Navjot Sidhu and Jakhar narrative reinforces mercurial nature of Punjab’s political domain

 

Navjot Sidhu and Jakhar narrative reinforces mercurial nature of Punjab’s political domain

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

Punjab has suddenly hit the realm of the unknown although this only reinforces unpredictable character of political domain of this that state historically associated with major ups and downs.

It is the Congress  party that has triggered the churning process this time.

Sunil Jakhar, one of its frustrated former state Congress chiefs, has jumped over to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The one word that describes his action is ‘ironic’.

Another former chief and highly volatile Navjot Singh Sidhu was today lodged in Patiala jail.

His is a case of poetic justice.

Jakhar at one time had taken strong exception to his seemingly inadvertent but conspiratorial portrayal as a Hindu leader when his name had propped up as replacement for chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. It was Ambika Soni, who has been political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, who had put the roadblock saying Punjab always had a Sikh chief minister. Some dimensions of Punjab are too well known but are unsaid. The choice ultimately fell on low profile Charanjit Singh Channi even after sweets had been distributed at the residence of Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and he returned from halfway after he was conveyed the final decision.

Now he has joined the BJP the objective of whose parent body Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh is Hindu Rashtra and is perceived to practice divisive politics. BJP needs credible Hindu face in Punjab where it is trying to find its roots after end of more than two decades long alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal. For the BJP, Jakhar is a Hindu face.

And ironically, he talked of the philosophy of universal brotherhood that characterises the teachings of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh Faith from the platform for the forces whose practice is different.

Navjot Singh Sidhu has been sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment in a case that is 34 year old. It was case of road rage and he had hit a 65 year old man in Patiala who later died. His family had  filed review petition in the Supreme Court that earlier had let him off after imposing symbolic fine of Rs 1,000.

It is to be mentioned here that Sidhu too was strong contender for the office for which Jakhar was rejected. He had earlier been appointed as the state Congress chief and is known to be close to the younger generation of Gandhis.

Interestingly, one dimension was common between Jakhar and Sidhu after both of them were sidestepped. They never compromised and kept on hitting their own party. Sidhu lost the Assembly election himself and that too from a little-known AAP woman candidate Dr. Jiwanjot Kaur. And there was a third candidate too and he was the all powerful Akali leader Bkiram Singh Majithia who was relegated to the third position.

Amarinder Singh Raja Warring replaced Sidhu as the PPCC chief as part of the restructuring exercise.

Suddenly, Sidhu turned active mobilising the demoralised Congress. This was the job on which he should have focused before the election when he was firing almost daily salvos targeting his own party.

And now he would share the very jail where Majithia is lodged.

Sidhu was the most vocal among the Congress leaders for seeing his friend turned foe Majithia behind the bars. At that time, he would have never imagined that one day he too would have to cross the gate of the same jail.

Majithia had shifted from his traditional Majitha constituency to confront Sidhu in Amritsar East and the same fate awaited them. This is what can be termed as the poetic justice.

There is yet another dimension to the developments during the last 48 hours and it is the likely impact on the political domain.

These two developments would neither impact the ruling AAP nor the decimated Akali Dal. The leadership of the Congress in Punjab has already been entrusted to the leader from the younger generation and Sidhu was just trying to find some space.

The BJP is not in a position to emerge as one among the main challenger in 2024 Lok Sabha election in this state.

But BJP needs strong unit in Punjab like in Jammu and Kashmir. The political domain of both these parties is dominated by the minority dynamics. These two states are the roadblocks in the path of the Hindu Rashtra in the North.

Jakhar had objected to being castigated as  Hindu leader while in the Congress and he might now land in that very role in the BJP.