CHANDIGARH: Gangster-turned-politician and main accused in the Nabha jailbreak case, Gurpreet Singh Sekhon, has joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) just five months ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann welcomed Sekhon into the party at a special event held in Zira in Ferozepur district, making him the latest in a long line of underworld figures from the state to enter mainstream politics.
Mann personally attended the event and formally welcomed Sekhon into the AAP fold by presenting him with a siropa. Political analysts believe the AAP may field Sekhon from the Zira Assembly constituency. Sekhon had opened his office in the constituency just 10 days ago and is expected to launch his campaign soon.
Sekhon, who hails from Mudki village in Ferozepur district, comes from a family with Congress roots. However, several political parties had approached him as his own political influence grew before he joined the AAP.
His family had already tested the electoral waters. Sekhon’s two wives, Mandeep Kaur Sekhon and Kuljeet Kaur Sekhon, had earlier won zila parishad elections from the Bazidpur and Ferozeshah zones with the backing of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
His entry into the AAP has also triggered discussions and disappointment within the camp of Naresh Katariya, the sitting MLA from Zira. Originally from the nearby Makhu area, Katariya wields considerable influence in the constituency. If the AAP fields Sekhon from Zira, it could significantly alter the political dynamics there.
Sekhon first made headlines in November 2016 when he escaped during the Nabha jailbreak. Three months later, in 2017, he was arrested in Moga. He was named the main accused in the jailbreak case but was subsequently released after the Punjab and Haryana High Court intervened. The episode is also said to have strengthened sympathy for candidates associated with him.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring condemned Mann’s decision to induct Sekhon into the AAP. He said the party was setting a dangerous precedent by inducting a criminal and gangster and allegedly planning to field him in the ensuing elections from Zira.
“What message are you going to convey with this?” he asked the chief minister, while warning him, “don’t incentivize gangster culture”.
Warring said such a move could set a dangerous trend in which gangsters first resort to crime, intimidate people and extort money, and then enter politics to wash away their alleged crimes and past.
He expressed confidence that the people of Zira would never accept or elect such a person to the Vidhan Sabha.
Punjab’s gangster-to-politics trail
The entry of gangsters and underworld figures into politics in Punjab, however, dates back several decades.
Prabhjinder Singh Brar, alias Dimpy Chandbhan, of Chand Bhan village in Faridkot, was widely regarded as one of Punjab’s first prominent dons. He had close links with the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), led by Simranjit Singh Mann, whose party performed strongly in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections.
However, the subsequent countermanding of elections in Punjab and a sweeping police crackdown on militancy cut short Chandbhan’s political ambitions. He fled to Uttar Pradesh, where he developed links with figures such as Mukhtar Ansari. He was shot dead outside Lake Club in Chandigarh in 2006.
In 2012, Jaswinder Singh Bhullar, alias Rocky Fazilka, a former aide of Chandbhan, contested the Assembly elections from Fazilka as an Independent candidate with the tacit backing of the SAD. He narrowly lost to BJP candidate Surjit Kumar Jyani by fewer than 1,700 votes.
Rocky was gunned down near Parwanoo in Himachal Pradesh in 2016, allegedly by another gangster, Jaipal Bhullar.
His sister, Rajdeep Kaur, contested the 2017 Assembly election from Fazilka as an Independent after being denied a Congress ticket. She secured more than 38,000 votes but lost the election.
In 2018, she joined the SAD at a “pol khol” rally addressed by Sukhbir Singh Badal, where she was presented with a siropa.
Meanwhile, Rajwinder Kaur, maternal aunt of jailed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and popularly known as “Maasi”, is the chairperson of the Dera Baba Nanak Block Samiti. She has emerged as a formidable political force in the Dera Baba Nanak belt of Gurdaspur district and has announced her intention to contest the Assembly election from the constituency.
