MP report card: Sunny Deol scores zilch

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, March 21

History will not be kind to Ajay Singh Dharmendra Deol, aka Sunny Deol, when it judges him as an MP in the times to come.

Unknown to many, he was a reluctant candidate when he was asked to contest the 2019 elections. He would often recount stories of the sordid experience his father Dharmendra had when he became an MP from Bikaner in 2004.

Despite Deol’s disinclination to contest, the BJP virtually coerced him by offering him various incentives. He was neck deep in debt when he was producing a film to launch his son, the same time he was asked to contest. The coincidence is too glaring to be missed.

In the run up to the elections, he made several promises even as he addressed himself as “son of Punjab.” Among these was the opening of the border to start trade with Pakistan and other central Asian nations. His intentions were not bad but the problem was that he was impractical and politically immature.

His unusually long spells of absence were not taken kindly by his constituents. The actor has inadvertently punctured the aura of invincibility the BJP had in 2019.

To escape censure and condemnation, Deol developed a knack of taking a high moral ground. “What I saw in the parliament was not what I had expected,” became his favourite line.

He has ensured the Vande Bharat train makes a halt at Pathankot. He also claims that he is the architect of the strategic Makkoran Pattan bridge on Ravi river. The architect, however, is oblivious of the fact that nothing more has happened beyond acquiring land.

With his iconic ‘tarikh pe tarikh, tarikh pe tarikh’ dialogue, he had voiced the frustration of the common man against the system. As an MP, he had a glorious chance to rectify the faults in the same system. His report card, apart from recording zilch, also suggests that he has left behind a political legacy which nobody would like to emulate.

Towards the fag end of his term, he simply became insensitive, rather numb, towards his constituents. This is reflected from the fact that not even a single person from his constituency was invited by him for his son’s wedding in June last year.

FAILED TO DELIVER

With his iconic ‘tarikh pe tarikh, tarikh pe tarikh’ dialogue, he had voiced the frustration of the common man against the system. As an MP, he had a glorious chance to rectify the faults in the same system. His report card, apart from recording zilch, also suggests that he has left behind a political legacy which nobody would like to emulate. In the run up to the elections, he made several promises even as he addressed himself as “son of Punjab.” Among these was the opening of the border to start trade with Pakistan and other central Asian nations.