Minister of State in Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu has caught his erstwhile colleague Charanjit Singh Channi on the wrong foot in the parliament. Bittu, who was a third-generation Congressman switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the 2024 General Elections.
This time he contested on BJP’s ticket from Ludhiana and lost. He had earlier represented the Ludhiana parliamentary constituency twice as a Congress MP.
Channi is a former Punjab Chief Minister, who served the office for about six months after the Congress unceremoniously removed Capt Amarinder Singh. Channi and Bittu were known to be quite close to each other.
Channi’s assembly segment, Chamkaur Sahib falls in the Anandpur Sahib parliamentary constituency, Bittu represented from 2009 to 2014.
When Channi visibly went overboard to criticize the BJP government and equated it with the East India Company, Bittu rose to object to his (Channi’s) remarks.
Bittu countered Channi by subtly referring to the foreign origins of the former Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi.
When Channi told Bittu that his grandfather and former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh had actually “died” the day Bittu joined the BJP, he (Bittu) hit him back hard and fast.
Then it was a no holds barred and free for all between the two. Bittu referred to Channi’s assets, which he (Bittu) alleged were worth thousands of crores, questioning the source of such assets as he comes from an ordinary family with no visible sources of such huge income. He even accused Channi of facing “me too” charges.
It ended up as a bad day for Channi. Not only was he countered and snubbed by Bittu in the parliament, his own party disowned his statement in the parliament. Channi had suggested that jailed Khadoor Sahib MP should be allowed to attend the parliament.
Congress general secretary, Communications, Jairam Ramesh, later in a statement on ‘X’ clarified that what Channi said in the parliament was his personal opinion and not that of the Congress party.
At the end of the day, Channi was left alone to defend himself. While the PCC president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who is also an MP representing Ludhiana, where he defeated Bittu, had initially supported Channi, saying Bittu was only trying to please his masters, everyone fell silent afterwards.
However, after the Congress party officially distanced itself from Channi’s statement on Amritpal, all the Congress leaders turned quiet, refusing any comments.
Several Congress leaders admitted privately that Channi was himself to be blamed as he had no reason to go overboard and in the spur of the moment deviating from the party's line.
The Congress party has always asserted its “zero tolerance” towards all sorts of extremism of all denominations. By pleading for Amritpal’s release from jail, Channi placed his party in a defensive position as the BJP would quickly pounce on it.
Amritpal is an extremist and radical preacher, who has publicly espoused the cause of Khalistan. He reiterated his stand, even after his mother had told the media that he did not subscribe to the ideology of Khalistan. He snubbed his mother, saying her statement did not reflect his views, saying demanding Khalsa Raj was no sin.
Bittu has always and exceptionally been aggressively vocal against any sort of extremism and demands for Khalistan.
He inherits the legacy of his grandfather, who was assassinated by Punjab militants in a suicide bomb attack. Beant Singh is credited with wiping out militancy in Punjab. One section of people accuses his regime of having resorted to excesses that led to the killing of so many innocent youth also.
Bittu has always taken an aggressive position against extremism and separatism. In fact, he was probably the only leader in Congress, who would take a public stand on such issues.
With him now being in the BJP, a party known for aggressive nationalism and zero tolerance to terrorism, Bittu now has a better platform to perform at and he is doing it exceptionally well.
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