‘Humiliated’ Punjab CM Amarinder Singh Resigns 

Amarinder Singh’s resignation is unlikely to change the fate of the Congress party in Punjab because there is no other Congress leader who is competent enough to lead the state as its CM. 

By Rakesh Raman

The chief minister (CM) of Punjab Amarinder Singh resigned today (September 18) from his post after expressing his resentment to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in a phone call.

Addressing the media after submitting his resignation to the governor of Punjab, Amarinder Singh said that he is feeling humiliated because the top Congress leadership has been directly calling the state MLAs (Member of the Legislative Assembly) for meetings.

Although he has not yet resigned from the Congress party, Amarinder Singh said that he will explore future options at the right time. He added that he will decide the future plan of action after discussing the ongoing events in the party with his supporters.

Congress – which is already facing extinction – has been experiencing extreme turmoil in its Punjab unit, as another local Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu had staged an open revolt against Amarinder Singh. Sidhu and his supporters complain that Amarinder Singh could not fulfill his pre-poll promises made to the people of Punjab before the Punjab Assembly election in 2017.

They fear that with a terrible performance record under CM Amarinder Singh, it will be almost impossible for Congress to win the upcoming Punjab Assembly election scheduled to take place in 2022.

As Amarinder Singh completely failed as CM, today Punjab is facing extreme political turmoil, unemployment, illiteracy, agrarian crisis, bureaucratic and political corruption, drug addiction, mafia culture, youth exodus, religious fundamentalism, and other evils that have made life miserable for the people of the state.

However, Amarinder Singh’s resignation is unlikely to change the fate of the Congress party in Punjab because there is no other Congress leader who is competent enough to lead the state as its CM. 

Last month (August 2021), I had written a detailed letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi with a strategy for the survival and revival of the Congress party. Among other national issues, I had said that in Punjab, Congress should not name Amarinder Singh who has completely ruined Punjab or Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Navjot Singh Sidhu as its chief ministerial candidate.

Instead, I suggested, Congress should select and project a seven-member governing council of honest domain experts who will manage the state affairs if Congress wins Punjab Assembly election in 2022. The members of the governing council should be selected on the basis of their reputation and capability instead of their caste, color, creed or religion. People are fed up with the traditional politicians and archaic political systems.

The traditional political parties have completely failed to achieve any development in Punjab which has a population of over 30 million. Therefore, now people expect a group of educated and honest people from a new political party to save Punjab from further damage.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.