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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.

 

 

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