During his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, the Shiromani Akali Dal’s Khadoor Sahib candidate Virsa Singh Valtoha has been reminding voters about his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) in the 1980s as well as his strong relationship with the head of Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. After contesting four Assembly elections in a row, Valtoha, 62, has reinvented his election strategy to launch an attack on Khalistani outfit Waris Punjab De head Amritpal Singh, who has announced he will contest the Lok Sabha elections 2024 as an Independent candidate from the Sikh majority seat of Khadoor Sahib. Amritpal Singh has been lodged in a jail in Assam’s Dibrugarh under the NSA since April 2023. This is the first time Valtoha — who won the Punjab Assembly elections from the Khemkaran seat in 2007 and 2012 and was defeated in 2017 and 2022 in the same constituency — has been telling voters he too was detained under the NSA and how he turned out to be a ‘tough’ leader as he remained in the company of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. “I could meet my family during my detention under the NSA only after nine months,” Valtoha told voters during an election meeting at Sultanpur Lodhi on Sunday as a flex behind the stage said the SAD leader spent three years in jail under the NSA and a decade altogether behind bars for ‘Panth’ and ‘Punjab’. Taking a jab at Amritpal Singh, who has been behind bars for a year, Valtoha said, “We spent one year in illegal detention at police stations only. The NSA was not a big deal for us.” Without naming Amritpal Singh, he told the gathering the Waris Punjab De head made requests to former Akal Takht Jathedar Jasbir Singh Rode for his surrender to Punjab Police last year and remained at large for more than a month. Harking controversial elements Valtoha, who was arrested from the premises of the Golden Temple during the Indian Army’s Operation Blue Star in 1984, said his life is “an open book”. “I was 15 years old in 1978 when I decided to walk on this path. If anyone talked about Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Satwant Singh, Beant Singh (both assassins of former prime minister Indira Gandhi), Harjinder Singh Jinda, Sukhjinder Singh Sukha (both assassins of former Indian Army chief General A S Vaidya) in the Punjab Assembly, then it was Valtoha. Now, some people make tall claims but then surrender to the police.” “Have you listened to the voice messages of Jagtar Singh Hawara or Balwant Singh Rajoana (both convicted in the murder case of former Punjab CM Beant Singh)? And now you must have listened to the voice messages of the Mahapurakh (Supreme Being),” said Valtoha implying that Amritpal Singh has access to more comfort in jail than Hawara and Rajoana. Valtoha also questioned Amritpal Singh’s decision to fight the Lok Sabha elections pointing out that the Khalistani preacher said he didn’t believe in contesting polls while targeting the way his candidature was announced. The SAD leader has also been questioning the alleged link of Amritpal Singh’s legal counsel and former MP Rajdev Singh Khalsa with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who was the first to announce the candidature of his client from the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat. “They are not answering any of my questions. I openly invite them for a debate on camera. They (Amritpal Singh’s family) first assured me of support for my candidature from Khadoor Sahib. Then turned from their words. It is the first time an RSS leader has been announcing candidature. At least tell us what the relationship with RSS is. Why are you committing fraud with the Panth? We don’t know what kind of foreign forces are behind them,” Valtoha said at the gathering. While responding to allegations of his link with the RSS, Rajdev Singh Khalsa said, “Valtoha and his party have remained in alliance with the RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party. They run the government and enjoy offices with the RSS. What is the value of Valtoha’s allegations? He just wants to distract the voters.” U-turn of Valtoha and SAD Before this, Valtoha and his party criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab for the detention of Amritpal Singh and his associates at Dibrugarh jail under the NSA. The SAD also supported the demand of Amritpal Singh’s family to bring him back to a Punjab jail. The party turned soft on him after Amritpal Singh was arrested and has once again gone back to square one after he announced his candidature from Khadoor Sahib. On his part, Amritpal Singh had been attacking the SAD before he was arrested last year. In the Lok Sabha elections 2019 in Khadoor Sahib, the Shiromani Akali Dal lost in the Panthic belt for the first time since 1992 as Congress candidate Jasbir Singh Dimpa led his party to victory in almost four decades. This time, AAP leader and Cabinet minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, the BJP’s Mandeep Singh Manna, and Kulbir Singh Zira of the Congress party are also in the fray in Khadoor Sahib. Voting in the Sikh majority seat of Khadoor Sahib along with the 12 other Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab will be held in a single phase on June 1.
