Kejriwal Gets Interim Bail

On 10 May, the Indian Supreme Court gave Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal interim bail till

1 Jun, the final phase of voting for the seven-stage 2024 general election. The AAP chief was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 21 Mar in the alleged Delhi liquor excise policy scam. The ED argued, 'There is no fundamental right that will allow Kejriwal the right to bail to campaign.' Setting a precedent on ‘bail for campaign’ has implications for jailed Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and Sikh leader Amritpal Singh who has filed his papers from Khadoor Sahib, Panjab. Upon release, in his first public address, Kejriwal stated the reason he was jailed was because BJP could not topple AAP govts. in Delhi and Panjab. He also warned voters that the PM Narendra Modi is not seeking votes for himself but for Amit Shah. According to BJP’s own rules, as in the case of LK Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi and others, public figures need to retire by age 75. PM Modi turns 75 in Sep 2025. Shah denied such speculations but it reveals BJP’s hypocrisy: rules are for everyone else. He also warned Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath that he would be dropped as had happened with earlier CMs — Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan, ML Khattar in Haryana, and Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh. On 7 May, INC chief Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to leaders of the INDIA bloc, alleging discrepancies in the voting data of the first three phases released by the Election Commission of India. Now a civic body, Association for  Democratic Rights, is moving the Supreme Court on the issue (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 18, Story 2).

On 8 May, Canada’s House of Commons passed a private member’s motion, which alluded to an Indian link to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar on 18 Jun 2023. Titled Political Interference, Violence or Intimidation on Canadian Soil, the motion was moved by Indo-Canadian MP Sukh Dhaliwal on 12 Feb 2024. It was seconded by several MPs, including eight Indo-Canadians. The motion was passed with 326 votes, none against. Those who voted for it included Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, several cabinet ministers, and Pierre Poilievre, leader of the opposition Conservative Party. The motion stated it wanted the House to recognize that ‘recent events, including the credible allegations of a link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen Nijjar at a place of worship on Canadian soil, are examples of rising forms of intimidation, threats and interference from countries such as India, China, Russia, Iran and others.’ On 7 May, Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly re-asserted that Ottawa stands by the allegation that Nijjar was ‘killed on Canadian soil by Indian agents.’ During his first public remarks since the police arrested three Indian nationals in Nijjar’s killing, High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma linked the case to domestic crime. He warned Sikh groups in Canada who call for the separation of their homeland from India are crossing ‘a big red line’. On 11 May, Canada arrested a fourth Indian national for his role in the killing. 22-year-old Amardeep Singh has been charged with first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 19, Story 1). 

On 8 May, the Russian Foreign Ministry released an official statement challenging the US claims of Indian involvement in the foiled assassination plot against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, citing lack of solid evidence from Washington. Maria Zakharova, an official spokeswoman of the Russian foreign ministry, said, ‘According to the information we have, Washington has not yet provided any reliable evidence of the involvement of Indian citizens in the preparation of the murder of a certain GS Pannun. Speculation on this topic in the absence of evidence is unacceptable.’ The Russian foreign ministry said that the US has no understanding of the historical context of the development of the Indian state and added that it was ‘disrespecting India as a state.’ ‘I am sure this comes from the neocolonial mentality, the mentality of the colonial period, the period of the slave trade, and imperialism. The reason is that they try to unbalance the internal political situation in India in order to complicate the (ongoing) general parliamentary elections. That is part of meddling into India’s internal affairs,’ said Zakharova. The US has denied the allegations. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said, ‘No, of course, we don't involve ourselves in elections in India as we don't involve ourselves in elections anywhere in the world. Those are decisions for the people of India to make.’ India needs to be very cautious lest it is dragged into a fracas between Russia and the US, like in Ukraine and Iran. Meanwhile, the highest Czech court has stayed the lower courts’ decisions on the extradition of Indian national Nikhil Gupta (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 18, Story 1).

One in four candidates of major political parties locked in a four-way fight in Panjab for the 1 Jun general election is a defector. Of the total 52 candidates declared by the BJP, AAP, INC, and SAD, 14 are turncoats who crossed over to their new parties in the past two-and-a-half-years and got rewarded with tickets. Topping the list is BJP with seven such candidates, followed by INC and AAP with three each and SAD with one. BJP is notorious for its use of state departments to harass opposition leaders, snatch official residences of MPs, and even jail elected CMs. This time it was Ravneet Singh Bittu’s turn to face a similar set of events, ex-INC leader and incumbent MP from Ludhiana who crossed over to BJP. A night before Bittu was to file his nomination on 10 May, the Punjab Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms issued him a $219K notice to clear his house dues and vacate the govt. house, where he has been staying since 2016. The District Commissioner intimated the Municipal Commissioner that the govt. house was not allotted by their office, following which the house rent was to be recovered in double. Bittu alleged that AAP ruling in the state was behind the notice and Arvind Kejriwal had made him homeless. Bittu said that he had to pledge a chunk of his ancestral land at Kotla Afghana village, to arrange the money, pay the dues, vacate the house, take shelter in the BJP office, and file his nomination.

The Panjab govt. has not been able to meet its target for revenue receipts for the 2023-24 fiscal year, falling short in collections by almost 10%. As a result, the revenue deficit is up from the set target by $218M. The largest shortfall has been registered in the grants-in-aid and contributions (states receive from the Indian govt.), which fell short by 29.75% of the target. However, the state’s share from national taxes increased by $201M, which is over and above the target of $2.2B. The total borrowings by the Panjab govt. in 2023-24 were $3.7B against a target of raising $4.1B.  As of 31 Mar 2024, the total debt burden on the state was $41B. The AAP government also paid $2.4B as interest on its borrowings. Even non-tax revenue collected by the state has shown a shortfall in collections by $95M. The tax collections during the fiscal touched $8B down from the target of $8.4B. The state govt. has also spent 6.5% less than budgeted during the last fiscal year. The govt. cleared the power subsidy of $2,247M, besides clearing all its salary and pension liabilities. However, most of the revenue earned by the state continued to go into meeting the committed liabilities. Only $577M was spent on creating infrastructure (capital assets), which is just 46.96% of what the govt. initially proposed to spend as capital expenditure. After two years in power, AAP can no longer blame previous govts. for the fall in revenue receipts (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 11, Story 2).

On 7 Feb, the Punjab and Haryana High Court (PHHC) sought a response from the Indian and Panjab govts. on a public interest litigation (PIL), seeking an independent probe into the alleged extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances during Panjab’s militancy years estimated at 6,733. The plea was filed in Dec 2019 by the Punjab Documentation and Advocacy Project (PDAP) and nine victim families. On 11 May, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted before PHHC that investigation into the encounter killings, custodial deaths and illegal cremation of dead bodies in Panjab is ‘not feasible’ and will be a futile exercise. The CBI submitted that ‘the criminal investigation in these matters would not deliver the desired outcome due to paucity of prosecutable evidence in view of facts that the incidents are over three decades old, non-availability of the eye witnesses, difficulty in recalling the facts of the incident by the witnesses due to loss of memory over the period of time.’ Therefore, the initiation of investigation is not feasible as it will be an exercise in futility, resulting in wastage of manpower and government machinery. The reply added the CBI is not denying ‘that families were traumatized’ and many lost the sole breadwinner of the family. The response also cited National Human Rights Commission orders on 11 Nov 2004 and 3 Apr 2012 on compensation to families. Now it is up to Acting Chief Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji who admitted the petition after five years to push for holding the Indian and Panjab govts. responsible for these killings (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 7, Story 3).

In a setback for Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini, on 7 May, three independent MLAs withdrew their support from the BJP govt. and announced they would back the INC. The BJP govt. is now two short of majority mark in the 90-member Haryana assembly. The MLAs Sombir Sangwan (Dadri), Randhir Singh Gollen (Pundri) and Dharampal Gonder (Nilokheri) announced their decision at a press conference in Rohtak in the presence of Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state INC chief Udai Bhan. Former deputy CM and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala said on 8 May he would ‘support Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda’ if the INC initiates a move to topple the state govt. Given the general elections and that floor test in Haryana assembly took place in March this year and state assembly elections are due by October this year, INC is biding its time. Farmer distress figures high on the reasons the MLAs cited for withdrawing support. This can be considered a fallout of the current Farmers’ Protest. Out of 10 parliamentary seats in Haryana, Sikhs hold sway in at least 4 seats where their population is close to 20% of the total voters. The issue affecting Sikh voters would be the urban-rural divide. Urban voters incline towards BJP and rural voters are anti-BJP. Another issue is the Haryana State Gurdwara Management Committee coming into being in September 2022 but not being able to conduct elections which are to be held by 31 Jul this year.

India's reliance on pulses imports has increased, nearly doubling in the 2023-24 fiscal year to $3.74B. The surge in imports, estimated to be over 450 KT, is aimed at meeting domestic demand and controlling prices. As countries such as Brazil and Argentina start expanding acreages under black matpe or urad, India as the largest consumer of pulses expects an increase in imports from those nations. Presently, Myanmar has been the main supplier of urad to India. ‘Brazil has already started growing pulses. We expect at least some 50KT of black matpe coming from Brazil this year from June-July,’ said Bimal Kothari, Chairman, India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA), the apex trade body for the sector. According to Igrain India, the urad imports registered an increase of around 19% during 2023-24 to around 620 KT over the previous year’s 524KT. In FY 21-22, India’s urad imports stood at 611KT, registering a 77% increase from previous year’s 344KT. India has extended the duty-free imports of urad till 31 Mar 2025 to deal with the pulse inflation. As per Agriculture Ministry’s second advance estimates, the urad output during 2023-24 was down at 205 KT compared to the previous year’s 263KT. Kharif production was down at 155 KT over previous year’s 176 KT, while the rabi (winter) output was lower at 505 KT over previous year’s 633KT, as per the second advance estimates. It must be highlighted that India is importing such vast quantities of pulses while Indian farmers, including those from Panjab, are willing to grow them domestically, provided they are assured of a Minimum Support Price (MSP). The govt. refuses to set MSP.

Pakistan’s farmers are up in arms, protesting low procurement of wheat and the govt. is cracking down on them. Wheat rates have plummeted to reach a shocking below the support price of $14 per 40 kg. In 2023, the Pakistan caretaker govt. allowed private business entities to import wheat worth $1.2B from August 2023 to March 2024 with little to no regard for domestic production. Permission to import wheat came when the prices of wheat started decreasing in the international market. The data compiled by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), shows Pakistan’s import of wheat stood 3.44 MT at an estimated cost of $1B. This put a major dent in the national exchequer of Pakistan and the country’s foreign exchange reserves at a time when Pakistan was struggling with a historic economic crisis. The caretaker govt. doled out hard-earned $1.05B in foreign exchange. This year, Pakistan has seen a bumper wheat crop production. With the massive amount of import, the procurement of wheat by the Pakistan govt. was slashed from 7.8 MT in the last fiscal year to 4.44 MT. This was almost a 50% decrease from last year’s figure which has led to protests this week and next. Like the Indian farmers from the wheat belt — Panjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh — the Pakistan farmers too are asking for the formulation of a permanent policy for the agriculture sector, ensuring fixed rates for seeds, DAP and Urea fertilizer composts, water, electricity, and diesel.

Indie filmmakers are making movies that are tearing down ideals of honor and masculine pride – tropes in which Panjabi cinema has been trapped in for long. These films subvert mainstream blockbuster tropes of heroes leaving their homes for Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, while finding love along the way. Instead, they are putting Dalits (low-castes) and women in the forefront. Within the state, indie filmmakers are pushing against an industry that prefers casting singers as heroes and producing rom-coms and comedies. ‘In commercial movies, you do not find anyone apart from Jatt Sikhs as actors, and all the stories are about them,’ says director Gurvinder Singh, one of the flag bearers of Panjab’s parallel cinema. ‘But there has to be an alternate voice and films that speak of Panjab beyond its mustard fields, comedy, romance and singers-turned-actors playing the lead,’ says Shashank Walia, a well-known cinematographer. These homegrown films are receiving critical acclaim abroad. Ivan Ayr’s Panjabi-Hindi movie, Milestone (2020), or Meel Patthar, about a truck driver coping with loss, streamed on Netflix and screened at international film festivals in Venice, China, and South Korea. The critically acclaimed Adh Chanani Raat (2022), directed by Gurvinder Singh, was showcased at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Anmol Sidhu’s 2022 debut, Jaggi, on sexual abuse in rural Panjab, was nominated in the Best Youth Feature Film category at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Last year, the first international film festival of Chandigarh, titled Cinévesture, featured four Panjabi-language indie films. However, despite critical success, these films struggle to get theatrical releases and audiences to watch them within Panjab or even in India.