Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has a penchant for accumulating degrees. He has a bachelor's in law and master's degrees in business administration and political science. And now, he is pursuing a doctoral thesis on the Indian National Congress, focusing on the party’s “central organisation and electoral strategies”. The topic could not have been more apt —or, say, more ironic—considering that what Channi proposes to research is exactly what he and his party are grappling with as they endeavour to retain power in the border state.
On September 20, when Channi was sworn in as Punjab’s first dalit chief minister, it was seen as a major disruption in state politics. The mighty Captain Amarinder Singh had been dethroned and replaced by a self-proclaimed aam aadmi (common man). And the appointment of a dalit to the top post in a state where 32 per cent voters belong to the scheduled castes was expected to send the other parties back to the drawing board.
Channi, 58, has played the part of the common man’s chief minister to the hilt, attempting to come across as a leader who has empathy for the woes of citizens, is in touch with the issues that matter at the grassroots, and is willing to take people’s feedback on governance. This was seen as a welcome change from the tenure of Amarinder, who was increasingly being viewed as detached and confined to the ivory tower.
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