Ludhiana’s brothers in arms

The Bains brothers — Balwinder Singh Bains and Simarjit Singh Bains — Independent MLAs from Ludhiana, who recently launched a new political party, Awaz-e-Punjab, along with Navjot Singh Sidhu and Pargat Singh, have had bittersweet relationship with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Simarjit Singh Bains, in particular, was quite close to Sukhbir Badal, Deputy Chief Minister and son of Parkash Singh Badal, and Bikram Singh Majithia.

Balwinder Singh Bains started his political career after he joined hands with Simranjit Singh Mann, president of the Akali Dal (Amritsar), following Mann’s release from detention in 1989. Bains was appointed president of the youth wing of the party by Mann. He worked with the hardliner leader for a while. 

However, both the brothers later joined the SAD led by Sukhbir Singh Badal. Balwinder Singh Bains contested the SGPC elections in 2004 and was elected to the general house of the Sikh parliament. Simarjit Bains contested the election to the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, as a councillor on the SAD ticket and was elected. With two wins, the two came into limelight and became quite close to Sukhbir and Majithia. Simarjit Singh Bains even aspired to become the Mayor of the Municipal Corporation but could not succeed in the face of opposition from Hira Singh Gabria, who was Minister for Jails and Tourism in the SAD-BJP government. Gabria got his own man Hakam Singh Gyaspura elected as Mayor. 

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when Harsimrat Badal, wife of Sukhbir Badal, contested elections for the first time from the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, Simarjit Singh Bains campaigned for her in Bathinda and was election agent for her at one of the polling booths. The Congress had put up Raninder Singh, son of PPCC president Amarinder Singh, against Harsimrat Badal. On the polling day, there was some clash at one booth where Simarjit Singh was the election agent. A firing took place during the clash. Sucha Singh Chhotepur, who has been removed as convener of the AAP Punjab, was election agent of the Congress nominee. A case was registered under Section 307 of the IPC against Sucha Singh Chhotepur. However, no case was registered against the SAD supporters. It was under pressure from the Congress that a case was later registered against Simarjit Singh Bains at Bathinda. The friendship between the Bains brothers and Sukhbir and Majithia continued to blossom. The writ of the Bains brothers prevailed in the administration as well.

However, this changed in June 2009 after an incident took place in Ludhiana. The supporters of Simarjit Bains allegedly mercilessly beat up Maj G S Benipal (retd), who was working as Sub-Registrar and he received multiple injuries and had to be hospitalised. Benipal remained in the hospital for quite a long time. The police arrested Simarjit Singh Bains and some of his supporters, including some councillors of the Municipal Corporation. Simarjit remained in the jail for a few months after which he was released on bail. But his popularity among the masses could be seen during his appearance in court. A few thousand people would collect in the court complex every time there was a hearing in his case.

As the 2012 Vidhan Sabha elections approached, both the brothers sought SAD ticket. The Akali Dal, however, gave one ticket to Balwinder Singh Bains. However, Simarjit was denied the ticket. Both the brothers revolted against the party and contested the Vidhan Sabha elections as Independent candidates from Atam Nagar and Ludhiana South Assembly segments. Both won with a heavy margin of 28,000 and 30,000 votes, respectively. They defeated Hira Singh Gabria and Hakam Singh, who was then Mayor of the Municipal Corporation. After their victory, they became associate members of the SAD but soon disassociated themselves.

According to Balwinder Singh Bains, “It was a big blunder to become associate members of the SAD.” Both the brothers have been fighting against the rule of the SAD-BJP government and they have also launched an agitation against sand-mining and cable operators allegedly patronised by the SAD leadership.

The Bains brothers setup an NGO called Insaaf which they have now converted into a political outfit. Under the NGO Insaaf, they have been running a suvidha centre at their house in Kotmangal Nagar for the past more than 10 years. This suvidha centre works on the pattern of the government-run suvidha centres, where the complaints of the people are received and redressed. They help the common people in getting caste certificates, domicile certificates, ration cards and getting the other work done related to the Municipal Corporation. Balwinder Singh Bains claims that they received more complaints than the government-run suvidha centres. 

Simmarjit Bains also contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 from the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat and secured more than two lakh votes and was placed third whereas the official Akali candidate was in fourth place. Congress nominee Ravneet Singh Bittu won this seat.

The Bains brothers had been talking to the AAP leadership and Congress leaders before they floated the fourth front Awaz-e-Punjab in association with Navjot Singh Sidhu and Pargat Singh. Sucha Singh Chhotepur is also likely to joint this front and they expect more people to join them in their fight against the Badals.

According to Balwinder Bains, “Our mission is to end the mafia raj in Punjab and deliver justice to the common man who has suffered at the hands of the Badals.”

— The writer is a senior journalist