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 government.
Simply put, the government can’t be run from a farm house.
Governance is a broader political process rather than giving some instructions
to the bureaucracy.
A section of the ministers and party MLAs today took up the
cudgels demanding replacement of Capt Amarinder Singh. No name has been
proposed by the pro-changers.
The irony is that the three leaders who had never left Capt
Amarinder Singh when he had been side-lined at one stage in his career have now
been in the frontline of the attackers. These ministers are Tript Rajinder
Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa. Also
supporting them is Charanjit Singh Channi.
The crisis has precipitated within days of Sidhu having
called on Capt Amarinder Singh to take certain decisions to streamline the
party functioning.
The situation in the Congress is getting messier when Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal
is on the move as part of his 100-day intensive campaign to galvanise the
people for February 2022.
It is a different matter that he is being confronted every
day by the angry farmers who have been questioning his party stand after the
ordinance was issued implementing the three controversial laws that triggered
the farmers struggle.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Badal family had
supported the three farm laws aggressively in the beginning saying the same
were in the interest of the farmers who were being misled by certain interest
groups, including some Naxalites.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who was a minister in the cabinet of
Narendra Modi when the ordinances were cleared by the government, had given
interviews to three different channels on a single day to defend these laws.
The party had not taken official stand on this sensitive
issue till then.
Her husband and party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal within less
than 24 hours addressed the media at an ‘emergency’ briefing on a single point
agenda which was support to the three laws. That was the time when even a frontal organisation of the Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh in Punjab and had expressed some reservations. This is part
of the record.
A few days later, party patron, 5-time chief minister and
Badal family patriarch Parkash Singh Badal too released a video supporting
these laws.
The party came out of the alliance on the day these bills
were adopted in the Lok Sabha and the farmers agitation had spread by that
time. The party should left the government at the very moment the ordinances
were issued rather than adopting the strategy to the contrary.
It is in this context that the crisis in the Congress has to
be viewed.
The Amarinder government that faced no challenge has been
hit hard from within. The party has entered the self-destruction mode.
The present crisis in Punjab is rooted in non-governance of
Capt Amarinder Singh and non-performance of the party command that seemed to be
coming into action when Sidhu was entrusted with the organisational
responsibility. He was an open critic of Capt Amarinder Singh. Interestingly,
now his advisors are questioning the personal life of the Chief Minister.
The Congress Circus is getting more and more interesting
every day despite being turning muddier.
The Congress high command is now confronted with yet another
challenge as Punjab was one state from where it could have entered the revival
path at the national level. The party has hit the self-constructed big bump.
The option with Capt Amarinder Singh is to recommend
dissolution of the Assembly.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to disappoint him
in case he exercises this option.
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