Journalism of Courage
After a hiatus of seven months, senior Punjab Congress leader and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi has returned to public life, aiming to play a pro-active role in state politics again.
Days after the Channi-led incumbent Congress was decimated in the Punjab Assembly elections held in February this year, which were swept by the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Dalit leader disappeared from public eye. Having been on a self-imposed “exile” in the United States and Canada since then, Channi returned to India last week.
Soon after his return, Channi met All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Priyanka Gandhi to congratulate her for the party’s victory in the recent Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. He also called on AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge. On Sunday, he posted his pictures while presenting bouquets to Kharge and Priyanka on his Twitter handle.
These were his first Twitter posts since June 26, when he had tweeted to congratulate Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) leader Simranjit Singh Mann for winning the Sangrur parliamentary bypoll.
Channi also tweeted the photos of him joining Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan’s Alwar Monday.
Later, he went to meet the slain singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu Moosewala’s parents in Moosa village in Mansa district. On Wednesday morning, he tweeted his picture with Moosewala’s father Balkaur Singh, stating “Spent the night at Village Moosa with Sidhu Moosewala’s parents”. Moosewala, who was shot dead in May, had contested the Assembly election, unsuccessfully, from the Mansa constituency on the Congress ticket, with the then CM Channi inducting him into the party.
On Wednesday, Channi also undertook a “paidal yatra (foot march)”, walking about 16 kilometres from his home in Morinda to Chamkaur Sahib, the constituency he had represented as an MLA. Every year, Channi along with his family members is said to walk to Katalgarh Sahib gurdwara in Chamkaur Sahib to commemorate the battle of Chamkaur Sahib, in which the elder sons of the tenth Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh, Ajit Singh and Jujhar Singh, sacrificed their lives fighting the Mughals in 1704.
Channi’s return to the country came ahead of the commencement of the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s Punjab leg, which is scheduled for next month. His flurry of activity, especially his outreach to the Congress top brass, close on the heels of his return, reflects bid to reclaim his key role in the state party affairs in the coming days.
In the state Assembly polls, Channi contested from Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur but lost from both the seats, even as the Congress’s tally plummeted to just 18 seats in the 117-member Assembly.
Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey is facing an illegal sand mining case. During its investigation into it under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided Honey’s premises in January and seized nearly Rs 10 crore and other valuables. In April, the ED also summoned Channi to record his statement in the case.
In September last year, Channi emerged out of nowhere to become the CM when the Congress high command replaced its veteran CM Capt Amarinder Singh with him amid intense factionalism and infighting as well as chorus for Amarinder’s ouster. The Congress leadership picked Channi as the CM over other party claimants for the post, that included Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
Channi became the first Dalit CM of Punjab, where the Scheduled Castes (SCs) account for one-third of the state’s population. In the Assembly polls, the Congress sought to play the Dalit card by projecting Channi as its CM face, but it did not work.
After submitting his resignation as the CM following the Congress’s rout, Channi was not seen in public for over a month before he flew abroad. In US and Canada, he reportedly underwent treatment for an eye ailment and also worked on a PhD thesis on the Indian National Congress.
During his vigorous campaign for the Punjab polls, Channi had gone all out as he was photographed milking a goat, stopping his cavalcade to talk to people, and breaking into an impromptu bhangra or a football game. He also made populist announcements such as reducing electricity tariff and sand and gravel rates as well as slashing VAT on fuel, but to no avail.
