Nabha is famous for its military school and open air jail. But another pride for the old cantonment town of Punjab was to be a new building block of the Government Senior Secondary Girls School, in memory of Santosh Kumari. She may have been no one, but her daughters—one an IRS officer and another a doctor—decided to chip in and collect money for a new block for their alma mater. It took five years to be completed .
On Thursday, when it was to be inaugurated a special guest was Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, the Punjab minister for forests, printing and stationery. He huffed and puffed at the school principal, when he saw that his name on the inauguration stone came after those of the sisters responsible for the building. He also threatened to have her suspended.
The principal explained that Sanotsh Kumar's daughters were the chief guests.
Even as a video of the unsavoury incident went viral on Friday, chief minister Amarinder Singh implemented one of the Congress party's poll promises. The government prohibited the inclusion of names of any government functionaries including ministers and MLAs on foundation stones and inaugural plaques. The chief minister is not exempted from this order. A government spokesperson told the media that the practice of having names inscribed on stones and plaques “is being discarded with immediate effect”.
Dharamsot on his part has been denying the incident. But given clear video evidence, his “I did not say so” has no takers.
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The battle against terrorism may be years behind us, but the Congress in Punjab cannot forget the dark bloody days, as well as those who instigated and protected terrorists. Sikhs in Canada were seen as funding and fuelling the pro-Khalistani elements, who in turn fled to Canada as political refugees.
Now when the Canadian defence minister Harjit Sajjan is in India, and Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has made it amply clear he will not extend him any courtesies. The reason—Sajjan was described as a Khalistani sympathiser with radical fundamentalist agenda, by Sikhs from his own Liberal Party. In fact, about 4,000 Punjabi-Sikhs quit the party in British Columbia, protesting the nomination of Sajjan.
Harcharan Singh Bains, general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal and media adviser to former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal thinks it is time to let bygones be bygones. “Sajjan represents the people of Canada, and the Punjab leaders whose visit to Canada was sabotaged (by Sajjan and others) also represent the people of their state. The controversy started in Canada must be ended now.” says Bains.
Amarinder, in fact, could not visit Canada, allegedly at the instance of Harjit Sajjan.
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The high point of Baisakhi is the bhangra dance to the accompaniments of the dhol—a drum. A fitness studio in Chandigarh used the bhangra and the dhol as the key elements in a fitness workshop.
To connect the youth with this dance form, the fintness studio roped in Dipesh Sekhri, a choreographer popular on television channels. “ The youth of Punjab are weaning away from this traditional dance form. But it is energetic, particularly with live dhol,” said Sekhri, who has been enthused by the response to the extent that he now plants to conduct fitness workshops based on the bhangra and dhol in North America.
