Phagwara, January 12
Tears welled-up in his eyes when the doyen of Bollywood and the present Member of Parliament from Bikaner, Dharmendra, went down the memory lane today during his three-hour visit to Phagwara, where he had once spent his childhood, studied in school and college before leaving for Mumbai.

Busy these days in the shooting of his forthcoming film “Apne” co-starring his two sons, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, Dharmendra took some time off his tight schedule and landed in Phagwara early this morning.

Though he had paid a secret midnight visit to Phagwara in 2001, today’s open visit was made after a gap of 30 years.

Accompanied by his wife, Parkash Kaur, the actor went straight to the house of his maternal uncle in the crowded bylanes of the Sarafan Bazar and met his sister-in-law, Ms Sunita (wife of his cousin Hakim Satpal). He ran upstairs, forgetting that he was 70 years old and climbed up the “rauns” (parapet), where he used to sit as a boy.

He then went to the shop of the Katehra Chowk Halwai where he used to savour sweets as a young boy. He ate a “pinni” from the shop and posed for pictures with sons and grandsons of the owner.

Though he had come unannounced, the news of his arrival spread like a wild fire in the town and people surged at Katehra Chowk. He did not disappoint anyone and kept posing for photographs and giving autographs to his fans.

He became so emotional that he started shouting slogans “Phagwara Zindabad” and waiving at the crowd. He greeted and wished them loudly in chaste Punjabi “Khush Raho.”

He then inaugurated the Gurbachan Singh Parmar Complex opposite the bus stand along the G.T. Road. Mr Harjit Singh Parmar and Mr Sukhjit Singh Parmar, sons of late Gurbachan Singh Parmar, were overwhelmed when he shared his long association with the Parmar family, telling one and all that he used to watch all Hindi films in the Paradise Theatre where the complex had now come up. The actor visited his alma mater also.

Commenting on his political career with the BJP, he aid it was the BJP that had chosen him. “The word ‘B’ is in my destiny,” he said.

When asked why he had not chosen his home state for contesting elections, he replied that as an artiste he belonged to the entire country. He added that an offer had come his way for contesting from Punjab as well. However, there was no appreciation in politics, he rued. 

Sultanpur Lodhi (Kapurthala), January 12
Member of Parliament (MP) from Jalandhar, Rana Gurjit Singh, today blamed the Akalis for presenting the problems of farmers as a crisis of the Sikh community. “The Akalis are playing a communal game to gain political mileage,” Rana Gurjit Singh alleged while talking to media persons here. He claimed that the issue of Kashipur had been resolved at the intervention of the Uttaranchal Chief Minister.

Rana Gurjit Singh, along with two other Congress leaders, Mr Tej Parkash Singh and Mr Gurinder Singh Atwal, had recently visited Kashipur.

The MP was here to lay the foundation stone of Chaudhry Charan Singh Tourism Village near the site of the Civil Rest House.

Rana Gurjit Singh said the building would be constructed at the cost of Rs 1.32 crore. “The Centre has already released the first installment of Rs 40 lakh for this purpose.”

Meanwhile, one of the bureaucrats present there commented that the project it was a “sheer wastage of government fund, as the site chosen for the purpose was not big enough.”

Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, looking after the Kali Bein near the site of the Tourism Village, was also critical of the selection of the site. He said it would affect the peaceful environment on the banks of the rivulet.