The oath-taking ceremony of newly-elected sarpanchs and panchs from Bathinda district turned out to be a comical affair on Saturday as many of the elected representatives parroted the words uttered by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
To help the newly-elected sarpanchs and panchs, Badal told them to take their oaths on this line of, “Main Falana Singh sauhn chukda haan’ (I XYZ Singh take oath) and “Saarian da dhanwaad” (thank you everyone).
While taking oath, many of the 295 sarpanchs and 2,200 panchs ended up referring to themselves as ‘Falana Singh’ in the speech instead of reading out their name. Surprised, the CM had to repeat thrice that they had to take their own names while reading out the oath.
Thefaux pasbetrayedthe lack of awareness among the new panchayat members and their literacy levels. As per 2011 census, Punjab has a literacy rate of 75.84% while the literacy rate in the state’s rural areas is 71.42%.
Shaking his head in disbelief, a Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader, who was present at the ceremony, said, “It shows how illiterate our elected representatives are and how miserably the government has failed in making them understand the basics of democracy”.
A political activist said though the Punjab CM has told the sarpanchs and other panchayat members not to be fooled by panchayat secretaries and should be careful about signing documents and cheques, they could easily be taken for a ride, given their level of awareness, as reflected during the oathtaking ceremony.
After administering oath to the panchayat members in Bathinda, Badal moved to Mansa for a similar exercise. He was accompanied by daughter-in-law and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, panchayat minister Surjit Singh Rakhra, education minister Sikandar Singh Maluka, irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon and chief parliamentary secretary Sarup Chand Singla.
Comedy of errors
- Punjab CM had given panchs and sarpanchs an oath-taking format which started with: “Main Falana Singh…”
- Parroting him, many referred to themselves as ‘Falana Singh’ while taking their oath
- CM, while correcting them, had to repeat thrice that they had to take their own names
