Humiliated Captain to ‘humble’ Channi: Congress plays the roulette in Punjab – Times Now

Navjot Singh Sidhu and Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi  |  Photo Credit: BCCL

Congress has made an art of passing the buck. Unfortunately, the buck never stops with Rahul Gandhi. Given the debilitating condition of the party, the now-not-so-young scion along with his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is busy replacing the old guard with new imports in all states that the party is even sparsely relevant. The vitriolic drama to uproot Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has not been an exception, except that it hogged a larger piece of the limelight. The Captain went out kicking and screaming, and rightly so. The high command should have known that the Maharaja of Patiala would have had more self-respect than would allow him to swallow the disgrace heaped upon him.

A fuming Amarinder Singh said that he has never been so humiliated in his life and though he had treated Rahul and Priyanka as his grandchildren, they were clearly misguided. Even an average bystander of news felt that the Gandhis had gone a little too overboard in their zeal to let Navjot Singh Sidhu have his way. Despite his obvious insolence, Sidhu was allowed, or rather encouraged, to take repeated potshots at Amarinder and punch holes in his governance model.

The allegations hurled at the former CM were several ranging from injustice to those killed while protesting the alleged desecration of Shri Guru Granth Sahib to his indifference to the farmers movement to his hands-off approach to administration to the inability to tackle longstanding problems of drugs and transport mafia, the laundry list is long. Yet, he has not been given a fair chance. Ideally or normally, Sonia Gandhi would have invited Amarinder for a private meeting in New Delhi and sought clarification. But the days of such dignified propriety are over; the CM was summoned to provide clarification to charges levelled against him by a committee and this was turned into a highly publicised affair, while the former cricketer Sidhu was totally spared any reprimand for his impudent behaviour. In earlier days, dissidents were given a hearing through aides but never allowed to embarrass those occupying top seats and representing parties. In fact, despite Sidhus boorishness, he was made the Pradesh Congress chief though the CM had opposed his appointment tooth and nail.

The last straw was when in the wake of a fresh letter by dissidents, a surreptitious meeting was called of the Congress Legislature Party without the information of the CM; it was then that Amarinder decided that he had had enough.

Amarinder Singh addressing the press after submitting resignation | Pic Credit: BCCL

What the Congress is seeking to achieve by handling Punjab like this is anybodys guess. The party under Amarinder had a very strong chance to return to power especially as BJP and Akali Dals stakes are down over the farmer agitation and AAP is no longer as relevant as it was in 2017. Yet, the Congress has chosen to throw away this chance and reinvent the wheel!

Not only has Sidhu been elevated as the party chief, but he also has a chance to be named the CM candidate. The other three Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and OP Soni, who have been promoted were opposed to the Captain. The party seems to have made a calculated move to consolidate the huge 35% Dalit vote in the state by installing Channi and keeping Jats and Hindus amused by naming Randhawa and Soni as Deputy CMs. Amarinder loyalist Brahma Mohindra has been deliberately kept out as also all Captains loyalists from the new cabinet that was sworn in this Sunday.

Charanjit Singh Channi taking oath | Pic Credit: BCCL

Obviously, Congress has little to do with ideology now, considering the backing Sidhu has got despite him starting his political career with the BJP and rising through its ranks. The Congress by doing the caste maths might have wanted to give at least a cosmetic chance to a Dalit, a first in the state. Jats despite their 20-25% population have given Punjab 13 CMs. Thus a Dalit face might also work as a counter to Akali Dal, which has aligned with the BSP, a party started by Kanshi Ram, a Sikh SC from Punjab who made his mark in UP politics. OBCs and Dalits together comprise 62-63% of Punjabs population of which Ramdasias, the community Channi belongs to, are about 12-14%. Besides, Brahmins and Khatris are about 8% of the population.

In 2017, the Congress won 22 seats out of 34 reserved for Scheduled Castes, the reason Channi might have been given a chance. What the party needs to remember is that now that Channi has been symbolically elevated for about 100 days, how would the community react if Sidhu emerges as the CM face during the upcoming elections. Would not Dalits see through the mere tokenism?

Rahul Gandhi and Charanjit Singh Channi | Pic Credit: BCCL

Charanjit, an astute politician from Kharar, on his part is likely to get the party leaders to rally together and will be careful not to take on Sidhu openly. He has been a grassroots politician and was a student leader for many years before joining state politics. The one lesson Channi would have learnt over the years would be that of not taking anything for granted. Despite a thumping win under the leadership of Amarinder in 2017, the high command made him wait till he was finally announced as the next chief minister. This 3-4 months window is the chance that Channi has got to play his cards well and establish his position. Otherwise, he will be relegated aside as a puppet who was used as an interim tool. Conversely, a spectacular short stint could even put him in a position to put the rising star Navjot Singh Sidhu on the mat.

The Shiromani Akali Dal under Parkash Singh Badal was once considered the centrepiece of Punjab politics but in the 2017 elections, the party along with its ally BJP was decimated grabbing only 15 of the 117 seats. Not only was the party facing anti-incumbency, its vote share dropped by 10 percentage points mainly due to AAPs entry. It remains to be seen whether SADs fresh alliance with Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party will yield more positive results considering that it has now dumped the BJP.

Amarinder in turn has openly voiced concerns and Sidhus administrative ability as well as the dangers of him leading a border state given his warm relations with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, who is also a Punjabi Jat. It might be recalled that Sidhu had attended the opening ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor despite the CM calling it a security threat. Amarinder is now indicating new political innings, and BJP could be the next destination. For the BJP too, enrolling Amarinder Singh at the dusk of his career could provide a ray of hope after the severe image drubbing it has got by bringing in the farm laws. Amarinder has struck a buoyant note saying one could be old at 40 and young at 80. But the saffron party may not be the ideal choice given the level of resentment the farmers have against it at this point in time. Nevertheless, if BJP is indeed the Captains next destination, it could well be its only hope of a lotus bloom in the border state.

See original here:

Humiliated Captain to 'humble' Channi: Congress plays the roulette in Punjab - Times Now