Punjab Congress dissidents knocking at the door of
comatose leadership
Ground Zero
Jagtar Singh
The power struggle in the Congress in Punjab could not have
been more ill-timed.
When the Covid-19 contagion has turned more ferocious and
people are gasping for breath, a section of the Congress in Punjab has
triggered the move for leadership change a few months before the forthcoming
Assembly elections in the state due in February 2022. The apprehension is that
Capt Amarinder Singh wont be able to deliver due to non-governance.
Ironically, little notice has been taken of the ventilators
gathering dust for months in Punjab until pointed out by the media. The
ventilators are the most critical component in the treatment of this infectious disease that is Covid.
It seems that the bureaucracy was more keen in bulk purchase
rather than making these machines functional by recruiting the much needed
staff. Health sector, like in the rest of the country, has not been on the
priority list of the government since the market forces entered the space.
These ventilators lying uninstalled have now been transferred to private
hospitals. What efficiency! The political class, however, is not interested in
such matters of life and death. The issue for this class is the self-interest.
As the dissidents intensify their struggle against Chief
Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, the functioning of the decision makers at the
top in the party must be looked into. Going by what has been happening since
2019, the Congress at the highest level has been receding deep into coma.
The meeting of the party working committee on Monday
provides insight into the state of affairs at the highest level. The Congress
has been wiped out in the latest round of Assembly elections in four
states and a union territory.
It was expected that the working committee would dissect the
reasons for this continuing humiliation. It was not done but announcement was
made to set up a panel for this purpose. This amounts to avoiding the
situation.
If the BJP and other parties can function, there is no
reason for the Congress leadership to take the cover of Covid for
non-functioning and inertia. The party leadership has been refusing to take
decisions.
It is in this context that the turmoil in the Congress in
Punjab has to be seen. The people in the state mandated this party with 80 MLAs
in a total House of 117. However, more than the people who gave this massive
mandate, it is the Congress persons who continue to feel alienated from their
own government. The grievance remains the same and this pertains to
inaccessibility of bureaucracy. But then this is not confined to bureaucracy
alone.
There were times, at least till 2002, when one could walk
into the Chief Minister’s Office on the 2nd floor of the Punjab
Civil Secretariat. Governance is not just clearing of the files or taking some
decisions.
There is an interesting dimension to this entire narrative
around non-functioning. The Congress has performed well in Punjab in the 2019
Lok Sabha polls. But then this could also be due to non-revival of the
Shiromani Akali Dal and the AAP getting badly fractured.
The present crisis has been precipitated on the issue of
sacrilege of Sikh scriptures in 2015 when in power was the Akali Dal- BJP
government headed by Parkash Singh Badal. The people of Punjab punished the
Akali Dal in 2017 Assembly elections. Capt Amarinder Singh who commanded the
Congress at that time had promised action against the culprits. His government
has so far failed on this sensitive issue.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Punjab and Haryana
High Court has quashed only that special investigating team that was entrusted
with the case of firing at Kotkapura on the people protesting against
sacrilege. The sacrilege itself is a separate case and there has been little
progress in that.
Like that Parkash Singh Badal must disclose as to at whose
orders the case of blasphemy against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim
was withdrawn from a Bathinda court just five days before the 2012 Assembly
elections, Capt Amarinder Singh must
take people into confidence as why the sacrilege case has not been taken to the
logical conclusion. Why no further effort was made to question Dera chief in
Rohtak jail where he is lodged.
But the issue here is that of the turmoil within the
Congress that is also accused of non-governance. The government has so far
distanced from releasing the promised white paper on the power purchase agreements
signed with private thermal plants by the Badal government. The people are
paying for that. There is definitely something wrong somewhere. The dissidents
are knocking at the doors of the comatose high command.
Capt Amarinder Singh was a friend of Rajiv Gandhi and thus
personally close to the family.
Next generation leader Navjot Singh Sidhu who is
spearheading the battle against Capt Amarinder Singh along with Partap Singh
Bajwa and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa is close to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul
Gandhi.
The issue is that of the top leadership stirring into
action.
Comments
Post a Comment