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Common man takes oath as ‘change’ ushers in Punjab
Awestruck and filled with pride, the party MLAs, some along with their families, entered the Punjab Raj Bhawan for the ceremony
For a “change”, the who’s who of the Punjab politics were missing from the oath- taking ceremony of the cabinet ministers of the new AAP government here on Saturday and the event was graced by ordinary faces from villages and towns who dared to change the political map of the state.
Awestruck and filled with pride, the party MLAs, some along with their families, entered the Punjab Raj Bhawan for the ceremony.
“I have never imagined that we will reach here in our lives. With the victory of the AAP, the common man has arrived,” Hardeep Singh Mundian, AAP’s MLA from Sahnewal, said.
“Assi Punjab di rajneeti da naksha badal ditta (We have changed the political map of Punjab),” Munidan, along with party’s MLA from Amargarh Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, said as they entered the governor house.
“Change”, which was the main poll theme of AAP for the February 20 state elections, could also be felt at the ceremony as none of the political heavyweights from Congress, SAD and BJP were present, except Muhammad Sadiq, a former MLA of the Congress party, who said that he was attending the event for CM Bhagwant Mann, with whom he had shared the stage number of times during cultural events.
“Punjab is writing first letters of governance on a clean slate. New cabinet has zero baggage. This is a visible badlav (change) people voted for,” tweeted Amanpreet Gill, an associate professor of political science in a Delhi university college.
As the Punjab police band played the tunes of popular Bollywood song- “Hawa mein udta jaye mera lal dupatta malmal ka…” on the Raj Bhawan lawns, the venue for the event was devoid of scenes of security personnel and supporters pushing away crowds to make way for political big guns, as witnessed in the oath functions in the past.
Punjab governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office to the new cabinet. His Haryana counterpart Bandaru Dattatreya was also present at the event. All the cabinet ministers met the two governors present on the dais alongwith Punjab CM Mann, with folded hands and some even bowed before them to touch their feet as a gesture of respect.
Chief minister Mann was seen guiding his cabinet colleagues on the dais. After the ceremony, the two governors, CM Mann and his cabinet team came out for tea.
Mann’s sister Manpreet Kaur also sat huddled in the one corner of the VIP enclosure.
“My brother has worked very hard for many years. The fruit of his hard work was delayed but it was very sweet” she said, adding that their mother Harpal Kaur could not come due to health issues.
Mann’s children- daughter Seerat and son Dilshan- reached the venue 40 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. Both sat in the front row among the audience.
Dr. Baljit Kaur, who took oath as one of the cabinet ministers, said she would work under the guidance of his father, AAP’s former Faridkot MP Prof. Sadhu Singh.
Harpal Singh Cheema, also a second time MLA who took oath as a cabinet minister, said that AAP government’s cabinet has once again proved that it’s a party of aam aadmi.
“In the cabinet all three regions Majha, Malwa and DOaba and all sections of society have got representation,” he added.
After the oath, all cabinet ministers were seen moving out of the Raj Bhawan in the newly allotted sports utility vehicles with Ashoka insignia – a symbol power and authority- fixed at the rear and front of the vehicles, signifying that the change has changed their lives too.
