Jagtar Singh

  Confrontation between election campaigns in Punjab and farmers struggle suits Modi government Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   With thousands of farmers from Punjab sitting on the borders of Delhi along with colleagues from several other states fighting for their very survival, the situation is just not conducive for the power seeking political parties in this border state to unleash their election campaigns. The contribution of these political parties to this struggle so far is nothing more than lip service. The Narendra Modi government, with the implementation, though stayed for the time being, of the controversial three farm laws has opened the farm sector to the corporate sharks without holding consultation with the stakeholders, especially in regions like Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh that are going to be hit the most severely. The likely impact of these laws can be assessed by the plight of apple growers in Himachal Pradesh where the Adani group is cont...

  Tale of Akali Dal’s two constitutions, one Panthic and the other non-Panthic Ground Zero Jagtar Singh There is nothing wrong with any political party including the Shiromani Akali Dal to   effect changes including in the constitution dictated by   the changing times and expediency. In this context, there should be no objection to the Akali Dal opting for a new constitution. After all, Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal recently raised slogan of Jai Shri Ram in the party office in Chandigarh that symbolised total transformation of the once Sikh party. However, the problem can arise in case the party tries to take advantage of both the constitutions. At times, Sukhbir Singh Badal can be heard talking of the Akali Dal being a party articulating Sikh concerns. The controversy regarding two constitutions has come under focus following direction issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to party patron, former president and former 5-time chief minister Parkas...

  Congress in Punjab working overtime to decimate itself in February 2022 Ground Zero   Jagtar Singh  The Congress in Punjab seems to be determined to reduce its tally of 77+3 Assembly seats to 17 in February 2022. The expertise of party’s central leadership by way of mishandling the mess in one state after another has further proved to be the catalyst. The issue is just not the infighting that used to be the hallmark of the Akalis so long as the Sikh religio-political matrix was characterised by multiple power centres. The situation changed once this domain turned unipolar after the demise of Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra in 2003 who lorded over the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for more than a quarter of a century. Punjab, the state that had the potential to trigger the revival of the decaying party at the national level by winning 77 out of 117 seats in February 2017 elections, the highest ever barring 1992 when the mainstream Akalis had boycotte...

  Congress in Punjab challenges Amarinder’s leadership while farmers confront Sukhbir Badal Ground Zero   Jagtar Singh The Congress that in 2017 had been given unprecedented mandate by the people under the leadership of Capt Amarinder Singh by delivering the worst ever defeat to the ruling Akali Dal that was in alliance   with the Bharatiya Janata Party, has landed itself in a situation from where there is little chance of its being rescued. Punjab is scheduled to go to the Assembly elections in February 2022. After the recent replacement of Sunil Jakhar by Cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu as the state Congress president as part of the move to save the sinking party, the next in firing line is Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh who in his previous term had earned the image of being strong, decisive and effective leader but just refused to govern this time and opted to outsource governance. The Congress rank and file got alienated from their own go...

  ‘Jai Sri Ram’ marks completion of Akali Dal’s ideological shift from Panth Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Sikhism is universal and inclusive in its approach with emphasis on human brotherhood but at the same time, its boundaries are clearly defined. Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of this Faith, demonstrated this model of egalitarianism and brotherhood at the practical level at Kartarpur Sahib now in Pakistan where he spent his last years. The Shiromani Akali Dal that was created by the Sikh leadership within days of the founding of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee on November 15, 1920 at Akal Takht, the seat manifesting the Sikh sovereignty. It is not a religious shrine in that context but temporal seat. Over the years, the Akali Dal evolved as political assertion of the Sikhs replacing the Sikh League created a year before the Akali Dal in 1919 that phased out in 1933. The party has since then been articulating political concerns, ambitions and aspirations...

  Saini’s arrest incidentally coincides with launching of Sukhbir’s poll campaign Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Few months before the Assembly elections in Punjab due in February 2022, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh whose tenure so far is perceived to be associated with non-governance, has finally entered the action mode. He had been known to be taking tough pro-Punjab decisions earlier at crucial moments but did not manifest much of interest   in governance during this tenure beginning 2017. The decision of his government to arrest former state police chief Sumedh Singh Saini linked to several controversies in his flamboyant career is being seen as the first major step to assuage the sentiments of the people at large in the state. Saini, who has been arrested in a corruption case, has been on bail in several other cases, including the most sensitive one that is the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari in 2015 and the related issues. The oldest cas...

  Farmers battle attains new dimension with aggressive support by  united opposition in Parliament Ground Zero   Jagtar Singh   The year long farmers struggle reached another level today with aggressive and unprecedented support by united opposition in Rajya Sabha today. The farmers protest rocked the Parliament today like never before. At another level, the fight against Modi model of development gets  major boost. The farmers organisations have so far rightly maintained distance from the political parties since the agitation pressing for scrapping of the three disastrous farm laws shifted to Delhi on November 26 last. The farmers finally succeeded in taking their protest to Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi by way of staging mock Parliament that has come under global focus. Every aspect of the farm economy has been minutely dissected at this forum including by farm economists and experts. The chorus is against these three laws that would push a major sec...

  Bids from stake holders going up for Punjab February 2022 polls Ground Zero   Jagtar Singh   Bidding process that was earlier triggered by Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal with the announcement of 300 units of free power across the board to domestic consumers is witnessing stiff competition among the stake holders to buy votes. Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal has raised the bid to 400 units. Both these bids are accompanied by what the bidders claim to be their “guarantees”. An interesting bid has now come from Navjot Singh Sidhu who has recently been entrusted with the presidency of the state Congress to blunt the very anti-incumbency of his own party government headed by Capt Amarinder Singh. He today tweeted his speech offering   “government of the Congress workers and people of Punjab”, whatever it means coming from the otherwise ruling party chief. The only interpretation of this bid is that...

  Stop ‘Operation Bluestar’ against Sikh heritage Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The systematic Operation Demolition targeted at the Sikh heritage that has been going on since decades is only little different from the army attack code named Operation Bluestar in June 1984 on the Darbar Sahib complex designed to hit dignity of this one of the most dynamic communities in the world whose value system is based upon revolutionary philosophy of humanism and universal brotherhood. The original gurdwara architecture that is main part of the Sikh heritage has been preserved only in Pakistan as almost all the old Sikh shrines in India have been rebuilt as unaesthetic marble monsters. Even originality of the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) has been damaged without provoking any adverse reaction from the community. The original Takht constructed by Guru Hargobind symbolizing the Sikh state power was saved from the hammers of the Damdami Taksal activists due to timely intervention b...