Gurdaspur Diary: Fateh Jung Bajwa fancies his chances for Gurdaspur Lok sabha seat

Ex-Qadian MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa is a man not prone to sitting idle. His logic is that if you wait for the mango to fall, you will be wasting your time while others will start climbing the tree to pluck the fruits. The day the Rajasthan elections were announced, he asked the BJP high command to let him campaign in the poll-bound state. He got the nod and was off to Churu, the assembly seat assigned to him from where Harlal Saharan is the candidate. He took at least half a dozen of his loyalists along and started campaigning in earnest. At the start of his career, Bajwa was a dyed-in-the-wool Congressman but somewhere down the line he got fed up with the party’s ‘flawed policies’. From 2017 to 2022, he remained the Congress MLA from Qadian. He runs an NGO and the work it did in his assembly seat during the Covid period was much appreciated by his constituents. However, despite all this, in 2022 he was not re-nominated. That was the final nail in the coffin. Without making much of a fuss, he shifted his loyalty to the BJP. On its part, the party rewarded him with a ticket from the industrial city of Batala. That he lost, and why he lost, is a story for another day. His near and dear ones say he is eyeing the BJP ticket from Gurdaspur parliamentary seat, once represented by big-wigs like film actor Vinod Khanna, Sunil Jakhar and Fateh’s elder sibling, Partap Singh Bajwa. Observers say his Rajasthan tour will hold him in good stead when the party discusses its candidate for the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat. They also point out that out of a total of nine assembly seats that fall in this constituency, five are dominated by Jat Sikhs, the same community to which Bajwa belongs. What the man achieved in Churu will be known only on December 3, when the election results are announced. “I stand like the rock of Gibraltar with my party. In matters of style, swim with the current, in matters of principle, stand like a rock,” he quipped. And that is what he is doing —- standing like a rock!

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Norway tourists want tough man to head fight against drugs

The other day, all the 30 addicts undergoing treatment at the Gurdaspur Red Cross De-addiction Centre were pleasantly surprised when a couple from Norway —- Lene Tangevald Jensen and Olav Nils Sunde —- visited them. They were here on the invitation of Kavita Khanna, wife of ex-Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna whose organisation— Kavita Vinod Khanna Foundation — is holding football matches in rural areas in an attempt to wean away youngsters from drugs. The Norwegians were amused when they were informed how easily drones fly in from Pakistan and drop their payload of dope in the plains of Punjab. Romesh Mahajan, Project Director of the Centre, also told them about the steps they were taking to rehabilitate the youngsters. The couple was also informed how heroin is processed from opium in small factories in Afghanistan and how it later makes its way to Punjab via Pakistan. The Norwegians also wanted to know the money trail involved in heroin smuggling. Obviously, no one had a ready answer to that question. Later, they visited a school run by Romesh Mahajan for children whose parents are into full-time begging. Overall, they were impressed and have promised to return soon. They opined that someone who is strong headed should head the battle against drugs in Punjab and quoted the adage, “When the wind blows, the pessimist complains, the optimist hopes it will subside while the leader adjusts the sails.” Who will be that leader is anybody’s guess. Both Lene and Olav left Gurdaspur on a happy note with a bagful of wonderful memories. ravi dhaliwal