AJIT – AAP – Barjinder Singh Hamdard – Bhagwant Mann – All Is Well

How politics, power equations and media companionship turned “Punjab Di Awaz” into “Meri Awaz Suno”

YOU HAVE STUDIED your share of logic in Class X.

A theorem is a significant truth reached via rigorous logic, while a corollary is a direct spinoff of that theorem — with proof following easily from the main theorem. For example,

Theorem — Duniya mein koi kisi ka hamdard nahi.
Corollary — Hamdard duniya mein kisi ka nahi.

Connected to this is the theorem about objectivity and balance in journalism. Given the realities of realpolitik in Punjab, you can judge the relationship between an editor and the powers that be from the slant in the news coverage.

Scam, Silence and Sudden Smiles

Till just a few months ago, the Punjab government — particularly Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann — was telling us that Ajit newspaper supremo Barjinder Singh Hamdard was involved in a massive scam running into crores.

A vigilance inquiry followed, an FIR was registered, summons went out, and Bhagwant Mann used to chuckle about fraud and smirk at the usage of the word “hamdard.”

Then, Hamdard went and met the Prime Minister, of course ostensibly in some different context. Several days later, without much context, Ajit published a picture of Hamdard and Narendra Modi.

Meanwhile, as aforesaid, the Vigilance Bureau had registered a case of fraud related to the construction of the Jang-e-Azadi Memorial.

Vigilance inquiry number 05/2023 followed, and an FIR (No. 9 dated 22.05.2024 u/s 420, 406, 409, 465, 467, 468, 471, 120-B of the IPC and Section 13(1)A read with 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act) was registered at the VB police station, Jalandhar Range. Of 26 named accused, 15 were arrested. The world was told that others would be arrested soon.

The case was about a 2012 plan to build the memorial, for which the state government had sanctioned Rs 315 crores and 25 acres of prime land.

Barjinder Singh Hamdard was appointed as the President of the Executive Committee/Management Committee, who, along with Vinay Bublani, I.A.S., and the former Chief Executive Officer, supervised all construction works.

The government, in an official statement, claimed that they did not empower others and had allotted construction works to their choicest contractors.

The Long Journey From Accusations to Accommodation

Hamdard was accused of misusing powers under Clause No. 9 and 10 of the Punjab Freedom Movement Memorial Foundation’s Deed of Declaration (2012) for personal benefits, of conniving with contractors and government officers/officials, and of making excess payments under the guise of non-scheduled items. The amounts ran into crores.

The Bhagwant Mann government freely dished out details about how non-scheduled construction of six “Gubands” was cleared, Hilti Cramps were used for stone cladding work, and payments of crores of rupees were made to contractors by giving enhanced rates.

Scam in steel buying was also alleged by the Vigilance Bureau. Hamdard was also held responsible for a failed laser show installed at a cost of around Rs 14 crores at Jang-e-Azadi.

Hamdard had blamed the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government for “repeatedly maligning the name of the memorial by sending police and vigilance teams.”

On his part, Hamdard, who had to obtain a stay from arrest, called the allegations baseless. He claimed that Mann, during his days as a comedian, often used to visit him but turned against him because “my paper carried write-ups which were not to his liking.”

He claimed that it was his friendship with Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa that peeved Mann.

Also Read: How Modi Govt Retreated at Double Speed After Punjab Today Report

Hamdard also claimed that he had told Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh that Mann would be a misfit as a CM, and hence all this rivalry.

And then politics started taking some turns. The BJP began making serious inroads into Punjab. Sikh faces were at a premium.

How Ajit, AAP and BJP Found Common Comfort

The BJP found some pointsmen in Punjab to rustle together turbaned faces and present them as leading intellectuals of the Sikh community.

Photographs of the Prime Minister with Sikh professors, intellectuals, godmen, businessmen and power brokers began appearing in newspapers.

And one day, PM Modi was seen in serious deliberations with Hamdard, a media baron and a force to reckon with, as he is also the de facto editor of the mass-circulation Punjabi daily Ajit.

Ajit and Hamdard are widely known for taking political stances and have been beneficiaries as well as sufferers at the hands of regimes.

Hamdard had come into confrontation with Captain Amarinder Singh’s first government, particularly with his Man Friday Bharat Inder Singh Chahal, and Ajit had lost out massively in ad revenue.

Something similar happened after Bhagwant Mann and Hamdard fell out; Ajit lost advertisements, and Hamdard was targeted by Bhagwant Mann.

At one stage, there was a real apprehension of arrest. He was repeatedly summoned, too.

At one stage, Hamdard wrote about his soured relationship with the AAP government in a front-page editorial, complained about loss of advertisements, and even wrote to the Punjab Governor on the issue.

But then behind-the-scenes politics happened. The Hamdard–PM meeting sent out significant signals among the AAP leadership, and one day suddenly, the ads started appearing — the first one being the swearing-in ceremony for the new sarpanches.

Hamdard kept on sending signals about his reach to the core of the BJP’s power edifice.

So, without explaining much context or even geography to Punjabis and readers of Ajit, Hamdard’s daughter one day found cause to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of Mongolia. The photographs made it to significant display in the pages of Ajit.

Photographs of the editor and the editor’s family members appearing on the front pages of Jalandhar’s vernacular newspapers are now a staple of the regional media, with even journalists forgetting to scoff at the practice.

Ajit told readers that PM Modi had sent “Pranam” to Hamdard via the latter’s daughter.

And then, at a social function in Jalandhar in April this year, Bhagwant Mann was seen bowing before Hamdard and touching his knees, a visual that told a tale of tables being turned.

 

Politics, Power and Punjab’s Media Matrix

Meanwhile, Ajit’s news coverage swayed as per the political winds. Hamdard wrote a rather longish signed editorial praising Modi for “Veer Bal Diwas,” told readers about how Modi often visits Sikh gurdwaras, called Rahul Gandhi an immature leader, and wrote that Rahul Gandhi’s statements, meant to be “Aatishbazi,” end up merely as “shurlis.”

Rahul Gandhi, during a foreign visit, had raised the question of freedom of religion and underlined certain difficulties faced by Sikhs.

Hamdard went hammer and tongs after Rahul Gandhi and editorially claimed that Sikhs were completely free in India to live as they please and were thriving.

Hamdard gave full marks and a certificate to Modi and demanded that Rahul Gandhi should apologise to “Smucha Sikh Jagat.”

From Target to Trusted: The Curious Turnaround

Meanwhile, the AAP government also found its coverage getting less and less critical in the pages of Ajit. Earlier this month, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau decided to file a cancellation report in the 2024 criminal case against Hamdard and others.

From bombastic headlines that claimed that Bhagwant Mann was being sidelined and his feathers were being clipped by the AAP high command, the Mann government found massive relief in the pages of this newspaper.

With Manish Sisodia visiting Ajit Bhawan this week, and his picture sitting next to Barjinder Singh Hamdard making it to the front page of Ajit, the Ajit–AAP–Bhagwant Mann relationship seems to have turned full circle.

Questions about ethics, objectivity and public interest rarely inform debate about media in Punjab, with journalists, police officers, and civil officialdom incessantly discussing personal relationships and power equations among the dramatis personae.

Politics in Punjab today often looks less like a battle of ethics and more like a careful arrangement where everyone must remain pleased. Perhaps the poet said it best:

“मय भी होटल में पियो, चंदा भी दो मस्जिद में,
शैख़ भी ख़ुश रहें, शैतान भी बे-ज़ार न हो।”

The aim seems to be simple — keep everyone happy; truth and accountability can wait.

Also Read: Silencing Journalism: Pressure Tactics and Law

For the moment, this is the picture of “All is well.” As for journalism, when did we claim that it even figured in the theorem?
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Also Read:

Holy City or Holy Confusion? Punjab Notification Collides with Law, Rights and Sikh Doctrine

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