Skip to main content

Navjot Sidhu announcing Dharamyudh sounds like Manpreet Badal of 2011



Image result for pics of navjot singh sidhu

Going back to recent history is normal when a leader gives the call to change the destiny of the jinxed Punjab.
This dream-selling can be traced to 1996 but that would be discussed later.
The parallels have to be found in recent history.
Cricketer turned politician and former minister in the present Capt Amarinder Singh government Navjot Singh Sidhu today launched himself on the political turf in a new capacity. He today talked of Dharamyudh  on his Jittega Punjab channel to give a new hope to the people.
In people’s perception, he is a leader with credibility. His emotional approach has the potential to convince the gullible people.
However, he reminds of Manpreet Singh Badal of 2011.
A newspaper commented when he launched his Punjab People’s Party in March, 2011: “Former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal today changed Punjab’s political geography by launching People’s Party of Punjab (PPP)”.
Manpreet had sworn by the soil of Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Sidhu too today referred to the legacy of the  martyr.
One of the main issues that Manpreet  raised at that time was the burgeoning debt of Punjab. Sidhu also today started with it.
 Aam Aadmi Party too talked of Shaheed Bhagat Singh in the run up to the 2017 Assembly elections. The leaders who had nothing to do with the ideology of Bhagat Singh started donning yellow turbans denoting the spirit of sacrifice. They did not know that the colour of the turban of Bhagat Singh was white.
Punjab definitely needs new leadership with a roadmap that meets the aspiration of the people under the fast changing situation to rekindle hope in the new generation that otherwise sees little positive emerging.
The first issue is of convincing the young generation is that the situation is not completely lost.
Sidhu is convincing. But then Manpreet too was highly convincing.
Of course, one need not be pessimistic. There is always hope.
And Sidhu is being perceived in that role.  He jumped into the new orbit when he announced the decision of Pakistan to accept the longstanding demand of the Sikhs in Indian Punjab to provide free access to Katarpur Sahib shrine via a corridor. He is the only leader who is by and large given credit by the Sikhs for this major initiative that was hailed globally.
Punjab always has the space for new ideas and new leadership. AAP too was a party of hope from 2014 to 2017 but it crashed on the way.
Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal in the run up to the 1997 Assembly elections sold the dream of converting Punjab into California. That was the first Akali government that completed its full term. However, the situation on the ground remained the same.
The state now faces stagnation in economy and the situation calls for drastic changes. Mere dream-selling would not do.
What is lacking is the political will.
The Akali Dal used to represent the culture of Punjab but its leadership now has different priorities.
Punjab needs  committed and dedicated leadership having no interest in any other business of any kind.
Only a big push can end this stagnation. This border state  continues to have a lot of potential.
Sidhu should unfold his roadmap within the next six months. And there has to be the organisational  back-up.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Damdami Taksal collaborates in Sikh religio-political domain with BJP that is eyeing Punjab in 2027 Assembly elections

Of Saffron Turbans , BJP and the Sikhs Jagtar Singh Chandigarh:  The Maharashtra government released ads in newspapers earlier regarding function to commemorate 350 th martyrdom anniversary of the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur, in Navi Mumbai. Guru Tegh Bahadur was martyred in Delhi on the orders of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. The Guru   opted for this supreme sacrifice for human rights and religious freedom. There should be nothing unusual about a state government inserting such ad in the newspapers. However, it was unusual at one level. The leaders whose pictures the ad carried included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, his deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and others.   What was striking about this ad was that all these leaders donned turbans with saffron being the dominant colour. The Ninth Sikh Guru sacrificed his life for the cause of humanity and human rights. It may be mention...
Post a Comment
Read more

Operation Bluestar: BJP design could be assimilation of Ek Onkaar into Om

  BJP design could be assimilation of Ek Onkaar into Om Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Lots of heat and dust have been raised on the social media platforms at the presence of BJP-ruled Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan at the function organised by the Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal to commemorate army attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) code-named Operation Bluestar on June 6 last. Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale, who symbolises resistance to this attack and whose associates fought valiantly and opted for martyrdom, headed this very seminary whose lineage is traced back in history to the Sikh warrior Baba Deep Singh who was associated by Guru Gobind Singh with the compilation of Guru Granth Sahib at Talwandi Sabo now known as Damdama Sahib. He attained martyrdom in the Darbar Sahib complex while fighting the forces of occupation. Sant Bhindranwale represents that tradition. Sant Bhindranwale survives as an idea rooted in this tradition of martyrdom after h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Strategic polarisation by BJP has potential to dislocate social secularism in Punjab

  Strategic polarisation by BJP has potential to dislocate social secularism in Punjab Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Dera Sachkhand Ballan in the Doaba heartland—an area where Dalit social and religious formations wield considerable influence—has once again revived the debate on the role of deras in Punjab’s complex religio-political landscape. Punjab, a border state that has historically witnessed alternating cycles of violent and remarkably peaceful mobilisations over more than a century, continues to remain politically sensitive and socially layered. This is typical Punjab whose political discourse has invariably been dictated by the Sikh religio-political discourse, at least till recently. This dominant Panthic religio-political discourse has now got fragmented over the period, thereby yielding space to new permutations and combinations in the state’s religio-political matrix. It can safely be said that Punjab is in a flux. The ...
Post a Comment
Read more