Capt. Amarinder Singh
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A brief biography
Sikh sentiments and the Captain
IP Singh, Sep 19, 2021: The Times of India
JALANDHAR: It was due to his resignation from Lok Sabha against Operation Blue Star that Captain Amarinder Singh retained his appeal among Sikhs not just in Punjab but in other parts of the country as well as in diaspora even as he joined Congress 14 years later in 1998.
It was Bargari sacrilege and subsequent police firing cases which pulled down Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP and worked favourably for Amarinder to become chief minister for second time in 2017. Ironically, it was the same case which precipitated the crisis for him.
It was Amarinder's acceptance among Sikhs that helped Congress revive itself in Punjab in 1999. For three consecutive elections, the 1996 and 1998 parliamentary polls and the 1997 assembly election, the party had received a drubbing as it had almost become untouchable for Sikhs. Similarly, the sacrilege and police firing cases became biggest issues before the 2017 polls, along with drugs and illegal mining, and led to the Akali Dal losing considerable support among its core panthic vote base. SAD got relegated to third position in Punjab in the last assembly elections. Analysis showed that 40 of the 77 assembly constituencies Congress won were rural and had a predominantly Sikh population. In fact, after the government formation, these cases never left the limelight. Amarinder set up Justice Ranjit Singh Commission to probe the cases and the latter gave a thorough report. It was discussed in a special session of the Punjab assembly. This again worked for Congress and added to the negative perception of SAD.
While close to a year was lost as CBI refused to hand over the Bargari sacrilege probe back to Punjab, even as the state assembly passed a resolution in August 2018 and later issued a notification, there was progress in Behbal Kalan police firing and a little progress in other sacrilege cases.
The CM also faced criticism from the community for some of his adverse remarks about Kartarpur corridor, which incidentally pushed Sihdu up in their perception. Finally, it was the Punjab and Haryana HC's order in April 2021 to quash investigation in Koptkapura firing case which precipitated the crisis for him. Not only Sidhu, a few ministers and MLAs also questioned the CM on the issue.
Resignations defined Amarinder’s career
IP Singh, Sep 19, 2021: The Times of India
All his political career, Captain Amarinder Singh never played on the side-lines, hence his third resignation, although the first two were out of own volition, a perceived sacrifice that built his stature.
The Punjab CM may be out for now due to compulsion but he can’t be written off, since he still has his cards close to his chest. He became a Congress MP in 1980 and joined the negotiations to sort out the Punjab issue before Operation Bluestar happened and he resigned from both Parliament and the party in 1984 despite being a personal friend of the Gandhis.
This gave him a place in history that, later, helped him dominate the Punjab Congress affairs for more than two decades. Whoever remained Punjab Congress chief, Amarinder remained tallest in the party’s state unit. He switched to the Shiromani Akali Dal and became a minister in Surjit Singh Barnala’s government in September 1985. Seven months later, he quit that cabinet in protest when police entered Darbar Sahib on Barnala’s orders. By this, he endeared himself to the Sikhs.
After the Akalis denied him ticket in 1997, he moved back to Congress in 1998. Sonia Gandhi made him the state chief of the party and he led it to a sterling performance in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls. Public dissatisfaction was working against the Parkash Singh Badal government but Amarinder had the hard task of bridging the gap between Congress and the Sikhs. In 2002, he led the party to victory and sent Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal, to jail in corruption cases in which they were, later, exonerated.
