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The States
Every year leaves behind a definite past replete with sweet and sour memories. This year, political history was made in the state when, bucking the anti-incumbency factor, the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine stormed back to power in March this year registering a straight second win in the Assembly elections. A 45- year record was broken in the process. Never before had either any political party or a coalition registered such a win since 1966 when the state had been reorganised. For Badals, especially Parkash Singh Badal, it proved to be an year to be the most-cherished momnent in his six-decade-old political career. He was sworn in as Chief Minister for the fifth time. However, the downside was the memory of defeating his own brother Gurdas Badal in the election. Parkash Singh Badal would have never thought that he would have to fight against his brother who was the architect of his several political victories and in a way also of his political career. But power politics has its logic and trappings that often split families. Similarly, Punjab Congress Chief Amarinder Singh, another important player in state politics, saw his own brother Malwinder Singh turn hostile and oppose his son Raninder Singh in the Assembly elections. Malwinder Singh switched his loyalty from the Congress to the SAD and campaigned hard to defeat his nephew Raninder Singh, who is struggling to esatblish a foothold in politics.
Swing in fortunes It was a year of shock and unease for the Congress, which is fighting to get its act together after defeat in the Assembly elections. In fact, Congress leaders are yet to reconcile to the fact that they lost the elections. The dream of Manpreet Singh Badal, estranged nephew of Parkash Singh Badal, to chart a new course in state politics was shattered. His political outfit, the People’s Party of Punjab, failed to win any seat and he lost from both the constituencies. For Manpreet, the year saw his camp followers deserting him one after another. Whereas, current year began at a pleasant note for the SAD-BJP, its next phase was not that rosy for the coalition government. Its three ministers — Bibi Jagir Kaur, Jathedar Tota Singh and Gulzar Singh Ranike — had to resign owing to different reasons. SAD’s coalition partner, the BJP had its own share of controversies. There was a verbal fight between the BJP’s Chief Parliamentary Secretary Navjot Kaur Sidhu and BJP’s Health Minister Madan Mohan Mittal over catching the government doctors doing private practice in private hospitals. Senior leaders of the party had to intervene to pacify both the BJP leaders. Punjab has done well on agriculture front. Despite drought-like conditions, it produced a bumper paddy crop. Diversification in the farm sector has started catching attention of all concerned. However, the state’s shaky fiscal situation continues be a cause of worry and is affecting the development process severely. What should be a cause of concern is the state of the economy. While other states are moving ahead at a rapid pace, Punjab, one of the most prosperous states at one point of time, is moving relatively at a much slower pace. What jolted the state government were the Shruti Sachdeva rape case in Faridkot. Shruti’s family accused the politically connected Nishan Singh of kidnapping the minor Shruti. There was polarisation, with the state government being accused of inaction. When it was discovered that Shruti was pregnant, it further complicated things for the accused. The murder of Ravinderpal Singh, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) in broad day light in Amritsar, by an functionary of the SAD, was a comment on the breakdown of the law and order machinery. If a police functionary was not safe, who was? Beating up of the SP-rank official SS Mand in Ludhiana on Christmas day by some youth, who had an Akali background, was another incident that gave an handle to the Opposition against the state government. On the backfoot For the first time, during the current term, the SAD-BJP combine became defensive following these incidents. It provided enough ammunition to senior Congress leaders to go the whole hog and adopt the attack mode against the state government. However, what came as a respite for the SAD was joining it by Joginder Jain, a Congress MLA from Moga. Jain quit the Congress to join the SAD immediately after Christmas. The Indian team, with all Punjabi players in its ranks, won the Kabaddi World Cup for the third time in a row, defeating the Pakistan team. Sukhbir’s passion for the game has manged to draw in players from western countries as well. The event, which has become an annual event was begun with the motive of weaning away the younger generation from substance abuse. Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal had visited Pakistan to enhance Punjab-to-Punjab cooperation in trade, agriculture and other fields. At the political level, the year ended on a rather bitter note owing to the brutish conduct of certain legislators in the state assembly.
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