Capt continues to rule popularity charts

Saturday, 16/03/2019

https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/03/16/capt-continues-to-rule-popularity-charts/

Capt Amarinder Singh today steps into the eighth year of his Chief Ministership. He is the only second Congress Chief Minister of the state after Partap Singh Kairo to have returned to office a second time. He continues to remain the most popular among all the Chief Ministers Punjab had so far.

In his second term that began on March 16, 2017 Capt Amarinder is widely being seen as more of a statesman than a politician, who is not restrained and restricted by partisan politics. Particularly after the stand he took last month in the aftermath of the suicide attack on paramilitary forces that left 40 dead and several others injured, Capt Amarinder is seen as a national leader who is being seen more suited for the job of the Prime Minister than just a Chief Minister.

A survey conducted by the Punjab Express between March 4 and 10 revealed that Capt Amarinder’s popularity graph had further risen over the previous years. While earlier he was seen as the successful Chief Minister, today he is seen as a popular national leader who took lead in voicing and articulating the patriotic and nationalistic sentiments representing the whole nation.

The survey was jointly conducted by a dedicated marketing research team of the Punjab Express in collaboration with one of the leading media research teams in Delhi. The team made twenty random telephone calls in each of the 117 assembly segments in Punjab. Besides, random telephonic survey was conducted in the national capital, Delhi and ten other major cities across the country.

The team also surveyed various social media platforms to gauge the public opinion about the Chief Minister’s performance during the last two years in his second term. There was total unanimity among the respondents about endorsing the stand he took against Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack. “Capt Amarinder is the only Congress leader who did not look at the Pulwama attack and the Balakote airstrikes from partisan prism but responded like a true patriot should”, said Abhishek Awasthi of Ludhiana.

He said, the speech Capt Amarinder delivered in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack looked like that of the Prime Minister of a country than by the Chief Minister of the state. Abhishek, who is into cycle and auto parts manufacturing business disclosed his speech became so popular that he received the video of the speech from his friends from others parts of the country. There was widespread appreciation for what he said about the attacks and how he warned Pakistan against messing up with India. His famous remark that “they have killed our 41 soldiers and we must kill their 82” had become the punchline of the nationalistic debate.

On the domestic front Capt Amarinder’s seriousness in doing justice in the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahab and subsequent firing on protestors is widely being acknowledged by the people in Punjab, particularly in the countryside. The arrest of two senior police officers including IGP Paramraj Umranangal and retired SSP Charanjit Sharma, who was the SSP Moga when the incident took place, is seen as his sincerity in taking the investigations to the logical conclusion.

The Chief Minister is being praised, even by the section of opposition leaders, for not indulging or allowing any vendetta or vindictive actions against the political opponents. His focus on developmental agenda that includes debt waiver, generating jobs, ensuring law and order, arresting or eliminating the gangsters, solving terror related incidents including some high profile murders and curbing drug pedaling in the state is also much appreciated.

The industrialists and traders are also looking up to him with great expectations. The revival of industry, particularly in the places like Mandi Gobindgarh and Ludhiana is primarily being attributed to his pro-industry and hassle free atmosphere that has set in Punjab. Like in his previous regime between 2002 and 2007, when the business saw an unprecedented boom people in Punjab are waiting for a similar phase, which they believe has started dawning in. “Even during his previous term, the boom started from during his third year (in office) only and we are already into his third year now”, said Manjeet Singh Dhillon, a real estate dealer in Mohali.

Another positive development noticed in the survey was the end to the undue harassment and victimization of people at the behest of the politicians in power. “Any political leader small or big could get anyone imprisoned as the SHOs were reporting to the local leaders and halqa incharges during the ten years of Akali-BJP regime and now there is no such thing and people are heaving a sigh of relief”, said Amarjit Singh a senior Congress leader.

Most people, the survey team spoke to, said that the time has come for the Chief Minister that whatever he has done during the last two years should be seen and noticed on the ground. They said, the achievements of the government were not being effectively publicised and communicated to the masses. The survey revealed that there was lot of goodwill among the farming community over the debt relief. Even some traditional Akalis could not resist acknowledging that Capt Amarinder did provide them the much needed debt relief and they were likely to vote for him in the coming election.

During the previous survey conducted by the Punjab Express, exactly six months ago, it was revealed that a section of the party workers was feeling ignored and alienated. Much against the perception being created that it was the bureaucracy that was ruling the roost, the workers felt that it was the MLAs who were ruling the roost, while workers and other leaders were being ignored.

All the SHOs, DSPs, SDMs, tehsildars and other officers were being appointed at the recommendations of the local MLAs only and they were not prepared to listen to anyone else other than the MLA, while the workers were being overlooked. There were allegations against a number of MLAs that they were “minting money” by multiple means.