Padma Shri awardee Vikramjit Singh Sahni, 64, a multinational businessman, philanthropist, and vocal supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Occasion and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been nominated by the ruling Aam Aadmi Occasion as Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab in 2022. Sahni, who has roots in Kotkapura in Faridkot district, is thought for his social work, together with operating talent facilities for younger folks in India. Supporting Punjab via his NGO, Solar Basis.
Not too long ago, he together with six different AAP Rajya Sabha members led by Raghav Chadha. switched to BJPsparked a political storm in Punjab forward of the 2027 meeting polls.
In an interview with The Indian Categorical, Sahni spoke about why he joined forces with AAP, what led to his departure, his relationship with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and his considerations in regards to the course of Punjab.
What made you settle for AAP’s Rajya Sabha nomination in 2022 despite the fact that you had been identified to be near each the BJP and Congress?
Raghav Chadha was the primary particular person from AAP to strategy me with this proposal and I agreed.
I had clearly knowledgeable them beforehand about my hyperlinks with each the Bharatiya Janata Occasion and the Congress. I agreed as a result of the one mission AAP gave me was to work for Punjab and lift the state’s points in Parliament. They by no means formally requested me to affix the occasion, and I by no means did both.
I additionally informed them that as a part of my charity work, I had promoted some central authorities initiatives like Beti Bachao and Beti Padhao, and so they had no downside with it.
In 2022, Chadha met me on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos and informed me that Arvind Kejriwal was in search of a reputable Punjabi face to fill the Rajya Sabha seat, even throughout occasion traces.
After I met Kejriwal, he appreciated my cross-party connections. He tweeted that he would ship two Padma Shri awardees, Sant Balbir Singh Seechwal and me, to Rajya Sabha. Neither of us formally joined AAP. I’m nonetheless grateful to him for sending me to Rajya Sabha.
They knew that politics was not my forte, campaigning and electoral politics weren’t my forte. My mission was to work for the state of Punjab and lift its considerations. I presently run six world-class youth expertise coaching facilities in Punjab, together with the biggest one in Ludhiana, in addition to drug rehabilitation facilities and different initiatives.
I labored in Punjab even earlier than AAP got here to energy. Throughout the COVID-19 interval, when Captain Amarinder Singh was the Chief Minister, we organized 1000’s of oxygen cylinders for hospitals in Punjab. My solely objective is to see Punjab prosper, regardless of which occasion is in energy. Sadly, that is not taking place.
Was your determination to modify to the BJP influenced by Raghav Chadha?
It was a collective determination by all seven of us, together with Chadha, Swati Maliwal, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak and Rajinder Gupta.
My involvement with AAP was restricted to elevating the difficulty of Punjab in Parliament. Due to my hyperlinks with the Bharatiya Janata Occasion-led Centre, I additionally helped the Punjab authorities evacuate stranded youth overseas. My precedence was the folks of Punjab, not any political occasion, be it AAP or BJP.
I’ll all the time be grateful to AAP and Kejriwal for sending me to Rajya Sabha for Punjab.
How did issues deteriorate by the point you left?
The decline started with the departure of three core members of AAP, Chadha, Pathak and Maliwal. They had been the spine of the occasion.
For the 2022 Punjab meeting polls, Pathak distributed 94 tickets in Punjab. He and Chadha just about ran the election marketing campaign and helped the occasion safe an awesome majority. Maliwal was an vital pillar of Delhi.
Though I had by no means been within the AAP politburo, it was clear that the occasion had fallen out with a few of the folks it trusted most.
First, there was a battle with Maliwal. Pathak was deeply dissatisfied after AAP’s defeat within the 2025 Delhi Meeting polls. Chadha nonetheless tried to make issues work, however after that defeat his wings had been additionally clipped. He was requested to go away Punjab and appointed chairman of an advisory committee that by no means functioned. The ultimate blow got here when he was stripped of his submit as deputy chief of the Rajya Sabha.
It affected all of us. The query we requested ourselves was: What’s the way forward for Punjab with this occasion?
AAP has alleged that seven MPs had been poached by the Bharatiya Janata Occasion and central companies such because the ED had been used as stress ways. What’s your reply?
That is utterly improper. It began when Chadha, Maliwal and Pathak determined to go away the occasion citing issues throughout the occasion. Then they approached the remainder of us.
Even when Ashok Mittal left resulting from ED stress, and I am not saying he left, what in regards to the others? A minimum of in my case, I used to be by no means approached by the BJP.
You will have typically criticized the subsidy-driven welfare mannequin in Punjab….
Sure, as a result of there must be stability. Punjab can’t be made right into a begging bowl. The state’s debt has already elevated to Rs 4.5 billion.
Punjab shouldn’t be a begging bowl, it’s a meals bowl.
As an alternative of giving each girl 1,000 rupees, why not promote self-help teams and assist them turn out to be self-reliant? Give BPL households stitching machines and meals processing machines to allow them to earn an revenue. Create a supply of revenue.
I am not saying that subsidies needs to be utterly abolished. However support ought to go to those that actually need it.
I run Sikhya Langar to fund the training of underprivileged kids. If I can educate 48 kids on my MP wage, the federal government can do way more. We don’t allocate scarce sources correctly.
Have been your solutions for Punjab ignored?
That is just about it.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is all the time too busy to satisfy anybody, not even his personal MPs.
He has not given a lot weight to solutions for the betterment of Punjab, nor has he guided us on what points concerning Punjab needs to be raised in Parliament. I respect him as Prime Minister, however there aren’t any achievements or tangible outcomes.
Punjab is in fixed decline, be it legislation and order, agriculture, debt, medicine, groundwater depletion, you title it. There’s not a single area in Punjab that may be stated to be doing effectively. They simply do not have a imaginative and prescient. Their solely concern appears to be 2027, not Punjab or Punjab.
You stated that there was little equivalence between you and Bhagwant Man…
That is true. As a result of he by no means meets folks and doesn’t worth solutions.
I am a graduate of Harvard College. If I had been to counsel one thing to my state, it might be after cautious consideration. But, there was by no means any involvement.
If he was severe about MPs, he would have met us earlier than the sitting of Parliament, briefed us on the problems to be raised and mentioned Punjab’s considerations with the Heart. We wrote many letters however he by no means contacted me. I typically realized about Punjab’s issues from the newspapers fairly than from the Chief Minister.
I collected the pending water invoice from Punjab myself to Rajasthan and he didn’t contact me concerning this matter.
That stated, pastors like Mr. Harpal Cheema, Mr. Harjot Bains and Dr. Balbir Singh are humble folks and I’ve collaborated with them on a number of initiatives. However that spirit is missing on the prime.
What does that imply?
It is one factor to crack jokes on stage and make folks snicker, however it’s one other to control because the chief minister of a state.
Ninety per cent of the Chief Minister’s speech needs to be about info, achievements and imaginative and prescient for Punjab. He ought to speak about how Punjab can emerge from this disaster as a substitute of dwelling on school folklore, Shero Shayari and jokes.
A bit humor is okay. However governance can’t be constructed on Chatkare and Gupusyapu. These are momentary. Punjab is on ventilator help. We do not have that luxurious.
There are additionally severe flaws within the relationship of belief and communication with the prime minister.
AAP known as the seven Rajya Sabha members who give up as ‘gadars’. We have now not dedicated any betrayal in opposition to Punjab or Punjab.
My constituency is your complete state of Punjab. I’ve revealed my very own report card as a Member of Parliament and other people can decide for themselves that I’ve constantly raised the rights of Punjab in Parliament.
I’m nonetheless grateful to AAP for sending me to Rajya Sabha. However the scenario left me with no different alternative.
I spoke to Mr. Kejriwal earlier than deciding to affix the BJP. He requested me to resign from Rajya Sabha membership. However will my resignation clear up something inside AAP?
He himself didn’t imagine that even Pathak would go away. What was I anticipated to do when three of probably the most trusted folks within the occasion had been dissatisfied?
I labored in Punjab earlier than turning into an MP. Even when I can’t turn out to be a member tomorrow, I’ll proceed to be a member.
I’ve just one dream. It’s about creating world-class youth talent facilities in each district of Punjab and making a drug-free Punjab.
