Ravneet Singh Bittu has typically brought on a stir in Punjab politics, each as a member of Parliament prior to now and now as a BJP chief and Union Minister.
Bittu’s newest assertion on Diljit Dosanjh starrer satluji He has additionally courted controversy by urging his personal celebration to strike a steadiness whereas drawing assaults from his rivals within the BJP.
of line This appears to have pushed the BJP right into a nook. Punjab Bharatiya Janata Get together chief Kewal Singh Dhillon welcomed the choice to represent a three-member assessment committee to look into the circumstances surrounding the centre’s demolition. satluji From OTT platform ZEE5. Calling it a victory for “transparency” and Punjab’s cultural voice, Dhillon stated that whereas the rule of legislation should prevail, the considerations of Punjab’s movie fraternity deserve a good listening to.
However Bittu needed to shift focus. Asserting that neither the BJP nor the Middle had any position in eradicating the movie from ZEE5, he claimed: satluji It introduced a “largely one-sided narrative” of the militancy period in Punjab. Citing the legacy of his grandfather, former chief minister Beant Singh, he defended the anti-militancy motion of the Nineteen Nineties and stated Punjab deserved “the entire fact, not half the story.”
Bittu additionally accused Dosanjh of “deceptive” Punjabis whereas residing overseas and demanded that actor-director Honey Trehan make movies about police personnel, civil servants and civilians who’ve misplaced their lives in fight.
His remarks gave the Bharatiya Janata Get together’s rival events in Punjab a possibility to nook the celebration. Ruling Aam Aadmi Get together (AAP) state president Aman Arora questioned Mr. Bittu for focusing on Dosanjh, claiming that neither the Middle nor the Bharatiya Janata Get together had any position within the removing of the movie.
Arora reiterated that the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP authorities in Punjab has no objection to personal screening of movies and maintained that choices concerning OTT platforms relaxation with the Centre.
Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Waring defended Dosanjh and reminded Bittu that Dosanjh had additionally met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He urged Bittu to watch out in attacking artists who’ve introduced Punjabi tradition to the world stage.
Throughout the BJP, whereas the celebration helps state president Dhillon’s stand, a number of celebration leaders have privately burdened that it’s comprehensible that Mr Bittu has an “emotional attachment” to the problem, given the assassination of his grandfather Beant Singh in a suicide bomber in 1995. Nonetheless, they felt the dialogue shouldn’t turn out to be private or overshadow the celebration’s broader political message.
“The movie is a couple of time when the Congress authorities was in energy, so why deal with the Bharatiya Janata Get together?” requested a senior BJP chief.
Bittu has emerged as a vocal chief criticizing Dosanjh; satlujidifferent members of the Beant Singh household stay silent. Not one of the Congress leaders, Beant Singh’s son and former Punjab minister Tej Parkash Singh Kotli, his grandson and former state minister Gurkirat Singh Kotli, and his daughter and former MLA Gurkhanwar Kaur, have issued a press release on the movie or the controversy that has ensued.
This episode displays a well-recognized sample in Bittu’s profession. Through the farmers’ agitation in opposition to the repealed central farm legal guidelines in 2020, the then Bittu Congress chief, whereas supporting the calls for of the protesters, brought on controversy by claiming that the farmers’ motion was infiltrated by “Khalistani components”. Even after switching to the BJP in March 2024, his militant fashion has not modified. Through the Gidelbach by-election marketing campaign later that yr, he stirred up one other controversy by calling for asset checks on some peasant leaders and evaluating them to the Taliban.
Regardless of these controversies, Bittu’s significance throughout the Bharatiya Janata Get together appears solely to extend. Within the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he misplaced the Ludhiana seat to Congress president Raja Walling, however was quickly accommodated within the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan and assumed a publish within the Union ministry.
His time period as prime minister ended final month, and though the Bharatiya Janata Get together selected to not reappoint him instantly, the structure permits him to function a Union minister for six months with out being a member of each homes of Congress. Nevertheless, after almost 20 years in nationwide politics, Bittu has now returned to Punjabi politics and has publicly indicated that he intends to contest the 2027 provincial elections.
Throughout the Bharatiya Janata Get together in Punjab, a number of leaders acknowledge that Bittu’s standing as a minister and his identification as Beant Singh’s grandson give him political significance. However some warn that a person’s visibility should match the celebration’s collective message forward of the 2027 election.
