Retd IAS officer asserts his Rangretta identity before election

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, January 30

Asserting his Dalit identity, retired IAS officer Jagmohan Singh Raju, who has been fielded by the BJP from the hot seat of Amritsar East, said the Guru Sahibans sent this Rangretta (Dalit Sikhs) to quell two Massa Rangars and free the holy city from the clutches of drug operators.

On his maiden visit to the city after the announcement of his candidature, Jagmohan without naming his two opponents — Navjot Singh Sidhu and Bikram Singh Majithia — said the fountainhead of Gurbani for the entire World, the Sikh holy city, has been turned into a prime source of chitta (drugs).

Bracketing himself with the Sikhs who had daringly vanquished the anarchy created by Massa Rangar, he said he would free the spiritual capital of the Sikhs from drugs and other evils.

To establish a connect with people, including backward classes, who also form a good number in his constituency, he said: “My great grandfather Duni Chand used to work as a leather worker in Hoshiarpur. His son Santa Singh embraced Sikhism and was a farm labourer in Faridkot. My father Karam Singh was a workaholic who studied hard and became a PCS officer and subsequently an IAS officer. I was lucky to have cracked the IAS at the age of 21.” He stressed on his association with the neighbouring Doaba region from where his family had roots and its different cities where he had worked. Turning to Sidhu and Majithia, he said both had inflated egos and were fighting personal battles to pin each other down.