O Captain! Heed the swaying mass, not the royal ego

Amandeep Sandhu

On October 27th, Captain Amarinder Singh, former Chief Minister of Punjab, held a high-profile press conference at the Hotel Hyatt Regency in Chandigarh. It was widely expected that he would announce the name of his new political party. To recall, Captain was sacked from his CM-ship a month back, and had said that he felt ‘humiliated’. He considers the new state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu as his bête noire and has vowed to defeat him in the Punjab state elections, due in February 2022.
Citing Election Commission process, Amarinder did not declare the name or symbol of his new party. Instead, he presented a report card on his promises to the people of Punjab and claimed full marks, saying over 90 per cent of promises made were met and that the rest would be met by the elections. He neatly avoided even mentioning the three promises that he had made invoking the Sikh religious book at Damdama Sahib in December 2015: to ‘break the back of the drug menace’ within four weeks of being elected; end corruption in public office; and provide employment to unemployed youth.

During the course of his campaign in the previous election, Amarinder promised farm loan waivers to all, railed against the sand and gravel and liquor and transport mafias, and asked for votes on the plea that this was to be his last term. He wanted voters to enable him to leave a worthy legacy, with Punjab back on the path of progress. Once elected, voters expected him to fulfil his promises – instead, he was the personification of royal disinterest in the affairs of the common people. While the Captain claims to have met his promises, the achievements are nowhere to be seen on the ground.

The Captain knows it. That is why he quickly glossed over his so-called achievements. Then he dwelt on the national security threat, and how Punjab was vulnerable as a border state. He cited the threat of Pakistani drones bringing in and dropping Chinese ammunition up to 31 km from the international border. He showed pictures of ammunition recovered from drones. He drummed up threats from Pakistan and Khalistanis. He justified the Border Security Force’s presence up to 50 km from the border, again ignoring the fact that half of Punjab now has a paramilitary presence. In this age of cyber warfare and long-range nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, along with China’s repeated incursions in Ladakh and Uttarakhand, one needs to take these cry-wolf calls with a grain of salt.

The nation might well be confounded by the Captain saying his new party could enter seat sharing with his arch-rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party - in Punjab, no one was surprised. For years, Amarinder has been a loud nationalist – baiting Pakistan, posturing over Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, supporting the Army Major who dragged a civilian in front of his jeep. He has been furthering arch-rival Bharatiya Janata Party’s agenda. It could be because, over the years, there have been allegations of Swiss bank accounts against Captain’s family, especially the Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd case, in which the CBI booked his son-in-law Gurpal Singh. It brings to mind former Karnataka Chief Minister S. M. Krishna, who went over to the BJP towards the end of his political career. The overall irony of the whole affair is that the very nation that Punjab helps defend is unaware of the ground realities in Punjab.

The impact of Captain’s new party - when it is formed, the way it enters elections - is yet to play out. Punjab watchers say that one reason why he did not announce the party name is because despite his claim that 78 MLAs are with him, none turned up at the press conference. As of now, all one can see is a 79-year old veteran, who should be retiring from public life, who himself announced his retirement five years back, tilting at windmills and preparing for a new innings - all because someone he deems an upstart – Sidhu – has dislodged him. It is individual anger gone awry.

If Captain were to look back at his 52-year long political career, he would notice two factors that have sustained him: his lineage and his image as a ‘rebel’. It could be said that although Captain is known as Maharaja, he has only been a prince. By the time he came of age, India had gained independence, and princely states were no more. Yet, history shows that the Patiala State had always favoured the powerful against the interests of Punjab. The princely state’s founder, Ala Singh, sought Afghan invader Ahmed Shah Abdali’s support to form his kingdom in the 17th century.

The kingdom favoured the British against Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the Anglo-Sikh Wars. In the last hundred years, Bhupinder Singh served as Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes, and was knighted and feted by the British. Bhupinder’s son, the Captain’s fathe