Q&A with Amarinder Singh - ‘SAD has a phobia of the Congress’

You have been appointed president of the Punjab Congress. How do you plan to galvanise the party cadres to guide your party to victory in the 2017 Assembly elections?

Party rank and file is already fired-up for elections. During the summer months we had about 40 rallies and you must have seen the massive attendance there. We are planning mass contact programmes beginning with the rally at Bathinda on December 15, where I would be formally taking over as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President. We will reach out to the people with our policies and programmes. Our campaign will be positive and development oriented.

Will the Bihar Assembly election result — where the Bharatiya Janata Party got a drubbing and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wave ebbed — have any impact on the elections in Punjab if anti-BJP parties come together?

Punjab and Bihar are two different states with different socio-political landscapes. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP in Punjab are already out. You see, no Akali leader can venture out in public without additional security. Earlier people were simply opposed to them, now the opposition against the ruling alliance has turned into hostility. There is a total mood for change in Punjab and the Congress is ready to take over the responsibility.

There is talk about the Aam Aadmi Party emerging as serious political force in Punjab. What is your assessment of AAP? Between the SAD and AAP who would be the Congress’ main opponent in the Assembly elections?

AAP did perform well in the parliamentary elections. But today it is fragmented. Two of its MPs have already rebelled. Another prominent leader H.S. Phoolka is canoeing his own boat separately. Moreover, in the Assembly elections people identify with a particular leader for whom they cast the vote. But, we are taking all our opponents seriously.

Punjab has seen the terrible days of militancy in the past. The recent incident of sacrilege of Shri Guru Granth Sahib has caused a lot of social tension. How do you view these developments?

This is a serious challenge. But the people of Punjab are wise and sensible enough to read through the designs of the perpetrators of this act. It was actually chief minister Parkash Singh Badal who planned and got it executed as he wanted “controlled destabilisation” in the state to divert attention from some pressing problems like farmers’ and youth unrest. But the situation spiralled out of control and today he stands exposed. Rest assured, the people of Punjab will not allow anybody to subvert peace in the state.

The “Sarbat Khalsa” held on November 10 was seen as an attempt by Sikh hardliners to hijack the political agenda. The SAD government has blamed Congress for these developments. What are your views on the controversy?

The SAD leadership, particularly the chief minister and his deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, has a congenital phobia of the Congress. They see Congress hand in everything that goes wrong with them. After all, they have ruled the state continuously for nine years now. If they consider the Congress so powerful, why don’t they admit that they have lost control over things and go for fresh elections? The Congress is a secular and nationalistic party and has laid down so many sacrifices for the unity and integrity of the country. Their allegations against us simply don’t sink in.

Elections are 14 months away in Punjab. How plan to seek the people’s mandate this time?

Peace and development. Peace is prerequisite for development. We need people from outside to invest in our state. Till they are not confident that there will be peace, they will be reluctant to invest. Even the existing ones will leave and we have seen it in the 1980s when most of the people moved out. Besides, our focus is on the youth. About 70 per cent of Punjab today is less than 40 years old. But the youth are disillusioned. They are educated but they don’t have jobs. We need to create jobs, which is possible only after there are investments. We also need to revive agriculture as the state’s agrarian economy is in crisis.

Will the Congress form an alliance with the AAP in Punjab for the next Assembly elections?

I really don’t think so. The AAP, in Punjab, is mostly the concoction of radicals from the extreme left and extreme right. We cannot align with such forces. They are simply anarchic.