People’s Party has no people; Manpreet is a forlorn leader

Friday, 02/11/2012

http://punjabnewsline.com/news/There___s-something-wrong-about-Manpreet-Badal___s-attitude.html

CHANDIGARH: People’s Party of Punjab president Manpreet Badal’s situation can best be described in Kaifi Azmi’s famous couplet, “Dekhi zamane teri yari, bichhde sabhi bari bari……..”

Every member of his party, who was of any consequence, has deserted him within just a year. Perhaps, Manpreet is himself to be blamed somewhere for his desolation.

Just over a year ago, when People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) was launched, the situation was very different. Manpreet was riding high on his new-found popularity as a people’s leader, knowing little what future had in store for him.

The former Punjab Finance Minister perhaps peaked much ahead of time which has led to his untimely and premature downfall too.

The arrogance that he is being accused of now by his former associates seems to have its roots in the instant fame and public eminence that he had tasted during the initial days of PPP.

However, the picture changed drastically and dramatically for Manpreet as his party and persona both, fizzled out within a year and even before he could realise, most of his people had left him, leaving him a forlorn leader.

The heart of the matter here is not if he gets rid of people himself or if they desert him on their own. The issue is, he has failed miserably as a leader. Worse is, despite suffering major setbacks one after the other, he is unrelenting as the political head of a party rapidly losing public favour.

Manpreet’s dismissive underplaying of the revolt by his Press Secretary Arunjot Singh as the “wild rants of an employee” clearly betrays his weakness of attitude.

The scornful manner in which he addressed Sodhi as an “employee” only reflects upon his feudal mindset which is not capable of taking people along. He clearly was trying to emphasize that an “employee”, whoever that is, is disposable and dispensable. By doing so, Manpreet has only added yet another fatal event to the self-scripted unfortunate fate that he is living today.

Given the immense love Manpreet has for Urdu poetry, he might have wished a different couplet to fit his situation and that would have made a better sense for a wannabe mass leader… “mein akela hi chala tha janib-e-manzil, log aate gaye aur karvan banta gaya…” But unfortunately, for Manpreet, it is not so. Rather, he has lived it the other way round with people who started with him leaving him alone in the middle of nowhere.

And surprisingly, in the hindsight, Manpreet Badal had proved his cousin and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal right as all those who have left him have leveled same charges against him as Sukhbir had, at some point of time.

Manpreet is a desolate man today. So much so that he no longer finds even a mention anywhere when it comes to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal or his Deputy Chief Minister son Sukhbir. Manpreet must not have wished this!