Jagtar Singh

Chandigarh: One has to begin from 2016, if not earlier. Here are some quotes, past and present: April 18, 2016: There is something wrong at the bottom as the power has been purchased at inflated rates by ignoring the state owned power plant. Why they did not stop the payments when one of the companies fail to deposit the penalty. We demand a high level probe into the purchases," Congress MLA and former Leader of Opposition, Punjab said. The leader was now state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar. Then on Feb 05, 2018: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president, Sunil Jakhar on Sunday said he has written a letter to Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh a week ago to investigate power purchase agreements (PPA) inked with private power companies. He said he has asked for a high-level inquiry into PPAS with private plants near Talwandi Sabo and renegotiation of the tariffs. In-between, the Punjab Congress manifesto for February 2017 assembly elections on page 98 prom...

Chandigarh: On a day the divisive political discourse pushed by the Bharatiya Janata Party hit the roadblock in Jharkhand, India witnessed the consolidation of secular mobilisation against the citizenship act and national register of citizens. Even allies of the BJP, JD(U) and some others have repositioned themselves asserting their opposition to NRC. It is the Shiromani Akali Dal that otherwise was rooted in secular tradition of universal brotherhood that continues to fumble. Not only that. Some of the Sanghi Akali leaders, especially in Delhi, are functioning as megaphone of the BJP issuing statements that from all accounts are anti-Muslim. The charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and management skills of Home Minister Amit Shah seems to have failed the BJP in Jharkhand with the party having tasted defeat. The trend that was triggered with the recent Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana has consolidated in Jharkhand. It is the Congress-JMM alliance that has...

Chandigarh: The Narendra Modi government must be given credit for moving ahead with the implementation of its agenda that is rooted in Hindutva, the divisive discourse that provides ideological inspiration to it. It reflects commitment to its manifesto unlike most of other poliutical outfits in democratic domain. On the face of it, this push is targeted at the Muslims. However, the resistance is secular   as it is the poor from every formation who would be hit. The latest in the series is the Citizens (Amendment) Act which, when followed by National Register of Citizens, would create upheaval. BJP’s officiating president J P Nadda reiterated at a meeting with a delegation of Afghan Sikh immigrants on Thursday that NRC would follow in due course. It is for the first time since the BJP came into power in 2014 under the command of Narendra Modi and entered second term in 2019 that the divisive agenda has faced such strong resistance and that too from every section. Ja...

  Chandigarh The design is perfect. Cross the zero line at Kartarpur Sahib Corridor to enter Pakistan and the welcome is with a broad smile and in flawless Punjabi. The difference between India and Pakistan is too glaring. At the entrance itself on the Indian side, the visitor, devotee in this case, is thoroughly frisked as if boarding a flight. This exercise is carried out at two places. The immigration officials talk in Hindi with no smile on the face. As the devotees cross the Zero line that separates Indian side of the Corridor from the Pakistan territory, the security people extend a warm welcome and speak in unadulterated Punjabi. And they don’t frisk you. This writer asked Pakistanis at two points, “At which point would you search me?” The answer, “You are in Pakistan. We don’t search the devotees”. The security exercise is repeated on the Indian side on return. When asked, a police official on the Indian side from Punjab said this was being done...

Chandigarh: Sukhbir Singh Badal was elected as president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, the second oldest and the first regional political party in the country, amidst signs of revolt. Conspicuous by his absence was Akali Dal legislature party leader in the Assembly and former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa. The Akali Dal would be 100 year old on December 14, 2010. At a separate function in Amritsar, the disgruntled Akalis who organised a separate function under the banner of Taksali Akali Dal were joined by former Akali Dal secretary general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa who had some months back resigned from all party posts to register his protest against what he says is the total control of the party by the House of Badals. He is the father of Parminder Singh Dhindsa and is member of the Rajya Sabha. What is significant is the call given by Dhindsa to the Sikhs to prepare for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elections as the term of its general house is already ove...

Chandigarh: It is perhaps for the first time that the extrajudicial killing of the rape accused has received such massive mandate across the country thereby providing it legitimacy. This situation has far reaching consequences. People are hailing the killing of four people arrested the case of rape and burning of a woman in Telangana. There is nothing new in extrajudicial killing. Every state where some sort of struggle is going on has been witnessing such killings for years. Would this type of ‘justice’ end the crime of rape? Rapist, or for that matter a criminal, has no religion. One has to go deeper into the ever increasing cases of rape, to the extent that India is turning unsafe for women. The irony is that goddesses are worshipped in this country. Female kids are feasted in a ceremony at least once a year as part of the worship of the goddess. However, the women are neither respected nor treated as equal. Women would have to be treated as equal as a ...