Kutch taluka panchayat creates history: 3rd-gen Punjabi Sikh migrant elected vice-president of Lakhpat

In a dramatic turn of events, Sarabai Kumbhar, a Congress member also filed her nomination papers for the post of president. However, Jadeja and Singh secured nine votes each, while Padhiyar and Jat got only seven votes each helping the BJP snatch Lakhpat away from the Congress.

Kumbhar failed to secure even a single vote. In fact, she herself voted for Padhiyar and Jat.

Taluka development officer (TDO) Sanjay Uplana said Singh was the first Sikh to be elected to an office of Lakhpat taluka panchayat.

The saffron party’s victory was ensured by two Congress members, Dinesh Sathwara and Bhachiben Rabari, who defected to the BJP and cross-voted. Sathwara was the chairman of the outgoing standing committee of Lakhpat taluka panchayat.

Taluka development officer (TDO) Sanjay Uplana said Singh was the first Sikh to be elected to an office of Lakhpat taluka panchayat.

On his part, Singh, who represents the Nara seat, said the BJP recognised his work by nominating him for the post of vice-president. “I saw Narendra Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, working for Kutch post the 2001 earthquake and therefore, I joined the BJP in 2004. Since then, I have been working for people of my area and for the party,” 41-year-old Singh told The Indian Express over phone on Thursday.

Singh said his grandfather Alekh Singh was a resident of Zira in Firozpur district of Punjab. “However, in 1960s, he migrated to Kutch after the government allotted him 50 acres at Nara in Lakhpat taluka,” Singh, a commerce graduate said, adding 250 Sikh families were allotted land in Kutch in the 1960s to populate areas along the Indo-Pak international border.

Before being elected to Lakhpat taluka panchayat, Singh was elected the Sarpanch of Nara group village panchayat for two consecutive terms

Today, Singh’s joint family cultivates 100 acres and runs a chain of hotels.  “While my family had been allotted land in Nara, my father Dahal Singh set up a hotel in Pandhro, the village where a lignite mine is located. Therefore, I was born in Pandhro,” Singh added.

Before being elected to Lakhpat taluka panchayat, Singh was elected the Sarpanch of Nara group village panchayat for two consecutive terms between 2009 and 2014. While he was serving as the Nara group village panchayat, the BJP made him the general secretary of the youth wing of its Lakhpat taluka unit.

“My village is a remote one, located at the trijunction of Bhuj, Nakhtrana and Lakhpat. People had faith in me as I believe in taking everyone along and therefore, I won the Nara seat of the taluka panchayat despite the seat’s 60 per cent voters being from the minority community, 10 per cent from the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities and only 30 per cent from the Sikh community,” says Singh who is proficient in Kutchi, Gujarati, Punjabi and Hindi languages.

“We don’t think we are Punjabis. We have melted in Kutch like sugar does in milk. For us, Gujarat is our motherland,” the Sikh leader, who owns orchards of date palms, pomegranate and mangoes and also cultivates cotton, castor and mustard, added.

He says that Gurdayal Singh was the first Sikh to become a Sarpanch of Nara when he was elected to that post in 1995. Around 15 years later, the BJP worker became the second Sikh Sarpanch of the village panchayat whose 60 per cent voters are Sikhs, 25 per cent Muslims and 15 per cent SCs.

While the Congress accused the BJP of horse-trading to wrest away Lakhpat, Devji Varchand, president of Kutch district unit of the BJP, rejected the charge. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked a lot for the development of this border area — be it tourism and industry. The two Congress members said they were impressed by the PM’s work and wanted to join the BJP. As a political party, can we say ‘no’ to such members?” Varchand said, adding, “In a democracy, can anyone threaten someone to vote for a particular party? Even if someone dares to do such things, will they escape the gaze of the media?”

The BJP president also said that Singh’s choice as party’s candidate for the post of Lakhpat vice-president was natural. “There is no symbolism or virtue signalling here. The government had allotted land to Sikhs in Lakhpat and therefore, there is a sizable Sikh population in that district. Rajubhai is guided by a spirit of service and has been our dedicated and active worker for long,” said Varchand.

Singh claimed that Sathvara and Rabari voted for the BJP as they were fed up with the Congress. “Those two members cross-voted as the ruling party in the state is the BJP and therefore, in the two-and-a-half-years since 2021, they couldn’t do the kind of work they wanted to. Therefore, they said they don’t want to spoil the remainder of the two-and-a-half years of their tenure and instead would like to support the BJP,” said Singh.