Punjab Congress leaders detained during protest over Dalit villager’s suicide

Congress leaders, including party’s Punjab in-charge Sachin Pilot and state chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, were detained by police on Tuesday during a protest demanding the removal of Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema over the alleged suicide of a Dalit man in Sangrur.

The protesters were seeking an independent investigation into the death of Gulzar Singh, a resident of Dirba, who died on 7 September after allegedly consuming poison. His family has alleged that he was harassed and subjected to casteist slurs after questioning Cheema about the supply of drugs in the area at an event in Dirba a day earlier.

Congress leaders and workers attempted to march towards Cheema’s official residence and tried to cross police barricades. Police used water cannons to disperse them. The Congress claimed that several protesters, including senior leader Kuljit Nagra, were injured.

Heavy police deployment was made in the area, and Pilot, Warring, Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa and several party workers were later detained.

Addressing protesters outside the Punjab Congress headquarters before the march, Pilot accused the AAP government of failing to address the circumstances surrounding Singh’s death.

Pilot said Singh had raised concerns about the drug menace and alleged that the pressure on him had contributed to his decision to take his own life.

“We have no personal enmity with Cheema sahib. But you are sitting in office; you are the finance minister. A man is taking his life and making a video saying that ‘I am taking my own life because of this person’. Does the law not say that there should be an investigation, there should be an FIR?” Pilot said.

He also accused the AAP government of failing to fulfil its election promises and alleged that drug availability had worsened in Punjab.

“Today, there is a home delivery of ‘chitta’ (synthetic drugs). You make a phone call and it is reaching every home,” he claimed.

Pilot said Congress would continue to raise the issue and seek justice for Singh.

“Rahul Gandhi ji has told all of us that we have to struggle with the people of Punjab as their voice,” he said.

This was Pilot’s first visit to Punjab since he was appointed the Congress general secretary in-charge of the state.

The protest also brought together several senior leaders of the faction-ridden Punjab Congress, including former chief minister and Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi and Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.

The state Congress has faced internal differences since the party leadership decided on 1 July to retain Warring as state unit president and appoint Channi as chairman of its campaign committee. A section of leaders led by Channi had opposed Warring’s continuation.

However, the leaders who joined Tuesday’s protest said their immediate priority was to strengthen the party ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, while leadership questions would be decided by the Congress high command later.