JALANDHAR: It is the first time that the subject of a
Sikh chief minister in
Punjab during assembly elections is being discussed.
Never in the past, this issue came up as a Sikh CM in Punjab was an accepted and understood proposition in all political circles, as, after reorganisation of the state on linguistic basis in 1966, Punjab happened to be the only place where the community had some majority and could influence a choice with its numbers.
It was three months before
Congress battled with the question of CM’s choice that Aam Aadmi Party (
AAP
) supremo and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal made an explicit mention of this question for the first time and he justified it with an argument.
Welcoming Punjab Police former IG Kunwar Vijay Partap in AAP in Amritsar on June 21 last year, Kejriwal, in the presence of Bhagwant Mann, while responding to a query about his party’s CM face, said: “Entire Punjab would be proud of our CM face. One thing is sure: AAP’s CM face would be from Sikh community, because we feel that in the entire world, Punjab is the only state where a CM is from Sikh community and we think that Sikhs have this right, and they should have it.”
Kejriwal’s explicit reference on a subject which was considered obvious till then led to some murmurs and reactions also. For some time, a few right wing groups have been holding demonstrations and they had also put hoardings to demand a Hindu CM. In a video, one such group demonstrated itself in chains and raised slogans like, “Punjab ka Hindu gulam kyun” (why should a Hindu from Punjab be a slave?). However, such theatrics have found little traction on ground.
Seven months later, AAP and Kejriwal are attacking Congress for preferring Sikh faces only. On Thursday, Kejriwal tweeted: “Congress is asking people to pick a CM face between Channi and Sidhu. Why did Congress not include Jakhar’s name?”
Taking the issue further, AAP Punjab affairs co-in-charge Raghav Chadha tweeted: “Sunil Jakhar saab is being treated as a second-class citizen by the Congress. Excluding him from list of CM candidate probables merely because he’s a Hindu reveals deep-rooted communal politics of Congress. His competence and experience is sacrificed at the altar of religious politics.”
Channi is the seventh Congress CM of Punjab after 1966 and all his six predecessors from Congress were also Sikh. When Channi was picked up as first SC CM of the state, his Sikh identity was also a factor which went in his favour and put him ahead in comparison to non-Sikh SC Congress MLAs.
It was first time ever after 1966 that the name of a non-Sikh or a Hindu leader came up in
Sunil Jakhar
, a Jat, for the top post in the state. He was probably the only non-Sikh Congress leader who enjoyed wider acceptance among Sikhs also, as he strongly pursued issues of Bargari sacrilege and Behbal Kalan firing, perhaps even more vociferously than most other Sikh leaders of Congress.