A RADICAL MANN

The past year in Punjab politics has been full of surprises. The latest shocker has been the Sangrur Lok Sabha by-poll results where 77-year-old Simranjit Singh Mann came out of nowhere to deliver a stunning blow to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

The constituency was represented for two consecutive terms since 2014 by new chief minister Bhagwant Mann; indeed, the bypoll was necessitated after he assumed his new post in March. But Mann, who had lost his deposit in the 2019 election, defeated AAP candidate Gurmail Singh by 5,822 votes.

In the past two decades, Simranjit Mann and his Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) had been pushed to the fringes due to his radical, pro-Khalistan views. Just three months back, AAP had swept the state assembly polls, winning 92 of the 117 seats and Sangrur had been the epicentre of this. AAP had pocketed all nine assembly seats in this Lok Sabha segment. Apart from CM Bhagwant Mann, finance minister Harpal Cheema and school education minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer are also part of this Lok Sabha segment.

Simranjit Mann's last election win came way back in the 1999 Lok Sabha election from Sangrur. A former IPS officer, Mann had quit the service days after Operation Blue Star in 1984. He spent many years in jails across India for his pro-Khalistan stand, and for that reason alone, he is a hero of the hardliners and Khalistan champions. In fact, on June 26, when he was declared winner, he dedicated his victory to slain Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and also declared that he would raise the issues of Kashmiri militants and Maoists in Parliament. His unapologetic separatist views must already be giving security agencies nightmares. That he now also gets a platform to air these views will no doubt enthuse the pro-Khalistan cohorts in Europe, Canada and elsewhere.