Fracas over Yatra bodes ill for Congress

Going by the statement of Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, leader of the opposition in Punjab Assembly, it is clear that the party leadership owns up the idea of taking out the Yatra. But, the moot point is, should it benefit politically “over ambitious” Jagmeet Brar, who had programmed the march to start from his constituency, Muktsar, on January 14 to end in Anandpur Sahib. Understandably, Captain Amarinder and his supporters were upset when Brar rushed to Sonia Gandhi, AICC president, with his Yatra programme to claim credit, breaking party discipline and protocol. They seem to have not liked Brar’s one upmanship policy when he solicited participation of the Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh without taking clearence from the leadership. This lead to exchange of fire-works within the party cadres who stood divided over the issue.

Senior Congressman Brahm Mohindra, belongs to that school of thought which sees taking out of “Deg Tegh Fateh Sharda Yatra” as a deviation of the Congress from the path of secularism. But, his critics remind him of his being a signatory to a party resolution calling for celebrating the 300th year of the Khalsa.

Amarinder loyalists thus are, on the one hand busy keeping Brar in check and on the other to control critics of Yatra. The PPCC’s disciplinary committee has already recommended action against Brahm Mohindra for criticising openly the party line.

Going back to the days when Giani Zail Singh was the Chief Minister, it is widely accepted that Giani’s chalking out of Guru Gobind Singh marg and conducting of a khalsa march besides other religious activities did help the Congress at the hustings.

For Amarinder, the observers feel, conducting the march would be a tight rope walk. He needs to ensure that either of the two major communities do not get antagonised on the issue, while party flock too is to be kept intact.