Martyrdom of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji (7th June) 2 Punjab Advance August 2016 Editorial Capt Amarinder Singh has emerged as the tallest leader of the Congress. His sharp political instincts and personal charisma worked wonders as the party won eight of the 13 Punjab seats in the Lok Sabha elections. He stood like the Rock of Gibraltar to halt the national Modi trend. The triumph has catapulted him to the front line of a handful of senior Congress faces who still command grassroot support and has emerged unscathed by the overall electoral defeat. Amarinder is now sure to be the one, Congress president Rahul Gandhi will have to look up to while picking the pieces to rebuild the party. How did Amarinder stand in the way of the Modi juggernaut that turned out to be unstoppable in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Rajasthan? The answer lies as much in his sharp political instincts and personal charisma as in his deft - ness in crafting a narrative to counter the BJP’s. After Pulwama and Balakot, the Captain was the first senior Congress leader to articulate a tough anti-Pakistan line while questioning the exact outcome of the air strikes and denouncing Modi’s “attempt to politicise the armed forces”. As a perceptive military historian with an intuitive sense of the popular mood, Amarinder knew too well that Modi’s national security pitch, almost akin to war rhet - oric, would not resonate, particularly among the war-weary border state that has been the main theatre of wars before. At another level, Amarinder bucked the anti-incumbency ire by a clever amalgam of his achievements, chiefly farm loan waiver, and an emotive sacrilege issue that threw his main rival, the Akalis, off balance. This stellar performance in Punjab is sure to mark Amarinder’s ascendance to pole position in the Congress. While the high command is on a weak wicket, he has emerged as the tallest leader in the party April-2019 Punjab Advance 3 s t 12 20 CM’s pro-poor Record wheat n “i-Harya initiatives output a gree e t n o C 06 Cong wins 8 seats 4 Punjab Advance May-June-2019 28 34 38 li App’ towards Punjabi jutti goes Girish Karnad is no ener Punjab ‘phoren’ more Punjab www.punjabadvanceonline.com May›June› 2019 Advance LVOL›6 L ISSUE›5 Room No. 1, 5th Floor, Punjab Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh-160001, Ph. : 0172-2740668, Email Id: [email protected] C.E.O. - Anindita Mitra (IAS) Editor - Donald Banerjee Designer - Gagandeep Kaur Publisher - Information & Public Relations Department, Punjab Disclaimer: The views expressed by the authors in the articles published in PUNJAB ADVANCE are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Punjab Government or the organization they work for. Editor reserves the right to edit, abridge or expand the articles submitted. In case of any dispute, legal jurisdiction will lie in Chandigarh based courts.Published and Edited by Ms. Anindita Mitra (IAS) on behalf of the Information and Public Relations Department, Punjab at Room No. 1, 5th Floor, Civil Sectt., Chandigarh May-June-2019 Punjab Advance 5 Cover Cong wins 8 seats Capt Amarinder Singh halts Modi trend Emerges strongest party leader Donald Banerjee It was Capt Amarinder Singh all the way. tally from three in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections Bucking the national pro-Narendra Modi to eight this time. I wave, the Chief Minister stood like the On the contrary, the Congress’ in Rajasthan and Rock of Gibraltar, as he steered the Congress to Madhya Pradesh — where the party was voted a commendable performance in the state, win - to power six months ago — registered a dismal ning eight of the 13 seats with a good margin. performance. The Congress wrested three AAP seats and two Establishing himself as the tallest leader in the of the four held by the Shiromani Akali Dal party who punctured the BJP’s nationalism nar - (SAD).The BJP retained its share of two seats. rative in the border state to a large extent and However, its Amritsar nominee Hardeep Puri, countering the two-year anti-incumbency factor, Union Minister of State, Housing and Urban Af - the people’s Chief Minister improved the party fairs, was trounced by Congress’ Gurjeet Singh 6 Punjab Advance May-June-2019 Cover Aujla by nearly one lakh votes. ministers, MLA and other leaders, Capt The Chief Minister’s wife Preneet Kaur trounced Amarinder said overall, the people of Punjab had SAD’s Surjit Singh Rakhra by 1.62 lakh votes.. responded to the government’s development In Anandpur Sahib, Congress’ Manish Tewari and welfare programmes, including farm debt wrested the seat from SAD’s Prem Singh Chan - waiver and employment generation. dumajra with a margin of over 46,000 votes.In Ja - The sacrilege issues certainly worked against the landhar, Santokh Singh Chaudhary of the Badals, he said, adding that Hindutva did not im - Congress defeated SAD’s Charanjit Singh Atwal pact the polls in Punjab.Meanwhile, on losing the by less than 20,000 votes. Bathinda and Gurdaspur seats, The CM said the Among the other Congress winners were Jasbir state Congress would introspect on why three Singh Gill (Dimpa) from Khadoor Sahib, Ravneet areas in Bathinda proved weak for the party and Singh Bittu from Ludhiana, Amar Singh from Fate - also why Sunil Jakhar lost to Sunny Deol despite hgarh Sahib and Mohammad Sadique from Farid - his hard work. kot. Som Parkash of the BJP won the Hoshiarpur “I do not understand people’s preference for a (reserved) seat. Bollywood star over an experienced leader,” he But for SAD chief Sukhbir Badal and his wife Har - said, hoping that Indian democracy would evolve simrat Kaur Badal, none of the Akali candidates more in the coming years. Talking about Modi, could make it. In Ferozepur, Sukhbir defeated the CM said now that he had won the elections, Congress’ Sher Singh Ghubaya by 1.99 lakh votes. he should not do anything to destroy India’s sec - Harsimrat retained the Bathinda seat, defeating ular credentials. Capt Amarinder Singh said he Congress’ Amrinder Singh Raja Warring by 21,000 does not agree with the brand of nationalism votes. being promoted by the BJP, as every citizen of Film star Sunny Deol wrested the Gurdaspur seat, India was a nationalist and the nation’s strength defeating Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar. lays in its diversity. Crediting the win to aggressive work by party Winners 2019 Patiala Amritsar Winner: Preneet Kaur (Cong) Winner: Gurjeet Singh Aujla (Cong) Runner-up: Surjit Singh Rakhra (SAD) Runner-up: Hardeep Singh Puri (BJP) Margin: 1,62,718 Margin: 99,626 May-June-2019 Punjab Advance 7 Cover Jalandhar Ludhiana Winner: Santokh Singh Chaudhary (Cong) Winner: Ravneet Singh Bittu (Cong) Runner-up: Charanjit Singh Atwal (SAD) Runner-up: Simarjeet Singh Bains (LIP) Margin: 19,491 Margin: 76,372 Anandpur Sahib Winner: Manish Tewari (Cong) Fatehgarh Sahib Runner-up: Prem Singh Chandumajra (SAD) Winner: Amar Singh (Cong) Margin: 46,884 Runner-up: Darbara Singh Guru (SAD) Margin: 93,898 Khadoor Sahib Winner: Jasbir Singh Dimpa (Cong) Runner-up: Bibi Jagir Kaur (SAD) Margin: 1,40,573 8 Punjab Advance May-June-2019 Cover Faridkot Gurdaspur Winner: Mohammad Sadiq (Cong) Winner: Sunny Deol (BJP) Runner-up: Gulzar Singh Ranike (SAD) Runner-up: Sunil Jakhar (Cong) Margin: 83,256 Margin: 82,459 Bathinda Hoshiarpur Winner: Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD) Winner: Som Parkash (BJP) Runner-up: Amrinder Singh Warring (Cong) Runner-up: Raj K. Chabbewal (Cong) Margin: 21,772 Margin: 48,530 Ferozepur Sangrur Winner: Sukhbir Singh Badal (SAD) Winner: Bhagwant Mann (AAP) Runner-up: Sher Singh Ghubaya (Cong) Runner-up: Kewal Singh Dhillon (Cong) Margin: 1,98,850 Margin: 1,09,642 May-June-2019 Punjab Advance 9 Cover Capt. shuffles portfolios Local Government was earlier with Navjot Singh Sidhu, who now gets Power and New and Re - newable Energy Resources. His other previous portfolios of Tourism and Cultural Affairs go to Charanjit Singh Channi, who retains Technical Ed - ucation, Industrial Training and Employment General, with his Science and Technology portfo - lio taken over by the Chief Minister. Amarinder hoped the exercise would also re-en - ergise his team and bring freshness into the working of the major departments. Brahm Mohindra -Local Government unjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh P has reshuffled his Ministry and stripped Navjot Singh Sidhu of the portfolios of Local Government and Tourism and Culture in lieu of Power and New and Renewable Energy Resources. The decision was taken by the Chief Minister after Sidhu skipped a Cabinet Meeting soon after the Lok Sabha elections The Chief Minister, who had hinted at changes in the portfolios of his Council of Ministers after the completion of the poll process, has allocated the crucial Local Government to his senior-most col - league, Brahm Mohindra, who was earlier han - dling Health and Family Welfare, which has now Charanjeet Singh Channi - been entrusted to Balbir Sidhu. Tourism & Cultural Affairs 10 Punjab Advance May-June-2019 Cover tion but the Chief Minister has decided to take Governance Reforms into his own fold. School Education has been shifted from Om Prakash Soni to Vijay Inder Singla, who retains Public Works but hands over Information Tech - nology to Captain Amarinder Singh. Soni will now take care of Medical Education and Research, Freedom Fighters and Food Processing depart - ments. In addition to Sports and Youth Affairs, Rana Gurmeet Sodhi will now also be in charge of NRI Affairs, which was under the Chief Minister's purview earlier. Transport has been moved from Aruna Chowd - hary's basket and handed over to Razia Sultan, who retains Water Supply but has been divested of Higher Education.