Action in Punjab begins with arrest of former police chief Sumedh Singh Saini

 

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 case that he faces is related to his tenure as senior superintendent of police, Ludhiana. The case is just not moving.

Saini, who is from that group of officers who names used to be linked to brazen human rights violations including involuntary disappearances,  was chosen by the Akali Dal-BJP government led by Parkash Singh Badal to head the state police. Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is now president of the Akali Dal, was the deputy chief minister and in-charge of home ministry.

It is pertinent to mention that the police had opened fire at two places on October 14, 2015, first at Kotkapura and three hours later at Behbal Kalan, on Sikh people protesting against sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib on October 12. Two protesters were killed at Behbal Kalan that day.

The second officer linked to human rights violation who too was accommodated by the Badals was Mohammed Izhar Alam after his retirement.

It is a different issue that the Akali Dal at one time had promised action against all those police officers whose names used to be mentioned in the context of human rights violations.

Interestingly, Saini’s arrest coincides with the launching of poll campaign by Sukhbir Singh Badal on August 18 from Zira. As part of his intensive drive, he would remain in field for 100 days addressing several meetings daily. He has taken the lead by way of the launching of such rigorous  campaign.

Saini was arrested a few hours later in the evening.

The arrest was not planned by the vigilance bureau but Saini got trapped while trying to outsmart the people in the very department that he headed at one time.

His pictures in the custody of the vigilance bureau office in Mohali became viral in the morning.

It is this picture that has its own importance as he was the most powerful police officer of his times. The operation is success at that level. It is not important whether the cases against him reach the logical conclusion or not.

It is the image of his being behind the bars that would linger in the public memory.

The second similarly important decision of the Amarinder government is to file appeal in the Supreme Court against the verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the Kotkapura police firing case. Saini being the DGP at that time is linked to this case too.

The Congress leadership in Delhi had recently effected changes in the organisation in Punjab with the appointment of former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu as the state party chief despite the fact that he had been a vocal critic of Capt Amarinder Singh.

Sidhu has been entrusted with the responsibility to navigate the party to success in February 2022 polls. This election is crucial for the Gandhi family in Delhi as the Congress retaining power could catalyse the rejuvenation of the party at the national level.

However, the problem of the party in Punjab has been anti-incumbency rooted in non-governance.

These two major actions are the first step in blunting the perception of non-governance.

Sidhu, being president of the ruling party, would be hampered in the absence of some major achievements of his government.

The action seems to have begun.