Lalpura appointed member of BJP’s parliamentary board, poll committee

Already serving as chairman of national commission for minorities, Lalpura, a Sikh intellectual, who had written books on Sikh and Punjabi culture, is a retired DIG of Punjab Police

With the appointment of Iqbal Singh Lalpura as a member of parliamentary board and election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it is for the first time that a Sikh representation will be seen in the highest decision-making bodies of the party.

Lalpura appointed member of BJP’s parliamentary board, poll committee

Already serving as chairman of national commission for minorities, Lalpura, a Sikh intellectual, who had written books on Sikh and Punjabi culture, is a retired DIG of Punjab Police.

As SSP Tarn Taran, Lalpura had arrested Sikh militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in 1981. He was one of three officers who arrested militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, in a case related to a clash between some Sikhs and Nirankari sect members.

Bhindranwale had agreed to the arrest on the condition that only baptised Sikhs would take him. Lalpura was one of two cops on the team, the other being Jarnail Singh Chahal, besides a sub-divisional magistrate, BS Bhullar.

In 2022 polls, Lalpura was asked to contest as assembly elections from Ropar assembly segment but he could get over 10,000 votes.

By inducting him in the two most important bodies, party had tried to invest hugely in Lalpura with a plan to have eyes on focusing in Punjab, a senior leader said. As the party has dearth of credible home-grown Sikh faces in Punjab, through Lalpura, party plans to reach out to Sikhs. Before being appointed chairman of the national commission for minorities, he was appointed as BJP spokesperson in September 2021.

State BJP chief Ashwani Sharma, while welcoming the move, said Lalpura knows and understand the Punjabi psyche better than anybody else. “His guidance will surely establish BJP in Punjab and other parts of the country,” said Sharma. Lalpura, who belongs to Rupnagar district, had served as SSP of Amritsar Rural, Kapurthala and Tarn Taran districts.