After almost a month of intrigue and palace gossip, Captain Amarinder Singh lost his place in the scheme of things and had to quit as CM of Punjab as his party members lost confidence in him and abandoned him.
With just a year to go for Punjab polls, the change of guard comes at a time when there is turmoil in Punjab due to three farm laws that are being opposed by the farmers.
The signs were all there that Captain was losing trust of the party high command. His style of functioning left a lot to be desired. He wasn’t accessible to his own elected members. He was running the government bypassing the elected representatives and relying on bureaucrats, a style similar to that adopted by Narendra Modi at the center.
When the center passed three trade acts that affected the farming community, protests broke out in Punjab and then spread to other parts of the nation including Haryana, Western UP, Rajasthan, MP and even Bihar. The farmers saw the three trade acts that affect farming as draconian. Captain did not go the whole hog against these acts. But when even the Akali Dal realized that their support base among the farmers was slipping Captain had no option but to up the ante. But by that time the farmers anger had grown against him.
His soft handling of corruption cases against the Akali Dal and failure to institute cases about drug related cases became a sore point with the public. They saw him as another leader who was willing to scratch backs just like those who had come to power before him.
The induction of Navjot Singh Siddhu as the Congress Party President for Punjab should have awakened the Captain but he thought he could continue to ride roughshod.
The exit has been quite acrimonious and the Captain has burnt his bridges. At 79, he isn’t getting any younger. In BJP, he would already be a member of the Margdarshak Mandal, lucky that Congress does not follow that path.
The sun has set on Captain Amarinder Singh. He should have gone out with grace after he realized that his MLA’s had deserted him. He could still have been accommodated somewhere in the Congress.