Bargrari, Burj Jawahar Singh Wala sacrilege cases: SIT report blames Dera Sacha Sauda

Prabhjot Singh July 4, 2022

CM Bhagwant Mann hands over report to eminent Sikh leaders It was Dera Sacha Sauda that hatched a conspiracy to cause unrest in Punjab. The provocation was ban on screening of a feature film of the Dera Chief  Ram Rahim Singh. This is the major finding of a Special Investigation Team headed by Inspector-General of […]

Liberal Opinion: “Blame games” dominate Punjab Vidhan Sabha debates

Prabhjot Singh July 2, 2022

Disappointed are those who have been pinning hopes on the new Punjab Vidhan Sabha expecting it to be different from the previous Houses. Since the House has an overwhelming majority of first timers, hopes of the debates becoming more qualitative and focused on issues facing the State have been belied. Discourses witnessed during the ongoing […]

Liberal Opinion: Shadow of Sangrur defeat robs “paperless” Budget of its sheen

Prabhjot Singh July 2, 2022

Putting behind the Sangrur Lok Sabha bye-election debacle, three-month-old AAP Government has tried to salvage some of its prestige by presenting the State’s first ever “paperless”. Tax free and please all Budget in Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Monday. While the ruling party claimed  “it is a historic Budget” – drafted in consultation with the people […]

Building BRICS: a global platform for the less heard

Pradeep Rana June 28, 2022

Pall of gloom cast by Russia-Ukraine war has enveloped the entire world. Cold war foes Russia and the US are showing no sign of let up, the former is fighting a direct war on ground and the latter a proxy war by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Elsewhere, away from the shadow of sanctions, Indian Prime […]

Liberal Opinion: Simranjit Singh Mann upsets applecart of AAP

Prabhjot Singh June 27, 2022

Mann (Simranjit Singh) replaces Mann (Bhagwant) in Lok Sabha The Shiromani Akali Dal chief Simranjit Singh Mann has done it again. He has single-handedly upset the applecart of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in its citadel. He has emerged a clear winner in a five-corner contest. The traditional parties like Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and […]

Liberal Opinion: Should the U.S. end the war on drugs?

Prabhjot Singh June 23, 2022

When a leader or a political party says that they will wipe out the drug menace from their territory in six weeks or three months, it sounds like a joke. Before their loaded utterances, they probably failed  to look at the United States, one of the most powerful nations, that continues to fight the drug […]

Election of President: Fight for top post with roles reversed

Prabhjot Singh June 23, 2022

Interesting are the ways in which politics works. Things have not changed much since India elected its 14th President in Ram Nath Kovind. Now when the election of the 15th President is due next month, the only apparent change is the reversal of roles. In 2017, the ruling NDA had put up Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit […]

Punjab Politics: Sangrur will decide future of Punjab politics

Prabhjot Singh June 23, 2022

It is not Sangrur alone. The outcome of the Sangrur bye-election will impact Punjab politics at least for next couple of years or till the time the State gets back into election mode for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While the ruling Aam Aadmi Party is confident of retaining the seat vacated by the incumbent […]

Soldier Interrupted: Taking armed forces aspirants for a ride

Pradeep Rana June 19, 2022

Sombre mood in which the presser started, and somewhat patronising air in which Minister of Defence Rajnath Singh announced the scheme Agnipath, it seemed as if Government has given the youth of this country a gift of life time – four year service contract in armed forces. A clutch of reporters sitting there hardly put […]

Presidential election: Who will occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan?

Prabhjot Singh June 19, 2022

In less than two months, India will decide on its new President. Who will succeed the incumbent Ram Nath Kovind?, is a question  that may not be very difficult to answer. The reason: the electoral college as it stands is structured on the basis of strengths of different political parties, both in Parliament and State […]

Liberal Opinion:Punjab politics: Litmus test for AAP in Sangrur Lok Sabha bye-election

Prabhjot Singh June 7, 2022

Rocked by the gruesome assassination of folk singer-turned politician Sidhu Moose Wala on May 29, the ruling Aam Aadmi faces a litmus test in the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat bye-election scheduled for June 23. The seat had fallen vacant after the incumbent Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann quit his Lok Sabha seat on his election […]

Congress: Existential crisis continues unabated

Prabhjot Singh June 7, 2022

India’s grand old political party – Congress – is at crossroads as it is passing through its worst existential crisis. Going through its  “reformational” phase after a series of defeats in  the last two general elections where it just managed to get 44 and 52 seats in Lok Sabha, it has been losing leaders left […]

Sports: Contradictory stands on vaccine mandates hurting players

Prabhjot Singh June 7, 2022

In less than five months after Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic was  prevented  not only from participating in the Australian Open  but also from entering Australia for three years  for not adhering to the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, Florida administration threatened  to fine the organisers of Special Olympics $27.5 million for violating

Senior bureaucrat RI Singh narrates Inside Story of Punjab Turmoil

Prabhjot Singh June 7, 2022

Punjab and Punjabis love hawking media headlines  for doing things differently. It may be the reason that even after more than a hundred books written on the State’s turmoil have hit the stands in the past 38 years, many knowledgeable students of Punjab or Sikh politics  still await the “truth” to come out. Their impression […]

Punjab: AAP completes Rajya Sabha sweep with all seven Punjab seats

Prabhjot Singh June 7, 2022

Challenges on various fronts, including maintenance of law and order, notwithstanding, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) continues its ascendancy, both in the State and national politics. After its landslide victory in the last Assembly elections in February this year, it has created history by claiming all seven Rajya Sabha seats that fall under its […]