Journalism of Courage
Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar is emerging as a prominent face of the state BJP since he joined the party this May, after being associated with the Congress for over three decades.
Last month, the BJP high command chose him to be part of a five-member committee constituted to conduct an inquiry into the violence during the party’s Nabanna march in Kolkata. This was the first major assignment for Jakhar, the only party leader from Punjab in the committee.
Jakhar has also been taking on the ruling AAP and was the lead figure in a parallel ‘Janta di Vidhan Sabha’ mock Assembly session held by the BJP on the sidelines of the House session held by the AAP government where it moved a “trust vote”.
Leading the attack on AAP’s “theatrics”, Jakhar said “no reasonable person” can believe its allegations that each of its MLAs was being offered Rs 25 crore, when a couple of their ministers were “available” for “bribes of lakhs of rupees”. He also expressed concern that “secessionists are getting active in the state under the AAP regime”.
Jakhar said he saw himself as a “catalyst to bring to the notice of the BJP high command the fundamental issues confronting Punjab and get those issues addressed”.
The BJP has been trying to increase its imprint in the state after playing second fiddle to its former ally Shiromani Akali Dal for years. In pursuit of this “Mission Punjab”, the party is counting heavily on Jakhar, a Jat Hindu leader whose popularity cuts across communities. Jakhar is also a three-time MLA, one-time MP with years of political experience and rich political legacy behind him.
In the February elections this year, the BJP had contested in alliance with Captain Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress (now merged with the BJP) and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led SAD (Sanyukt) and was able to win only two seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.
The previous elections that the BJP fought in alliance with the Akali Dal had an arrangement that saw the Akali Dal contesting 94 seats and the BJP 23. In 2017, the Akali Dal had won 15 seats and the latter three. The long-standing alliance split over the three farm laws, with the Akali Dal walking out in protest.
Jakhar is known to share a cordial relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In August, he was among the few leaders Modi acknowledged when he held a meeting with 19 state BJP leaders after inaugurating a cancer hospital in Chandigarh. When the leaders were being introduced to Modi, the PM was learnt to have said that Jakhar needed no introduction.
Back in November 2019, during the inauguration of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor too, Modi had sought out Jakhar to ask how he was. Jakhar had responded that he had come “to meet the man who ensured his defeat (from the Gurdaspur parliamentary seat)”. The BJP had fielded actor Sunny Deol against Jakhar, the Congress candidate, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
While the BJP seems to be gaining from Jakhar’s entry, his exit was a blow to the already-divided Congress in the state. His resignation also coincided with the second day of the party’s brainstorming session, Chintan Shivir, in Rajasthan,
Sunil’s father, the late Balram Jakhar, was a staunch Gandhi family loyalist, and the longest serving Speaker of the Lok Sabha. He had also served as the Madhya Pradesh governor for some time.
