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Speculation & guessing games begin with tweet of Navjot Sidhu hailing AAP

Navjot Sidhu

Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu again fuelled speculations of him joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). On Tuesday, with a cryptic tweet, he triggered the speculation that he may be shifting allegiance towards AAP. Mr Sidhu wrote, “AAP had always “recognised my vision and work for Punjab” and knows who is really fighting for the state.” Raising speculation that he is warming up to Arvind Kejriwal’s party, he also wrote, “Our opposition AAP has always recognised my vision and work for Punjab. Be it before 2017- Beadbi, drugs, farmers’ issues, corruption and power crisis faced by people of Punjab, raised by me or today as I present ‘Punjab Model’. It is clear they know – who is really fighting for Punjab.”

Also Read: Can Indian National Congress afford to have twin centres of power in Punjab?

Along with the tweet, Navjot Sidhu also attached a video. The video showed AAP leader Sanjay Singh praising the Congress leader and his wife for raising their voice against issues in the state, such as the drug mafia and “corruption” during the previous SAD-BJP regime.

Sidhu’s tweet came on the day poll strategist Prashant Kishor met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, along with Priyanka Gandhi. On the same day, the poll strategist and I-PAC chief also met KC Venugopal, and Harish Rawat, the in-charge of Punjab affairs.

A day before, the opposition parties in Punjab, AAP & Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) accused Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh-led government of accepting “funds” for the Congress from the managements of the three private power plants functioning in the state. Addressing Sidhu, AAP state Chief Bhagwant Mann had asked him to tweet on the issue. Mann had said, “I appeal to Navjot Sidhu to tweet on this issue as well as he has been tweeting every day on PPAs.”

Also Read: UP and Punjab can pose a challenge for election commission in 2022

Sidhu is currently embroiled in a feud and power rivalry with Captain Amarinder Singh. He said that the opposition parties cannot escape his “pro-people agenda.” The cricketer-turned-politician said, “If the Opposition dares to question me, yet they cannot escape my Pro-People Agenda. This means they have resigned to their fate!!”

Sidhu has been raising power supply-related issues through social media. He had demanded that a white paper on PPAs signed during the previous SAD-BJP regime be released to make the Badals “accountable” to the people for these “corrupt agreements”.

Earlier, Navjot Sidhu had also blamed the state government for giving “unreasonable and exuberant profits to private thermal plants”.

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Akali dal-BSP alliance chalked up for upcoming Punjab election

Sukhbir Badal and Mayawati

On Saturday, Shiromani Akali Dal’s (SAD’s) president Sukhbir Singh announced that his party will form an alliance with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). This alliance is for the Punjab assembly elections, which will be held next year. Sukhbir Badal also said that the coming together of both parties indicated the arrival of a “new day in politics”.

At a joint press conference today, Sukhbir Singh Badal said, “It is a new day in Punjab politics. The Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bahujan Samaj Party will fight the 2022 Punjab state polls and future elections together.” He added, “Today is a historic day; A big turn in Punjab’s politics.”

The decision to form alliance with the BSP was taken at the SAD’s core committee meeting. In the coalition intended for Punjab election 2022, Mayawati-led BSP will contest the elections from 20 seats out of 117 total seats.

BSP will be fighting from Kartarpur, Jalandhar West, Jalandhar North, Ludhiana north, Pathankot, Amritsar central, Amritsar north and Mohali, among the high profile seats. It will also fight from Phagwara, Hoshiarpur city, Tanda, Dasuya, Chamkaur Sahib, Bassi Patahana, Mehal Kalan, Nawanshahr, Sujanpur, Bhoa, Anandpur Sahib and Payal seats.

The seven states scheduled for election next year are Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

Also See: Overview of the Farmers’ unions in the protests

Satish Mishra, general secretary of BSP, reached Chandigarh ahead of the meeting. Last week, Sukhbir Badal had announced the Akali Dal’s willingness for a pre-poll alliance with parties other than the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Badal had stressed that Akali dal would form alliance with any party other than BJP especially after the passage of the contentious farm-laws by the centre.

Last year (September) there was a high-voltage political split, in which SAD pulled out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre. The split was over the three contentious farm-bills, and it ended a decades-long partnership marked by unflinching loyalty. SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned as the Union minister of food processing industries after the split.

Akali Dal and BSP are coming into alliance 27 years after the 1996 Lok Sabha elections when they had bagged 11 out of 13 seats together in Punjab.

The SAD chief’s wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal defined the alliance as “the rise of a new dawn of hope”

Harsimrat Kaur tweeted, “SAD_BSP_Alliance announced today symbolizes social, political and religious fraternity and solidarity of all Punjabis. It marks the beginning of the end of the era of darkness spread by 4 yrs of Cong brazen misrule, anarchy, corruption, and total economic collapse in Punjab.”

On Saturday, BSP chief Mayawati dubbed the alliance between the SAD and her party as a new political and social initiative which will usher in progress and prosperity in Punjab.

Prominent leader of SAD, Parkash Singh Badal described the formation of the SAD-BSP alliance as the beginning of a secular, federal democratic revolution in the state and the country for a total socio-economic and political revamp of polity.

Also Read: Three Ms of ongoing farmers’ movement- Mewat, Meo & Mahapanchayat- their Social & historical impacts

In the 2017 assembly polls, Akali Dal and BSP, which was fighting solo in the state, saw a dip in vote share compared to the 2007 polls. The alliance of Akali Dal-BJP came to power in 2007 before being ousted by the Congress in 2017. INC won an absolute majority in the state by winning 77 seats.

In the 2017 polls, AAP emerged as a major force and got 23.7 percent of the votes. BJP’s vote share went down from 8.28 percent in 2007 to 5.4 percent in 2017.

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Karan Johar issued notice by the Narcotics Control Bureau over a party video

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has issued a notice to filmmaker Karan Johar over a video of a party that he had organized last year and which had gone viral on social media.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjinder Sirsa, who has lodged a complaint, said that celebrities used drugs in the said party, an allegation which Johar had refuted last year. Confirming the development, an official said that the notice was sent on Wednesday. “He need not be present physically but he has been asked to respond soon,” said an officer.

NCB statement read, “The notice has been given with respect to the video which was under circulation. NCB had received a complaint from Manjinder Sirsa in this regard and was marked to MZU (Mumbai Zonal Unit). To check the veracity of the video, the notice has been sent.”

The video features several Bollywood actors, including Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, director Ayan Mukherjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Malaika Arora.

The NCB seeks important information about drug spread in the Hindi film industry and details of the party that the director had hosted in July 2019. Besides this, electronic devices and other information have been sought by the investigating agency. The notice has been sent to Karan with respect to the 2019 video which was under circulation on social media. The central agency had received a complaint from Congress’s Manjinder Sirsa in this regard in September and it was marked to MZU.

As per reports, the NCB has issued summons to the filmmaker to check the veracity of the video under section 67(B) of the NDPS Act. It is important to note that Section 67(B)  does not require physical appearance but one has to co-operate with the investigating agency.  The person against whom it is issued is not questioned during the probe.

After the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, several Bollywood celebrities have been questioned in connection with substance abuse, including Sara Ali Khan, Padukone and Arjun Rampal. NCB has also questioned Anubhav Chopra and Kshitij Prasad, and linked them with Dharma Productions.

In this regard, Johar had said that Chopra was associated with the production house for projects from 2011 to 2013. Prasad joined Dharma Entertainment, which is linked with Dharma Productions, in 2019 as a producer.

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Farmers’ organizations across India and Shiromani Akali Dal take the fight against the Farm Bills through pressure, committee and a historic song

While there have been widespread protests since September 25 against the Farm bills passed recently, the states of Maharashtra and Punjab are showing specific reaction or rather response to the Farm bills. Maharashtra government has been under pressures from many farmers organizations to reframe the APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees) Act. These state-level organizations have been pressurizing the Maharashtra government so that they remain relevant in case they have to compete in the market. There are different opinions in the different farmers’ organizations in the state which is why they have asked the state government to proceed carefully in this issue. Many farmers’ organizations in the state have urged the government to make the MSP mandatory. A state official has stated that a group of ministers is considering bringing changes to the APMC to retain the trust of the farmers. Many such organizations believe that the APMC act can give better benefits and security to the farmers in terms of what they get for their produce in the market. As per various farmers’ unions, around 55-60% of farmers generally do not get the benefits of the MSP, which can get worse under the new Farm Bills. The majority of farmers in Maharashtra (around 78%) have land areas not more than two hectares. Such farmers are unlikely to explore distant markets and will sell their produce under the APMC Act. Hence, many organizations and unions suggest making the MSP mandatory. With an annual turnover of around Rs 50000 crore over a network of 306 APMCs, the state’s agricultural market is mostly dominated by political leaders from INC and NCP. Hence, exposing the farmers to corporatization will make the leaders lose their trust and their political capital in the state. Therefore, it is highly possible that the farmers’ organizations in the state would be able to drive their point into action.

While in Maharashtra, the farmer organizations are making vocal demands, the situation in Punjab is spearheaded by the Shiromani Akali Dal led by Sukhbir Badal. SAD has recently stated that a high power committee would be set up which would coordinate agricultural policy actions with other like-minded organizations and Political parties across the country. Sukhbir Singh Badal stated that this committee is needed to ensure that the Federal structure is truly maintained in the country.

While SAD is taking the fight through official power structures, the Farmers organizations in Punjab have given the movement a historical and emotional hue. In Rialkot, Punjab, Farmers are using an old song to unite the people against the Farm bills. They are using the song- Pagdi Sambhal Jatta to arouse strong fervour against the Farm Bills. This song was written by Banke  Dyal and was first sung by Chacha Ajit Singh in a rally at Lyalpur way back in 1907. Chacha Ajit Singh, uncle of the revolutionary Shaheed Bhagat Singh, and a revolutionary himself, was associated with Arya samaj movement, with Subhash Bose (1939 in Italy) and  Ghadar party. He had organized the 1907 rally along with his brother Kishan Singh (father of Bhagat Singh) and other people like Sufi Amba Prasad and Ghasita Ram. Coincidentally in that rally the people were protesting against the Bari Doab Act and Colonisation Act of British Raj just like present day movements and protests are directed against the Farm bills.

While farmers’ organizations based in Maharashtra have taken the fight in terms of MSP, and reforms in the APMC Act, the movement in Punjab is being guided by the SAD on the moral ground of Punjab being historically the substantial provider of Food-grains. Sukhbir asserted that India has been a prominent country of rich regional cultures, linguistic diversity, and religious multiplicities which beg the need for a federal approach to the problem related to Farm Bills. He also stated that the SAD is known for the fights against Unitarian tendencies in India and that it can hence guide this fight towards a cooperative federalism in matters related to the agricultural market. One of the main demands of the core committee of SAD is to enforce the procurement of farm produce at MSPs.

The farmers’ organizations in Maharashtra and other parts of India and the SAD in Punjab are in a way standing between the security of farmers’ future and the total decimation and obliteration of India’s food security.

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Protestors of the Akali Dal get into a heated fight with the Chandigarh Police after being denied entry

Political wars over the farmer bills have been on a rise lately, especially in Punjab. On Thursday night, October 1, 2020, Sukhbir Singh Badal, the president of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was prohibited from entering Chandigarh while he was leading a Kisan march in protest of the farmer bills.

The protestors were marching towards the Punjab Governor, VP Singh Badnore, from Akal Takht in Amritsar to hand over to him a memorandum to the President of India, requesting to act against the farmer bills that have been passed in both the houses of the Parliament.

Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the former Union Minister and Member of Parliament from Bathinda, were detained along with many other senior leaders of the Akali Dal from entering Chandigarh.

The party president and senior SAD leaders were taken into preventive custody along with Bikram Singh Majithia, Prem Singh Chandumajra, and Jagir Kaur, in a station near Mullanpur.

On the other hand, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, NK Sharma, the Dera Bassi MLA, Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Rajya Sabha MP, and Parambans Singh Bunty Romana, president of the Youth Akali Dal were detained in a town in Mohali district of Punjab, Zirakpur.

The situation got worse when the police had to use canes and water cannons to keep the protestors away from the barricades, which prevented them from entering Chandigarh. Jagir Kaur and Chandumajra sustained minor injuries.

As per section 144 of the CrPC imposed by the administration of Chandigarh, assembly of more than five people at a place is prohibited because of the ongoing pandemic. Due to this, the police officials allowed only a few members of the party to enter the state and meet the governor. However, Badal did not agree to this and demanded that all members and protestors should be allowed to enter.

Harsimrat Kaur addressed all the protestors to continue their battle against this injustice until they convince the Central Government to repeal the farmer bills. Her husband, the president of the Akali Dal had claimed that violence against peaceful protestors had made this experience dark and painful, and that this day would be recognized as a ‘dark day for democracy’ in India.

Earlier this morning, the leaders were let off, as they marched to meet the Punjab governor and discuss in detail the strategy to convince the central government to take quick actions against the farmer bills.

The author is a student member of Amity center of Happiness.