In Punjab revolving door, Beant Singh’s family finds itself on opposite sides

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Sitting Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu’s switch to the BJP has boosted the party. X/Ravneet Singh Bittu

One-and-a-half months ago, close on the heels of the Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar’s announcement that the party will go solo in the Lok Sabha elections in the state, three-time Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, 48, joined the BJP in Delhi in the presence of its national president J P Nadda.

Bittu is the grandson of Congress stalwart late Beant Singh, who was assassinated by Punjab militants in suicide bombing in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995, when he was the Punjab chief minister.

The sitting Ludhiana MP Bittu’s switch to the BJP has boosted the party.

He was also known to be close to top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The Beant Singh family, whose several members have been associated with the Congress in various roles over the decades, has found itself divided politically by Bittu’s move. They are regarded as one of the prominent political families of Punjab.

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Ravneet Singh Bittu during an election campaign in Ludhiana. Express photo

The BJP has fielded Bittu from the Ludhiana constituency, where his mother Jasbir Kaur and his wife Anupama Jhajj have been engaged in canvassing for him extensively.

On the other hand, Bittu’s cousin and former minister Gurkirat Singh Kotli has continued to stand by the Congress party, campaigning for it actively in the Lok Sabha polls.

Of Beant Singh’s five children, including three sons – Swaranjit Singh, Tej Parkash Singh and Sukhwant Singh – Bittu is the son of late Swaranjit Singh, who had died young. Kotli is the son of Tej Parkash Singh, a former Congress minister, who has not been active in politics now.

Kotli has been campaigning for the Congress’s Fatehgarh Sahib candidate Amar Singh, mainly in its Khanna Assembly segment from where he had been a two-time MLA (in 2012 and 2017).

The Beant Singh family’s native village is Kotla Afghana which falls in the Payal Assembly seat in Ludhiana district. Both Payal and Khanna Assembly segments, located in Ludhiana district, are a part of the Fatehgarh Sahib parliamentary constituency.

The family is believed to hold significant influence in Payal from where Beant Singh had won his debut election as an Independent in 1969, followed by three consecutive wins on the Congress ticket. Later, Tej Parkash also won twice from Payal.

Meanwhile, Bittu’s mother and wife have been undertaking door-to-door canvassing for him, trying especially to reach out to women voters.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Jhajj , who lives in Delhi with the couple’s 15-year-old son, said that though the family members now have different political ideologies, they continue to stay united as a family.

She said Bittu was following his grandfather Beant Singh’s footsteps to do something for Punjab, which would not be possible, she said, if he had continued to be with the Opposition.

“(Narendra) Modi ji is coming anyway. Punjab needs him. We will open the doors for him in Punjab. If all other states such as UP, MP, Bihar are taking the benefits from the BJP-led Centre and getting funds for their development, why not Punjab? From Ram Mandir to Kartarpur Corridor, Modi ji has worked for every community,” Jhajj said.

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Bittu’s wife Anupama Jhajj during a campaign in Ludhiana. Express photo

She said that even for her grandfather-in-law (Beant Singh), it was the people of Punjab and the state’s development that mattered the most. “I fully supported my husband (Bittu) when he told me about joining the BJP as parties come second, the country and the state come first. Beant Singh ji had also sacrificed his life and eliminated terrorism in Punjab for the people, not just Congress. His sacrifice was for people, not the Congress party alone. Bittu is his grandson and he too wants to do something for Punjab. Seeing the way weapons and drugs are entering Punjab through borders, we need someone like Modi ji to bring the state out of this crisis,” she said.

Jhajj said although their family might have political differences now, they stand united as a family. “We are a family but we are allowed to make our own decisions as per our understanding. We are individuals too. We continue to live together as a joint family in our Chandigarh house and at our native village house in Payal. We are together during all festivals. Bittu is wise enough to make his own decisions,” she said.

Congress sources said Kotli had refused to contest against Bittu from Ludhiana. While campaigning for the Congress, he has also refrained from attacking Bittu over his defection.

In the Fatehgarh Sahib too, Congress leader and ex-MLA Gurpreet Singh GP had defected to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and is now its candidate from the constituency.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Kotli said: “For me, the Congress party and its ideology come first, family comes later.”

Commenting on “such leaders who leave their mother parties in times of crisis”, Kotli said: “People will vote for Congress. I don’t consider it right to leave the party which gave you so much. The way horsetrading is being done under the BJP rule, about 30 years ago such things were seen in UP, Bihar, but now it is prevalent in the entire country. It is not good for democracy. Some leaders change their loyalties everyday but voters never spare them.”

Asked about Bittu’s move to leave the Congress, Kotli said: “Koi kitte vi chala jaye (Anyone can go wherever they want). My grandfather Beant Singh served the country and Punjab while being a Congressman. He gave up his life. We will keep serving Punjab while following his footsteps. I can never think of leaving Congress or swaying from its ideology. I will always remain dedicated to Congress like my grandfather did. The Congress has always given respect to its leaders.”

In his campaign posters, Bittu has used the image of Beant Singh, which has triggered a row. Hitting out at him, his Congress rival in Ludhiana, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, the Punjab Congress chief, charged that “Bittu did not even spare his own grandfather who was a Congressman all his life”.

Bittu is, however, not the first from his family to join the BJP. His aunt Gurkanwal Kaur (Beant Singh’s daughter), a minister in the former Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government, had also joined the BJP in 2017, but returned to the Congress in a few days.

There are several notable political families in Punjab, whose members are divided along political lines, campaigning for their respective parties in the Lok Sabha polls. They include senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa, and his brother Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa, the Punjab BJP vice-president; senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sikander Singh Maluka and his daughter-in-law Parampal Kaur Sidhu, the BJP candidate from Bathinda; BJP leader Vijay Sampla and his nephew Robin Sampla, the AAP leader; and AAP MLA Jagdeep Singh Goldy Kamboj and his father Surinder Kamboj, the BSP candidate from Ferozepur, among others.

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