Joining an exclusive club of ex-diplomats who made the switch to politics under the Narendra Modi government, former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Tuesday joined the BJP. Like him, Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and S Jaishankar are also former diplomats. Sandhu is a 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and the grandson of former Congress leader and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) founder member Teja Singh Samundri. Having retired on February 1, Sandhu began interacting with people from all walks of life in Amritsar from February 23 onwards, his grandfather’s birth anniversary. This sparked speculation about his entry into politics. He is the first person from his family since his grandfather, who was jailed by the British for his role in the Gurdwara Reform Movement and Civil Disobedience Movement, to join politics. Born on January 23, 1963, Sandhu is a career diplomat who served in the US on three occasions. He was a junior diplomat in the 1990s during the Pokhran tests and later went on to serve as Deputy Chief of Mission and Ambassador. Sandhu is credited with playing a significant role in warming up New Delhi’s relations with Washington, DC, which had soured after the 1998 Pokhran nuclear test. As First Secretary (political) in the Indian Embassy, he was a key figure when the US Congress passed a resolution condemning Pakistan’s role in the Kargil war. Sandhu is known for his network in the US political and administrative set-up across party lines, be it the Democrats or Republicans. He is said to have played a key role in organising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US in June last year and US President Joe Biden’s India visit in September. During Modi’s visits to the US in 2014 and 2016, Sandhu is said to have played a key role in using social media to highlight its impact. The former envoy, who hails from Rai Burj Ka village in Tarn Taran district, follows in the footsteps of his parents, who returned from the US to Amritsar. Sandhu’s father Bishan Singh Samundri was the founding Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak University and also served as the principal of Khalsa College in Amritsar. His mother Jagjit Kaur Sandhu completed her doctorate in the US and returned to serve as the principal of the Government College for Women, Amritsar. Sandhu’s decision to join the BJP has sparked a buzz that the party may field him in the Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar, which in the past has seen high-profile candidates such as Puri, former Union Minister Arun Jaitley, and cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu. The former ambassador’s recent comment underlining the impact of improved connectivity on Amritsar’s economic growth sparked about the possible role he could play in helping resume trade with Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah border. Sandhu is one-half of a power couple. He is married to Reenat Sandhu who is India’s Ambassador to The Netherlands at present. Reenat Sandhu was earlier the Indian envoy to Italy.
