amendment and Sikh marriage billsHow did you come across Rahul GandhiDuring the Bharat Jodo Yatra I met Rahul and found him and the right kind of person to associate with During the yatra I met him first at Kanyakumari Later he came to Punjab where I met him again After that I was with him in Jammu and Kashmiri for five days My brief association with the Congress started this wayWhen did you join CongressI joined the party in April and was offered a ticket to contest from the Patiala constituency Looking at my political and activist background they gave me an opportunityAfter leaving AAP you also established your own partyI formed a party in 2019 and fought the Lok Sabha election that year but lost it as I received more than one lakh votesWhy did you decide to join CongressTheir agenda is the right one I have taken a democratic stand It also suits my political interestsWhat do you think about BJP candidate Preneet Kaur the incumbent MP who left Congress recentlyShe is nowhere You will see after the results are declaredPrime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned for her recently Shouldnrsquot Rahul Gandhi come here to campaign for youHe will come this weekendWhat are your views on the farmers protesting at PunjabHaryana borderCongress had said it would increase the minimum support price for crops Once we come to power loans will also be waivedAAP and Congress are allies but not in Punjab WhyBecause Congress is the principal Opposition party here If they were allies the antiincumbency factor of AAP would rub off on us Delhi is different as Congress is no more there So we cannot afford to have an alliance with them in PunjabWill this benefit the BJP hereThe BJP has no base in Punjab See how huge the farmer agitation is here This is basically an agricultural area Rural Punjab is antiBJP Apart from some RSS members and others no one wants the BJP hereHow many votes will you getI will win by a margin of 80000 votes and the results will come per the response and reaction I am getting on the fieldWhat issues will you raise if you winSecularism and the misuse of Central agencies The media should be free from Narendra Modi and the BJP Selling out the nation should be stopped Minorities should be given justice The CAA and NRC should be scrapped and all the bad laws imposed by BJP should be stopped It will take us almost 20 years to repair the damage that has been caused by the BJP during its tenureWhy should citizens vote for youI stand for the rights of the state and citizens India is diverse and diversity should be respected