importance-of-being-capt-amarinder-singh

Recently former Punjab Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Capt Amarinder Singh inducted one of his former aides, Sunny Brar into the party in Faridkot. It was a reasonably good show with a significantly substantial number of people in attendance. It was after a long time that Singh made a “public appearance” following a prolonged sabbatical.

 

Even when this was just a single outing, it has started generating curiosity about his role vis-à-vis the 2027 legislative assembly elections in Punjab. Capt Amarinder is not a leader who can be taken lightly. Those who know him and those who have worked with him closely during the six decades of his political career, know it well that he has an unmatched and unparalleled capacity of bouncing back from the wilderness with a big bang.

 

After his defeat from Patiala assembly segment in the 2022 elections against an overwhelming electoral tsunami of the Aam Aadmi Party, people started writing his political obituary. He contested 2022 assembly elections as a candidate of the Punjab Lok Congress, a party he had formed after parting ways with the Congress. Punjab Lok Congress had aligned with the BJP for the 2022 assembly elections. But he was not the only former chief minister to lose. So did Parkash Singh Badal, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal as also the then sitting chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who lost from two assembly segments he had contested from.

 

Capt Amarinder was unceremoniously removed as the chief minister in September 2021. In hindsight, Congressmen without any exception admit that had he not been removed and had the party contested the 2022 assembly elections under his leadership, the party would not have fared so badly. It won just 18 of the 117 assembly segments. In 2017, he had led the party to a landslide victory on 77 seats.

 

Capt Amarinder and the Congress was a perfect combo in Punjab. It was he who had led the Congress back to power in 2002, after the dark era of militancy which saw Operation Bluestar and the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her own Sikh bodyguards. Although the Congress had formed the government in 1992 also, those elections had seen a negligible voter turnout. But those elections did help in restoring the political order in the state.

 

Capt Amarinder led the party to two consecutive defeats in 2007 and 2012. On both the occasions, his rivals wrote his extensive political obituaries. After losing in 2007, he faced a vindictive Akali-BJP government which even struck down his membership of the assembly. This was, however, restored by the Supreme Court of India. The Congress, which ignored and tried to sideline him for quite some time, eventually handed him the reins ahead of the 2012 elections.

 

Also read: Lest we forget: Patel the Iron Man, Indira no less

 

As ill luck would have it, the Congress again lost the elections, although there was hardly one per cent difference in the popular vote share. That was thought to be the last innings of Capt Amarinder as he had delivered two “back-to-back defeats” for the party. Moreover, it was for the first time that a sitting government had been reelected in Punjab. Within less than a year he was removed as the Punjab Congress president and replaced by Partap Singh Bajwa.

 

While living in virtual political wilderness, with Bajwa having positioned himself as the natural successor and a prospective chief ministerial candidate for 2017 elections, the 2014 General Elections were announced. There was a strong nationwide anti-incumbency against the Congress. The BJP’s victory was a foregone conclusion. Bajwa, who was the PCC president and sitting MP from Gurdaspur had developed close proximity with the high command. He suggested that the party should field prominent faces and senior leaders in Punjab from all the parliamentary constituencies.

 

The BJP had announced veteran leader Arun Jaitley as its candidate from the Amritsar parliamentary constituency. The party that time was in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal in the state. The alliance was in power in Punjab. Amritsar was thought to be a “safe” seat for the BJP as Navjot Singh Sidhu had consecutively won it thrice, since 2004. Moreover, given the stature of Jaitley, with an alliance government in the state, his (Jaitley’s) victory was taken to be for granted.

 

Bajwa specifically proposed Capt Amarinder’s name as the party candidate from Amritsar to fight against Jaitley. He was sure and confident that he (Capt Amarinder) will refuse to fight and that would be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back and the end of his political career. And even if Capt Amarinder would accept the contest he, according to Bajwa’s calculations, would certainly get defeated by Jaitley and would mark the end of his political career.

 

This would obviously clear the path for him (Bajwa) as he would have been left with no competitor, not at least as powerful as someone like Capt Amarinder. To Bajwa’s utter delight, Capt Amarinder initially refused and declined to contest the parliamentary elections, obviously being apprehensive to take on Jaitley with all the odds stacked in his (Jaitley’s) favour.

 

However, one phone call from Sonia Gandhi, who was the party president at that time, changed the course of Congress’ political history in Punjab. Capt Amarinder, as he later revealed, was on his way from Delhi to Chandigarh when he received the phone call from Gandhi. She reportedly asked him whether he can do “something for her”. Naturally, Capt Amarinder replied in the affirmative and she asked him to fight from Amritsar. Since he had assured her that he could do anything for her, he agreed to fight, which indeed was one of the greatest challenges in his political career.

 

Not many people know that when the Indo-Pak War broke out in 1965, Capt Amarinder had already taken a premature retirement from the Army as his father had been appointed India’s ambassador to Holland. But once the war broke out, he rejoined the Army and went to the battlefront in the Western theatre as the ADC to Western Commander Lt Gen Harbaksh Singh.

 

Capt Amarinder is a perennial soldier at heart. He took the Amritsar challenge head on like a soldier in the midst of a battle. While Jaitley had been announced long before, Capt Amarinder got limited time as his candidature was announced at the last moment. Nobody thought that he could defeat Jaitley. For three weeks, he worked hard like a soldier on the warfront. He would be ready and out before 7 in the morning and return only late in the night around 11. Otherwise thought to be taking things in a relaxed way, his determination and hard work surprised everyone.

 

And it worked and paid off. Capt Amarinder defeated Jaitley by a huge margin of over one lakh votes and that too when there was nationwide BJP surge. He literally stopped the BJP wave in Punjab. Partap Singh Bajwa, who had pushed Capt Amarinder to fight from Amritsar, lost from the neighbouring Gurdaspur constituency to Vinod Khanna by about 1.5 lakh votes. This heralded the “political reincarnation” of Capt Amarinder. Soon the entire Congress party in Punjab, which had ditched and deserted him and virtually written him off, began to rally around him again. He was again reappointed the PCC president to lead the party to an emphatic and historic victory in 2017 assembly elections. The AAP, which eventually formed the government in Punjab in 2022, might well have won in 2017, had it not been for Capt Amarinder’s leadership. The AAP may not have claimed the landslide victory in 2022 either, had the Congress fought the elections under Capt Amarinder’s leadership.

 

The BJP does not have the same grassroots strength and support as the Congress in Punjab. The BJP is yet to make significant inroads into the countryside across Punjab. At the same time, it does not face the same hostility it faced in 2022 mainly due to the three Central farm laws.

 

The BJP this time has an advantage that it has not been tried so far exclusively by the Punjabis. It has another advantage that the party is in power at the Centre. There is a feeling among people that the same party’s government at the Centre and the state might be beneficial for the state. Punjab badly needs Central aid and assistance. 

 

Also read: Ban on RSS; Did Khare bite more than he can chew?

 

Will Capt Amarinder be able to deliver similar results with the BJP as he used to deliver with the Congress? It is indeed a challenging task, as challenging as the 2014 Amritsar parliamentary election. But he does retain some advantages indeed.

 

After the 2022 elections, both Capt Amarinder and veteran Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal practically withdrew from active politics. Both the leaders remained active till 2022, although Badal had partially withdrawn from much of the political activity. After 2022, there has been a complete “leadership vacuum” in Punjab. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had no experience as compared to Capt Amarinder or Badal. In the Congress, Sunil Jakhar remained alienated and he eventually joined the BJP. Charanjit Singh Channi, Partap Bajwa, Sukhbir Badal lacked the persona and charisma of Capt Amarinder and Parkash Singh Badal.

 

The “leadership” vacuum is still being felt in Punjab. Capt Amarinder has the advantage that he has no challenger of the same stature he enjoys. Plus backed up by a party like the BJP, he can definitely deliver some aces for the party.

 

Despite being in his early 80s, Capt Amarinder remains “as active and agile as he always has been”, whether in his 60s or 70s. He has his own “exclusive style” of working. He still enjoys his drink. He still loves his food. He still does his gardening. He is still fond of reading and he continues to write.

 

Recently, a senior journalist revealed how Capt Amarinder responded to his story on a military topic, (Captain’s first love). He not only shared some inputs but also gifted a copy of one of his military history books to the journalist. That is quite characteristic of him to go into the minute details, whether about military history or the political and election strategy.

 

Those who know him closely, particularly his former colleagues in the Congress, are wary about his getting active in the BJP, not only for his personal capability, but the charisma and appeal he enjoys among all sections of people. Even when he was in the Congress, he was as popular among the BJP supporters as the Congress cadres.

 

Also read: Should Congress have fought on its own in Bihar?

 

And when it comes to the ‘panthic credentials’, he has no rival either. When Operation Bluestar was carried out, he resigned in protest as an MP and also from the Congress. This was when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. He was just 42 then and had dared to put his political career at stake.

 

Again in 2004, when the Supreme Court left Punjab with no option but to construct the Satluj Yamuna Link Canal, he enacted the famous Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004 in the Punjab assembly. He risked his chief ministerial position. Congress president Sonia Gandhi did not speak to him for about a year over this. But he was credited with saving Punjab waters.

 

Even in 2019 when the BJP government at the Centre enacted the three Central farm laws, he was the first to oppose these. Had it not been for his support, the farmers would not have managed to reach Delhi borders, thus forcing the government there to withdraw these laws.

 

And his nationalistic credentials are too well known that he would take a stand in the national interest even if it went contrary to his own party’s (then Congress) stand.

 

In Capt Amarinder, the BJP has an ace of trumps up its sleeve. That is why the political parties in Punjab have already grown curious, as he has resumed his political innings once again. Once on the ground, he knows how to play it to the finish.

 

That is the importance of being Capt Amarinder and that his former colleagues and today’s rivals are well aware of.