CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has emerged as the new 'poster boy' of the BJP in Punjab amid the saffron party’s aggressive push to strengthen its footprint in the state, with less than a year left for the assembly polls.
Saini on Monday presented the state budget but it wasn't just the financial announcements that grabbed attention. The saffron colour of the turban that he wore became the centre of a political debate in the neighbouring state.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said that he respects Saini’s freedom to follow any faith and sport a turban. However, he noted the timing of Saini sporting a turban, ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. “He is seen more in Punjab than in Haryana,” remarked Warring.
Sources claimed Saini has attended around five dozen events in the last five months across Punjab, which is much more than other senior state leaders. He has become one of the most visible BJP faces in Punjab, aggressively targeting the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
In an attempt to cultivate ground-level support for the saffron party, Saini has been meeting party leaders, attending social functions and gatherings including weddings and condolence meetings in Punjab, besides political rallies. He has often been seen wearing a saffron turban and delivering speeches in Punjabi. But at a few events where the audience is different such as the Purvanchal Sammelan in Ludhiana, Saini spoke in Hindi and was not wearing a turban -- a different approach for different sections of the electorate.
On Saturday, Saini first attended a function at the Punjab BJP headquarters in Chandigarh to induct youths into the saffron party and then went to Amritsar to address an OBC Sammelan in the evening. The next day he was in Ludhiana to address the Purvanchal Samman Rally in the afternoon, before attending the wedding reception of Delhi cabinet minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa’s daughter in the evening and holding meetings with BJP workers.
Hailing from the OBC community, Saini is the sitting MLA from the Ladwa assembly segment, a Punjabi-speaking belt though he originally hails from Ambala.
Sources in the party claim that his influence has grown to the extent that every induction into the Punjab unit of the BJP, whether of a prominent leader or a smaller local figure, is being finalized after consultations with him.
Interestingly, Punjab has an OBC population of nearly 31 per cent, including communities such as Sainis and Ramgarhiyas, of whom many are Sikhs.
Talking to TNIE, political analyst Kuldip Singh said, "In politics, symbolism does play a role. However, the evoking of symbolism in Punjab can make a difference only if it is matched by concrete outcomes such as the grant of a special package by the Centre, or some other tangible step to solve the major problems of the state. The caste arithmetic does not work in Punjab the way it works elsewhere in the country including Haryana."
Saini's media adviser Rajiv Jaitely said, "Saini does not go to Punjab on political visits but is invited by different organization for their functions and events. All the visits to the neighbouring state are personal visits as both Punjab and Haryana share a common culture. The ruling AAP and opposition Congress are getting perturbed by his personal visits, which clearly shows that the BJP is expanding its footprint in Punjab."
On the issue of Saini wearing a turban, he added, "It is not the first time Saini is wearing a turban. During his college and school days, he used to wear a turban as his mother belongs to a Sikh family."