oppn parties Three Cheers For Bhagwant Mann

Story Of The Day

The Sensex Did Not Crash. Its Closing Auction Did Its Job Too Well.

September 02, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About the Language of Gen Z

News Snippets

  • Calcutta HC asks why are MPs facing egg-pelting, in the mohua Moitra case, allows the MP to enter her constituency with police protection
  • Police find fingerprints and other evidence of both the two accused and the rape survivor inside the bus in the Delhi gang rape case
  • Abhishek Upadhyay, the journalist who exposed the embezzlement of Ram Mandir funds, has sought Supreme Court help as Ghaziabad Police have sought his digital footprint from X. He claimed that such information will compromise the sources who provided him the information
  • Supreme Court quashes 127 FIRs in 5 states against students who took part in CJP stir. In repsonse, CJP cancels the September 5 march from India Gate to Delhi Police headquarters
  • TCS buys Best Buy's GCC operations in India, pips Accenture to the post in a deal worth around Rs 2000cr
  • To avoid stiff tariff, Aun Pharma offers to supply cheaper drugs at Most Favoured Nation pricing to US Medicaid programme
  • 5-member NCLT bench stays Subhash Chandra's Rs 6.5cr repayment order
  • Reliance entered the icecream space by launching Bombay Creamery
  • Copyright office rejects AI system as artwork author, says Parliament needs to make the legal position clear
  • GST collection jumps 15% in August to Rs 199853cr on the back of 29% jump in tax from imports
  • Asian Games: Japan Cricket Association says participating cricketing teams can arrange their own hotels as the Games are not directly under JCA
  • T20s versus Afghanistan: Bumrah and Samson return, Hardik still unfit. Sooryavanshi keeps his place
  • Duleep Trophy: South Zome have upper hand in the other semifinal
  • Duleep Trophy: East Zone beat Central Zone by four wickets to enter the final
  • PM Modi asks youth to make social media content on drug abuse
Duleep Trophy: South Zone beat North Zone by 7 wickets to set up the final clash with East Zone ////// Air Marshall (Retd) Jeetendra Sharma appointed the first CEO of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya
oppn parties
Three Cheers For Bhagwant Mann

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-05-24 13:05:03

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

In Indian politics, it takes courage for a party to acknowledge that a minster is corrupt, sack him and get him arrested. Keeping true to the AAP promise of a corruption-free Punjab, state chief minister Bhagwant Mann has done all three and deserves three cheers.

It is not often that one sees such a thing happening in India. All parties treat corruption as an endemic that will never go away. Most of them either just bench the corrupt minister or change his portfolio. The BJP boasts of having an honest Prime Minister in Narendra Modi who has zero tolerance for corruption and has adopted several measures to bring transparency in governance, but the same cannot be said of BJP-ruled states where corruption is rampant.

Although Mann has taken a courageous step, corruption in Punjab is deep-rooted. The entire state bureaucratic machinery is involved in looting the state and making it debt-ridden despite excellent revenue-generation potential. The chief minister will have to tackle the babus if he really means to banish corruption from Punjab.

But his action in sacking health minister Vijay Singla on corruption charges and then getting him arrested is likely to send the message down the line in the most convincing way. Corrupt officers and dishonest contractors will now think twice before breaking the rules or profiting at the state's expense. It will also encourage whistleblowers to come forward with a greater degree of confidence as they will know that action will be taken.

The Bhagwant Mann government already runs a corruption helpline where people can lodge complaints. But if no action is taken on the complaints lodged, people become frustrated and very soon stop making the effort. By taking action against Singla, the AAP government in Punjab has shown that it is committed to making Punjab corruption-free. Rooting out corruption is going to be a long and tough battle but it seems that Bhagwant Mann is equal to the task.

In all this, one thing is to be noted though. In a country where ministers audaciously, shamelessly and fearlessly demand a 'cut' of 20% or even 30%, poor Singla got sacked and arrested for demanding just 1%. Perhaps he was in the wrong political party. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

7.8% GDP Growth Is Good News.

 Accountability Cannot Be a Precondition to Debate

Accountability Cannot Be a Precondition to Debate

In Depth

The Taxman's Doppelganger: How India's ITR Filing Deadline Became a Phishing Season

The Taxman's Doppelganger: How India's ITR Filing Deadline Became a Phishing Season

Editor's Pick

Kangana Ranaut's War on 'Generation Gutter'

Kangana Ranaut's War on 'Generation Gutter'
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.