Despite the apparent suddenness of Captain Amarinder Singh’s departure as Punjab chief minister, close observers of the state’s politics could see the pressure building up against him for almost two years. Ever since Harish Rawat assumed charge as the Congress party’s general secretary in-charge of Punjab in September 2020, he had hinted on several occasions that the 79-year-old Amarinder Singh should do a re-think on leading the party into the next elections.
This was three years into Singh’s second tenure and he had gone back to his old ways of working. Running the administration through a coterie of trusted bureaucrats, while he all but abandoned his office in the civil secretariat and moved to a newly built farmhouse on the outskirts of Chandigarh. The man who once chatted with students in roadside dhabas and mingled with farmers during the election campaign, soon became as inaccessible even to his ministers and legislators, just as it was in his first tenure. His eroding political capital was also noticed as he visibly lagged in the perception battle on religious issues and his professed war against drugs.
Many would say that the Congress leadership – with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra increasingly calling the shots – might be holding him to his words uttered immediately after the 2017 assembly elections when he categorically said that this would be his last election. He reportedly said that the party “should nominate his successor during his tenure for a smooth transition of his retirement from politics and that it would be good to encourage new leaders”. “I don’t mind someone coming and working with me, eventually taking over the reins before the next elections. That is the right thing to do,” he said in an interview.
But less than a year down the line, the politician in him urged him to change his stand and Captain Amarinder Singh asserted that he has no intention of retiring from politics because his work in Punjab is not finished. On Saturday, soon after resigning from the post of chief minister, his resolve to fight on and continue in politics strengthened. “I will chart my next course of action after consulting my supporters and well wishers,” he said, indicating that all options are open for him, even floating a new political outfit.
Also read: After Resigning as Punjab CM, What Options Lie Before Amarinder Singh?
Satnam Singh Manak, a veteran Jalandhar-based journalist, said, “His efficient handling of procurement, attending to the problems of farmers and indirect support for the farmer’s agitation has definitely earned him goodwill in the rural areas of Punjab. It won’t be incorrect to say that he is today considered a better Sikh leader than the Badal family.”
The irony is, though he retains his image of a gentleman politician and is also a favourite with the substantial ex-servicemen community of Punjab, the Congress party sees him as a liability going in for elections.
His initiative to include ex-servicemen in the administration through a scheme called Guardians of Governance (GOG) endeared him to the veterans. “The Captain stood out as the tallest and most committed political soldier in the country today. He bolstered public respect and the stature of veterans in the country and his ouster is a below the belt blow to the energy and morale of veterans across the country,” said a dismayed Brigadier (Retired) Ashish Uppal in Chandigarh.
Unsuitable?
But, party insiders hint at a couple of surveys that brought out his unsuitability to lead the election campaign and these are said to have clinched the decision to oust him. The decision to change the chief minister was on the cards almost as soon as Navjot Sidhu was appointed as the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president after removing Sunil Jakhar.
With both the chief minister and the PPCC president out of the way, the Congress reckons it could beat the anti-incumbency in both the offices and go into elections with fresh faces. In this, the younger Gandhis have tended to lend an ear to a new set of advisors, Prashant Kishor being one. It is worth remembering that a few months ago, Kishore on one of his rare visits to Chandigarh had told Amarinder Singh that if he wants him to manage his election like he did in 2017, he will have to fulfil the promises made to the voters in the 2017 elections.
There are those who argue that Amarinder Singh could have been given a more graceful exit, but the truth is that in recent weeks, the outgoing chief minister indicated that he won’t go down without a fight. So, kicking and screaming blue murder it had to be. He wasn’t even invited to a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, which he technically headed as the chief minister, leaving him with no option but to resign.
Also read: ‘Dummy CM’ or Canny Politics?: As Channi Takes Oath, Din Over Choice Stays Alive
In post-resignation interviews, he has lashed out at his bête noire Navjot Sidhu, widely seen as the architect of Singh’s ouster. Soon after, he called him a security threat because of his “connections” with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistani Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, Sidhu’s strategic advisor Mohammed Mustafa, a former police officer, threatened to “expose” Amarinder Singh’s own personal connections with Pakistanis, claiming he had “irrefutable proof”.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. Photo: PTI
The mudslinging apart, there are umpteen scenarios that could play out on the political landscape of Punjab in the post-Amarinder Singh phase. Charanjit Singh Chinna is the new chief minister but his tenure may be limited as the state heads to polls early next year.
Either way, Sidhu is being groomed to lead the electoral charge and he will have to prove his mettle. The Congress is clearly altering its election dynamics in Punjab and part of the effort is to introduce a new energetic face and to actively woo the Hindu community that comprises some 40% of the population. The Congress knows that it owes its 2017 election victory to unexpected last-minute support from Hindus, who were nervous due to the Aam Aadmi Party’s overtures to radical Sikhs outfits. For four years, the party retained the amiable Sunil Jhakhar, a Hindu as the PPCC president, before removing him to install Navjot Sidhu. The party is known for its expertise in balancing caste and religious interests and has indicated that this time around it is ready to shed the ennui of the last few years and present bold new faces and agenda before the voters.
Captain Amarinder Singh’s exit may or may not benefit the Congress party in the polls next February but it has opened up new possibilities in the political scenario going ahead. The Congress has played its hand. It is for the others to show theirs.
Chander Suta Dogra is a journalist and author.
