Jagtar Singh

  Lacking insight into its psyche, AAP failing to capture vacant space in Punjab’s political domain Ground Zero Jagtar Singha   People in Punjab aspire for change. They feel cheated both by the ruling Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal. Both these parties have ruled in Punjab since 1966. The problem has become all the more acute during the last about a decade as the state and the people confront problems that concern their very survival. Fed up with uninterrupted 10-year rule of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government headed by Parkash Singh Badal, the people gave unprecedented   massive mandate to the Congress in 2017 for change. Capt amarinder Singh, who took over as the chief minister heading the government was forced to exit unceremoniously months before his term was to end. He had failed the people by way of his style of non-governance. What puzzles the people is as to what kept him busy at his farm house palace that was b...

    Defending Modi govt decision, Capt Amarinder on wrong side of popular perception Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Former Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh was expected to announce formation of new political party formally at his much hyped media interaction today but he remained short of that while reiterating his intention to go ahead with it. This, however, was not his main concern today. His main focus was on defending the indefensible decision of the Narendra Modi government to extend jurisdiction of the Border Security Force from the existing 15 km to 50 km depth in the border states that covers virtually half of Punjab giving unbridled powers to make searches relating to the areas specified under the act concerned. This decision has united the entire non-BJP political parties in the state and the Congress government headed by Charanjit Singh Channi has decided to convene special session of Vidhan Sabha on November 8 to adopt a resolution to annul ...

    While mobilizing Hindu vote bank, Akali Dal revives Anandpur Sahib Resolution too   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal has been focusing mainly on Hindu vote bank and visiting temples for the last several days in the run up to the February 2022 Assembly election. He sprang a surprise on Sunday as he revived his commitment to the long forgotten Anandpur Sahib Resolution that had been part of the Akali narrative from 1980 to Operation Bluestar in June 1984. This resolution phased out after it was referred to a commission by the government at the centre as part of the Punjab Accord signed in July 1985 between Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Akali Dal chief Sant Harchand Singh Longowal. This Resolution has rarely found mention in the party narrative since then. The implementation of this Resolution was one of the demands on which the Akali Dal launched the Dharamyudh Morcha on August 4, 1982 and this was the resolution to which Sa...

  Design behind killing of sacrilege accused to derail farm struggle start surfacing Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Suddenly, it is falling in place. The surfacing of pictures of Aman Singh associated with the Nihang group camping at Singhu border near the site of farmers protest with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has unleashed multi-dimensional narrative associated with the farm struggle and the design to derail it. A design has now started emerging beginning with the January 26 incident at the Red Fort. Several YouTube channels today contacted Aman Singh to have his version but he remained evasive while making one interesting revelation to one channel that his group was camping at Singhu border not in support of the farm struggle but to seek justice for continuing cases of sacrilege of   Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book that has the status of Guru Incarnate, a claim that this group has never made earlier. This camp hit the headlines when   m...

    Ground Zero After 42 years, Badal revives call for united fight for federalism  after   supporting abrogation of Article 370 Amarinder’s volte face on jurisdiction of Border Security Force Jagtar Singh   Strange are the ways of the members of the political class. They seem to believe that the public memory is too short. They are wrong. The stand taken by at least two of the senior politicians cutting across party lines on the extension of Border Security Force to 50 km depth from the earlier 15 km in Punjab has exposed their brazen hypocrisy. They are Akali Dal patriarch and five time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and former Congress chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. The Home ministry has effected changes in the jurisdiction of the BSF to make searches and arrests in specified crimes in the border states. In case of Gujrat, it has been reduced to 50 km from 80 km. However, the border regions of both Rajasthan and Gujrat are sparsely ...

  Civil rights group must probe Singhu border killing by Nihangs to expose design, if any Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The brutal killing of a person by a Nihang group at Singhu border near the camp of the farmers struggling for their very existence has send shock waves across the country. Under sharp attack is the farmers agitation although this killing is unrelated to this struggle. The police failed to remove the mutilated body for long hanging at the camp of the Nihangs who too were there. Videos of the barbaric killing that have gone viral are self-explanatory at one level. The police must explain as to why this body was allowed to be hanged for such a long time while the police officials talked to the Nihangs. Nihang Sarabjit Singh surrendered in the evening claiming responsibility. He was hailed by his associates while warning against such acts of sacrilege. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha has   strongly condemned this barbaric killing while demanding probe. A...

  Rot in Sikh religio-political leadership one aspect of conversion to Christianity Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Giani Harpreet Singh, chief   of Akal Takht, the supreme   seat of the community symbolising Sikh sovereignty, has rightly expressed serious concern over increasing tendency among the Sikhs, mainly from the weaker strata, to convert to Christianity. This is a problem that is more acute in the border districts. The Sangh Parivar and its affiliates including BJP in Punjab has been raising this issue for some years, albeit not forcefully as the conversion of Hindus to Islam and so-called Love Jihad. The Jathedar should also go deep into this problem rather than blaming only the Christian missionaries. The rot in the Sikh society at large that has started reflecting in the functioning of the highest Sikh institutions for the last some years can’t be overlooked by him and the people concerned. It is not just such conversions that should worry him. O...

  Sardar Badal’s claim of 15 years in jail during Punjabi Suba agitation is questionable   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Five times Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal has from time to time made claims of having spent from 15 to 17 years in jails during various agitations launched by his party that is now a century old, the second oldest in the country and the oldest regional party. His latest claim appeared in an interview in a Chandigarh based English daily on October 8, 2021 datelined Badal (Muktsar). He talked of having spent 15 years in jail in this interview. Sardar Badal is among the talles and the oldest politicians at more than 90 years of age and it goes to his credit that he continues to be active and alert. Here is the question and the answer reproduced verbatim: “Q: Where do you place the Congress and the AAP vis-à-vis the Akali Dal? A: Both the parties take directions from their leaders in Delhi. People ...

  Lakhimpur Kheri:   Threat to democratic polity from democratic dictatorship Ground Zero   Jagtar Singh The issue in no more the scrapping of the three contentious farm acts for which the farmers have been sitting at the doors of Delhi for more than 10 months as their entry into the national capital has been blocked by the government by erecting permanent barricades thereby also closing down the highways. The farmers have been forced to stage sit in due to the government action of blocking them. This vital aspect must be taken into account by the Supreme Court. Don’t blame the farmers for the blockade and they have also not sought judicial intervention. The mowing down of four protesting farmers and a journalist by the goons who include the son of a union minister of state at Lakhimpur Kheri under the wheels of their fast moving cars is a symptoms of a bigger disease. They had gathered as they had been challenged by the union minister of state from that very a...