‘Feels like Moga is in Pakistan’: Why AAP will take note of its MLA’s lament

The son of former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member Kuldeep Singh Dhos, Devenderjeet Dhos was active in the student council while studying at Panjab University. He began his political career in 2011 with the Manpreet Singh Badal-led People’s Party of Punjab (PPP), joining it along with his father.

It was here that he came in contact with Mann, who was a PPP member at the time. Dhos also served as the vice-president of the PPP’s youth wing and in March 2014, after Mann quit the party to join the AAP, he became its president.

In 2021, Dhos joined the AAP in the presence of Mann (then Sangrur MP) and successfully made his electoral debut from Dharamkot in the 2022 Assembly polls, defeating the Congress’s Sukhjit Singh Kaka Lohgarh by a margin of over 29,000 votes, with former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) minister Tota Singh finishing a distant third.

Often seen heaping praises on Mann for his “zero tolerance against corruption”, Dhos, soon after winning the polls, said he would work towards ending corruption in his area, for the betterment of farmers and to end the “sand mafia”. In Dharamkot, which he often describes as “backward” and in “need of facilities”, Dhos has popularised the slogan “Mera halqa, meri zimmedari (my area, my responsibility)”.

In August 2023, Dhos was appointed in-charge of the Chhatra Youth Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the AAP’s students’ wing, and courted controversy over his visit to his alma mater just ahead of the student council polls after many unions protested against his entry. Dhos maintained that he had visited the campus to induct a few students into the CYSS and not due to the elections. The CYSS lost the subsequent polls to the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).

In September last year, Dhos was made co-incharge of the Gidderbaha Assembly bypoll – necessitated by the election of sitting MLA Amrinder Singh Raja Warring to the Lok Sabha – and was often seen at events with fellow party MLAs. He led party candidate Hardeep Singh Dimply Dhillon to victory by over 20,000 votes.

Ahead of the municipal polls in Punjab, the Dharamkot Municipal Council hit the headlines after Opposition parties alleged that the AAP leaders were obstructing their candidates during filing of nominations. The issue reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which stayed the results for eight of the 13 wards, where AAP candidates were declared “elected unopposed”. The stay was lifted in January.

“All 13 wards have AAP councillors, who were elected unopposed in December. The Opposition levelled baseless charges, which led to the stay. The High Court verdict is a big slap on the rivals. It is a victory of democracy,” Dhos had said after the stay was lifted.

Dhos has remained active in the Assembly and has raised issues of using canal water for irrigation instead of groundwater. The MLA claims that the Punjab government started working on the issue only after he raised it.

A self-proclaimed environmentalist, Dhos has earlier suggested that farmers plant at least two trees near their tubewells and proposed conversion of 25% of land in each panchayat into forests to increase the state’s green cover.

In his 2022 election affidavit, Dhos declared assets worth Rs 49.83 lakh and liabilities of Rs 17.84 lakh.