Jalandhar: At a village bus stop on the Nawanshahr-Chandigarh road a month ago, a group of people were discussing Punjab politics. They had a common grudge against the former Punjab chief minister, Amarinder Singh: “Captain ne kuch nahi kita (Captain didn’t do anything).” In a conversation reminiscent of many others in the state, they talked about drugs ruining the youth, no action in sacrilege cases and the high power tariff.Supporting these observations, people in a Bathinda village recently held a rally against drugs, saying that nearly 200 youth from their village, Jhumba, had fallen prey to ‘chitta’ (synthetically produced drugs).Before discussing anything further, the elderly men comprising shopkeepers, retired employees and villagers said, “Captain Akaliya naal milya hoya, ehne kuch nahi karna (Captain is hand-in-glove with the Akalis, he will not do anything).”Jagseer Singh from Jhumba village said that people were frustrated with Amarinder’s functioning, which was why he was ousted. “Do you know chitta is available in every village in Bathinda? Leave aside illegal suppliers, even small kirana (grocery) shops are selling drugs. People had high hopes from Amarinder but he ruined them. His inaction over the drugs mafia, the deeply emotional issue of sacrilege, sand mining and Badal-family-owned transport ‘Orbit Buses’ clearly proved that he was saving them [the Badal family],” he said.He lashed out at Congress and said that when they realised that the anger against Amarinder might cost them dearly, they appointed a Dalit chief minister to seek SC votes. “The entire Congress is to be blamed for not doing anything in the last 4.5 years,” he added.Even Amarinder’s statement at his last rally in Chabbewal constituency in Hoshiarpur district on September 13 – that farmers’ unions should shift their protests from Punjab to Delhi and Haryana – went against him. The former chief minister had said that farmers were holding protests at 113 places in Punjab, which was affecting the state’s economy. Though Amarinder issued a press statement clarifying his stand the very next day, the damage was done.Since it was SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal who was facing massive protests by farmers in the state ahead of the upcoming assembly polls, Amarinder’s statement not just angered the farmers’ union leaders, but also the public at large. In fact, following protests, Sukhbir Badal had been forced to suspend his poll outreach campaign titled ‘Gal Punjab Di’, where he was to visit 100 constituencies in 100 days.People were suspicious that Amarinder was trying to favour not just SAD but its erstwhile alliance partner BJP, which was facing public wrath following the farm laws. It is pertinent to mention here that SAD had quit the BJP-led NDA government in the wake of three farm laws passed last year.A Congress leader requesting anonymity said that the farmers’ protest would not have been a success had Amarinder not allowed them to move towards Delhi on November 26, 2020. “Even farmers’ union leaders respected him on his stand on the farm laws, but this statement asking farmers to shift their protests to Delhi was misconstrued. Leave the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), even farmers’ unions and people pointed out that Amarinder was favouring SAD and toeing the Modi government’s line. Some also felt that he was trying to create a divide between the traders’ community and farmers, hence polarising Hindu and Sikh voters,” he lamented.Also read: ‘Dummy CM’ or Canny Politics?: As Channi Takes Oath, Din Over Choice Stays AliveAn ex-sarpanch from Kishangarh village on the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway, Harsalinder Singh, asked, “What was the need for Amarinder to take oath by holding the Gutka Sahib to wipe out drugs from Punjab? He touched on a sensitive issue without caring that drugs have severely affected people’s lives and livelihoods. Everybody knows why Amarinder didn’t fulfil such crucial poll promises. He was trying to save the Badals and that led to his ouster from the Congress,” he said.He also said that SAD thinks that by announcing an alliance with the BSP for Punjab assembly elections 2022, they will come to power. “SAD should be ashamed of its actions. Recently, they held a rally from Gurdwara Rakabganj Sahib in Delhi, which is nothing but a desperate attempt to win farmers’ sympathy, divide farmers’ protest and win polls. At every rally, Sukhbir Badal says that he will get the farm laws repealed – but what was he doing when the farm laws were passed in the parliament? They were rather promoting them. Punjab and its agrarian economy are nobody’s concern. And Congress and SAD think that they have the right to rule Punjab after every five years, by turn,” he added.Even traders and shopkeepers in Punjab from the Hindu community said that people knew that Amarinder and Sidhu would not be able to pull along for a long time and either of the two will quit.Amritsar-based plywood trader Rajinder Sharma said that if Amarinder was not performing, then why was the Congress silent all these years? “Removing Amarinder at the fag end of his tenure is nothing but a political stunt by the Congress. This oft-repeated rant that Amarinder was hand-in-glove with the Akalis is a sham. If it was so, then why did SAD lose miserably in the 2017 assembly elections? Congress should stop fooling voters,” he said.Congress leaders hint at major actionRequesting anonymity, a Congress leader hinted at big action in the next three months – justice in the much-awaited drugs and sacrilege cases, cancellation of the Power Purchase Agreements (PPA), thereby easing the burden of power tariff on voters, and investigation into the post-matric SC scholarship scam.“Contrary to public perception, this is not a sudden reshuffle. Rather, it is a planned one with a roadmap to win the assembly polls. Congress has an 18-point agenda to fulfil before polls. Even if justice is done in two of the main issues of drugs and sacrilege, Congress will be on a strong wicket,” he said.Interestingly, even Congress workers admit that this is one of the biggest gambles the party could have played. “By appointing a Dalit chief minister, a Jatt Sikh and a Hindu deputy chief minister, Congress was likely to gain. The old guard has been dusted. This is Rahul Gandhi’s team, where a common worker will get a chance to rise. Earlier people had to trace links to approach the government, that too after 12 noon. Now, anybody can get their work done,” said Manoj Manu, a Youth Congress leader and caterer from Jalandhar.Also read: Watching the Fall of a Regional Satrap in PunjabHowever, the SAD-BSP candidate from the Kartarpur reserve assembly seat, Balwinder Kumar, said that it took 74 years for the Congress to appoint a Dalit chief minister in the country. “It is old wine in a new bottle. First Amarinder didn’t perform and now to hide his failures, the Congress has played Dalit card. But this will not yield them any results. The Congress didn’t appoint a single Dalit leader – particularly Adi-dharmi or Valmikis from the Doaba region – as a minister or official in a prominent position in Punjab. Dalits will rather support SAD-BSP alliance,” he said.‘Amarinder let down his supporters’BBC Punjabi senior journalist Pal Singh Nauli said that people voted Amarinder to power considering his decisive role as the Punjab chief minister from 2002 to 2007. In 2002, Amarinder targeted the Badals over the corruption issue and took a stand over the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) canal row.“People voted Amarinder to power in 2017 believing in his capabilities to take strict action against the Badals in drugs and sacrilege cases. But neither has he performed, nor has he let other leaders perform. Amarinder remained inaccessible not just to the public but his ministers and MLAs too. He didn’t come out of his farm house while bureaucrats were told to run the government,” he said.He also pointed out that how Amarinder ousted the previous Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) presidents. “Look at Amarinder’s functioning, he remained at loggerheads with all former PPCC presidents including Dalit leaders Shamsher Singh Dullo and Mohinder Singh Kaypee. He also ousted Jatt Sikh leader Partap Singh Bajwa and targeted Hindu leader Sunil Jakhar. In 2009, Kaypee had even termed Amarinder as ‘anti-Dalit’ and accused him of meddling in his work, leading to political turmoil. The only exception was H.S. Hanspal, with whom he somehow managed,” he added.Notably, the last time Amarinder met people was at a rally in Hoshiarpur district on September 13. The sitting MLA from the Chabbewal constituency, Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, had given a call from the stage that Amarinder should be the chief minister after the 2022 Punjab elections. That call though, turned out to be far from reality – just a week later, Amarinder stepped down completely.
