Former Congress veteran Amarinder Singh joined the BJP on Monday, invoking “national interest” and providing the saffron party with a lifeline as it seeks to woo the Sikh community and gain a foothold in Punjab.
The 80-year-old politician joined the BJP nearly a year after his bitter parting with the Congress following his sacking as the Punjab chief minister. He also merged the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC), a party he had floated after leaving the Congress, with the BJP.
The PLC had aligned with the BJP in the Punjab elections early this year but their combined strength failed to make any inroads into the state. Amarinder himself had lost his home turf, the Patiala Urban seat, in an election that was swept by the Aam Aadmi Party.
The BJP has a marginal strength in Punjab and had earlier banked on its ally, Shiromani Akali Dal, which snapped ties over the three contentious farm laws that prompted a yearlong protest, led mainly by Sikh farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was eventually forced to take back the farm laws. The BJP is now desperate to secure a foothold in the state, dominated by the minority Sikhs.
At the BJP headquarters, Amarinder said: “We have seen the Congress for so many years and now it’s time to go to a party that is looking after the interests of the country and that is the BJP.”
Amarinder slammed the Congress for neglecting “national security”, claiming that despite being hemmed in by two hostile nations, Pakistan and China, the former UPA government had not procured any weapons to strengthen the armed forces. He lauded Modi, claiming the weapons needed were coming now.
Amarinder’s wife, Preneet Kaur, who is a Congress Lok Sabha MP from Patiala, however, did not join the BJP. Asked when she would join the saffron party, the veteran politician side-stepped a direct answer. “Zaruri hai jo husband kare wo wife kare? (Is it necessary that the wife follows the husband?)” he asked.
BJP leaders, however, claimed that Preneet and other family members of Amarinder would join the BJP in the near future.
Amarinder is the second prominent Congress leader from Punjab to have joined the BJP.
Earlier, Sunil Jakhar, son of former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar, joined the BJP after differences with the Congress high command over the elevation of Charanjit Singh Channi as chief, replacing Amarinder ahead of the Punjab polls.
Though well past the unofficial retirement age of 75 years in the BJP, Amarinder was lapped up by the BJP leadership on Monday as he hails from the minority Sikh community unlike Jakhar.
BJP insiders said that wooing the Sikhs was on top of Modi’s agenda because of “national security” reasons. Party leaders claimed that one of the main reasons for retreating on the farm laws was to send out a message to the Sikh farmers, leading the protest.
“Captain Sahab (Amarinder) has always kept the nation above all. His joining the BJP will usher peace in Punjab and help strengthen the party,” agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said. Apart from Tomar, law minister Kiren Rijiju was present at the BJP headquarters to welcome Amarinder.
