‘Zora Singh Mann di rooh’: In Akali stronghold Ferozepur, party’s debut face Bobby Mann relies on father’s legacy

“Aa rahe ne saade vichkaar Zora Singh Mann ji de farjand, balki ohna de saputtar (Arriving among us is Zora Singh Mann’s son… not just a son, but a worthy son)”, announces a party worker on Tuesday at a public meeting at Panje Ke Uttar village in the Ferozepur seat of Punjab.

The announcement is for 49-year-old Nardev Singh Bobby Mann, the son of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) stalwart Zora Singh Mann and the party’s candidate from the Ferozepur seat.

Many at the meeting can be seen wearing a badge that speaks of Zora Singh Mann di rooh (The soul of Zora Singh Mann). It is clear that Nardev Singh Mann, or Bobby Mann as he is popularly known, is banking on his late father’s legacy as he contests his first election.

Ferozepur is a SAD bastion, a seat the party won six consecutive times starting 1998. Zora Singh Mann represented the seat between 1998 and 2004. Most recently, former deputy Chief Minister and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal won the seat in 2019.

“Tussi pehlan vi mere swargwasi baapu nu maan-samman ditta hai (Earlier, you have always blessed my late father),” says Bobby at the meeting.

He then proceeds to attack other parties. “You gave five years to the Congress and two years to jhaadu (broom, the Aam Aadmi Party’s poll symbol). In 2017, (former CM) Captain Amarinder Singh had vowed to give you jobs and to waive loans of farmers. But he never stepped out of his palace. Do you know where the money went? His friend Bibi Aroosa (former Pakistan journalist and Singh’s friend Aroosa Alam) took it all away,” he tells voters.

Attacking the Charanjit Singh Channi-led Congress government next, he says: “After becoming the CM, he started milking goats and cows. Going by this logic, everyone who can milk animals should