In a fresh round of tensions in the Punjab unit of the Congress party, former state party president Sunil Jakhar on Sunday accused the Charanjit Singh Channi led government of “trying to erase Iron Lady of India from history” by not publishing any remembrance advertisements for late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary.
Taking to Twitter, the Congress leader posted an advertisement released by “Captain Saab” Amarinder Singh government last year, as “none appeared” this year. “I can understand BJP trying to erase ‘Iron Lady of India’ from history but don’t we still have a Congress Government in Punjab. PS. I know Capt Saab won’t mind my using this PB Govt’s ad from last year, as none appeared today,” tweeted Jakhar.
In another post, Jakhar took a veiled dig at the appointment of Jagdish Tytler—one of the main accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots—as a permanent invitee to the Delhi Congress’ new executive committee and wondered if the absence of ad had anything to do with that.
“Or is it a case of ‘once burned twice shy’—in light of a certain appointment two days ago?” Jakhar added.
Following Jakhar’s attack, Punjab Congress paid their tribute to Indira Gandhi on Twitter.
“We pay tribute to the Iron Lady of India and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi Ji on her death anniversary,” tweeted the official account of Punjab Congress.
Punjab Chief Minister Channi did not tweet on the occasion of Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and many ministers also did not tweet on the occasion.
Sources close to Jakhar said that it’s not a matter of missing out on advertisements, but the Chief Minister’s purported attempts to distance himself from the party’s legacy.
“This is a fundamental issue. A Chief Minister cannot disown or shy away from his party’s legacy because he finds it politically inconvenient at a particular time. It’s not an oversight but seems to be a deliberate move so as not to antagonise the hardcore Sikh elements ahead of the Assembly elections. This incident also came two days after Channi was accused of concurring to the appointment of Tytler in DPCC,” the source said.
“Questions are arising whether there the Punjab government fear of getting cornered by the opposition,” the source added. Assembly elections are due in Punjab early next year.