Chandigarh, February 07 (Punjab Khabarnama Bureau): Punjab has been caught in a myopic vision since its reorganisation in 1966 that only a Jat Sikh can be the Chief Minister of the state. This is despite the fact that Hindus comprise 38 per cent of the state’s population. Incidentally, this principle does not apply when a Sikh becomes the Prime Minister of the country, although Sikhs comprise only 2 per cent of the country’s population.
This was stated by Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab state president Aman Arora in an exclusive interview with The Tribune, as part of the newspaper’s “Decode Punjab” series.
Maintaining that he was not in the rat race to be the CM, or a parallel power to CM Bhagwant Mann, Arora said, “It is high time that the political parties in Punjab got out of the myopic vision of choosing the top leader on the basis of religion. The only criterion for choosing the CM should be merit, if we want the state to regain its lost glory as a progressive state. After all, we are inheritors of a culture where a Sikh Guru sacrificed his all to save Kashmiri Pandits and a Hindu gave away all his wealth to buy land for conducting the last rites of the Sahibzadas. Punjab had been the most secular state. The dark days of terrorism failed to divide Sikhs and Hindus, but this mindset does alienate Hindus.”
Blaming the Congress for propagating this myopic political vision, Arora said this led to their downfall and they were restricted to just 18 Assembly constituencies in the 2022 Assembly poll.
The AAP president, however, denied that he was chosen to lead the party to woo Hindu voters. “I never sought any role for myself, but my party president (Arvind Kejriwal) must have noticed my dedication and commitment to the party. But yes, maybe because of being a Hindu and from a business family, I understand their issues better,” he said.
Arora maintained that he and CM Mann were not parallel power centres, but worked in unison, and their work was clearly divided, with Mann being the head of government and ensuring effective and good governance and he himself incharge of building and strengthening the party’s organisational structure. “Ek aur ek gyarah hain hum,” he reiterated.
The Punjab AAP president agreed that industrialists in the state were feeling alienated in the wake of frequent dharnas and protests by farmer unions. “Industry is amongst the top growth-drivers. And we have to rebuild their confidence. That’s primary on our agenda for the next two years,” he said.
Arora says it was only because he could carry all MLAs, leaders, ministers and MPs along, after assuming charge as the party president in November, a month before the civic poll, that he could ensure a massive win for the party.
Summary: Aman Arora stresses that the selection of Punjab’s Chief Minister should focus on merit, not religious identity, urging a fair and skill-based approach.