Jagtar Singh

  Responsible for existential crisis of   Akali Dal are policies and politics, not organisational structure   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Coming into offensive mode, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, in an unprecedented and unexpected move, Thursday evening dissolved the organisational structure of this oldest party in India constituted by the Indians and the second oldest after the Congress   that otherwise is the first political party. The move quickly followed the authorisation from the core committee   that had met earlier in the day to deliberate upon the report on the party’s worst ever performance in its electoral history and discuss necessary steps for its revival. As per the leaked reports appearing in the media over time and not denied earlier, this committee headed by Iqbal Singh Jhoonda has recommended total overhaul of leadership and policy and programme. The core committee had constituted a 13-member committee hea...

    Mann government enters into avoidable confrontation in Sikh domain with  appointment of new AG   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Like the nomination of candidates for Rajya Sabha from Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab has entered into yet another controversy that is confrontation with the Sikh religio-political discourse, the highly volatile domain that has been dictating the politics of this states over the years. This was avoidable. The latest trigger that has the potential to spark this domain is the announcement by chief minister Bhagwant Mann to appoint Vinod Ghai as the new advocate general following sudden resignation by Anmol Rattan Sidhu. Apparently there seems to be nothing wrong with Ghai so far as professionalism is concerned but the issue in this case is his background that is concerned with the  Sikh religio-political domain. It is a different issue that here is the government that  within less than five months has shifted...

  Akal Takht chief should first visit sacrilege epicenter Bargari to unite Panthic forces Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari and the related issues is the narrative that has dictated the religio-political dynamics of Punjab since the army attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex code-named Operation Bluestar in June 1984. It can be termed as unfortunate that no Jathedar (chief) of Akal Takht, the institution symbolising Sikh sovereignty and state power, has ever visited   Bargari. Not only that. Sant Jarnail Singh Khalsa Bhindranwale, the commander of the Sikh militant forces during Operation Bluestar, was head of the Damdami Taksal. However, Baba Harnam Singh Dhumma, present head of this seminary, is the second eminent religio-political leader who has so far shunned Bargari. The fight that Sant Bhindranwale commanded was triggered by blasphemy committed by the Nirankari sect against which the Shiromani Gu...

  “Meri Request Hai Sir”—Not the Akali way to protest Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Shiromani Akali Dal, the oldest political party with glorious history of struggles, both before and after independence, has forgotten even how to protest. The party has lost its way during the last two decades. This was evident at the protest staged by the party in Delhi ‘requesting’ for the release of the Sikh political prisoners languishing in jails for more than two decades. The party has suddenly woken up to their plight after having been dumped by the people in Punjab. This party was in alliance with the BJP from 1996 to 2020. It was party chief and MP Sukhbir Singh Badal who was heard uttering these words “Meri request hai Sir” as Home Minister Amit Shah was entering the Parliament where Sukhbir, his wife and MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal accompanied by family loyalist Balwinder Singh Bhunder, ex-MP, were staning with placards in their hands seeking attention on the issue of release of...

  If Shaheed Bhagat Singh is terrorist by Mann’s criteria, then so is Sant Bhindranwale Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Even before he took the oath as the MP from Sangrur,   the seat that he won in a byelection that sent out multi-layered political message, Simranjit Singh Mann, the mercurial president of the Akali Dal (Amritsar), waded into a minefield, one can’t say consciously or unconsciously. He triggered the debate of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, who is perceived to be the star of the freedom struggle, being the terrorist. This controversy is not new, especially in the context of the Sikh religio-political domain. Talking to media after taking oath as MP in the chamber of the Lok Sabha Speaker ostensibly to avoid getting recorded by television channel, he said Bhagat Singh was a terrorist as he threw a bomb in Parliament and killed constable Chanan Singh in the attack on Assistant Superintendent of police John Saunders in Lahore. In the record of colonial India, ...

  Crisis in Akali Dal deepens with first open challenge to leadership of Sukhbir S Badal Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh: Revolt has finally erupted against the leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal under whose presidency   Shiromani Akali Dal, the oldest political party in the country constituted by the Indians, was reduced to just three seats, the worst performance ever, in the last Assembly elections. The challenge to Sukhbir Singh Badal has been articulated by none other but one of the three party MLAs Manpreet Singh Ayali, who also heads this miniscule group that is Akali Dal Legislature Party. He today announced boycott of presidential election saying he could not go by party decision to vote for BJP’s candidate D Murmu as the role of this party has been anti-Panth and anti-Punjab. At the same time, he asserted that going by historical reasons, the Congress candidate could not even be considered. At the same time, he   raised the demand for change in lea...

  AAP should explain logic behind demand for separate Punjab Assembly in Chandigarh   Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   Punjab Assembly. High Court of Punjab. Punjab Civil Secretariat. These were the names of the three building complexes comprising the Capitol Complex in the Punjab’s capital Chandigarh till November 1, 1966. Haryana came to be added to these three names on November 1, 1966. Both Punjab Civil Secretariat and Punjab Assembly complexes were divided to accommodate Haryana as the ownership of these buildings was transferred to newly created Union Territory of Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab till then. The high court continues to be the common link between Punjab and Haryana as the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. Chandigarh was founded as the capital of Punjab after partition in 1947 as this was the only region that had suffered the loss of its capital during partition of India in 1947 as Lahore went to newly created Pakistan. In this context, ...

  Bargari sacrilege narrative has both criminal as well as religio-political dimensions Ground Zero Jagtar Singh The Bargari narrative associated with sacrilege of Sikh Holy Text   Guru Granth Sahib   that dictated the election results in 2017 and 2022 hitting two incumbent chief ministers has returned to the centre stage of the highly sensitive religio-political matrix in Punjab. The reason is the report of a special investigative team (SIT) into the sacrilege per se at Bargari on October 12, 2015 under the Akali Dal-BJP alliance government headed by Parkash Singh Badal in his fourth term. There have been several such probes. There are separate probes into the incidents of police actions at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan as part of this narrative on October 14, 2015. The report SIT report has interestingly been released by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann himself to a group of Sikh preachers who have not been actively associated with the agitations and protests over th...