Daljit Singh Kohli has embarrassed 7 RCR

All his life, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has strictly kept his family away from his public life. Now, just when his decade-long tenure as prime minister is drawing to an end, a 58-year-old, little-known businessman from Amritsar has turned the spotlight on his family. Daljit Singh Kohli, Manmohan’s step-brother, has suddenly jumped into politics and much to the embarrassment of the prime minister, whose extended family also claims allegiance to the Congress, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

For BJP, it was nothing short of a coup. It introduced this new member to the politically charged country at a public rally in the presence of its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, its Amritsar candidate, Arun Jaitley, and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. Looking on with unconcealed delight and a sense of achievement on his face while Modi gave a tight hug to Kohli at the rally was Manjit Singh GK, the president of the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee. Those who have followed Punjab politics didn’t take long to put two and two together. GK is Jaitley’s friend and neighbour and it is he, they say, who has brought Kohli into BJP. Kohli’s first press meet after his move to BJP was closely controlled by GK who has since put up the image of Modi hugging Kohli as his Facebook display picture. The idea is to tell one and all that even the prime minister’s brother supports Modi.

Achieving this wasn’t tough given that Kohli has been harbouring political ambitions for the last few years. His son, Kanwar Singh, 28, admits as much. “We have been seeing tayaji’s (Uncle Manmohan) state the last two years. He has been taking the blame for the Congress’s wrongdoings. So some years ago, my father decided he would enter politics. Jaitleyji is a friend.” Ask him since when his father has known Jaitley and he says, “For about two months.”

Kohli is the youngest of 10 siblings. Manmohan, at 81, is the eldest. The two are separated by a gap of 23 years — and now, also by ideology. Manmohan’s father, Gurmukh Singh, had six children from his first wife, Amrit Kaur, who died early. Kohli and three other children were born to his second wife, Krishen Kaur. But there is some confusion about this among the younger generations of the family. “We only get to know from the media who was born to whom,” says Kanwar.

Kohli’s family earlier lived in Amritsar’s walled city, but now has a house on Loharka Road, a colony on the outskirts of the city. Before the political plunge, he has been a hardcore businessman with an auto piston manufacturing unit, textile exports and a readymade garment store. “Now he wants to be active in politics. He is already in Delhi working for Modiji. BJP will decide what role to give him. I will look after the business,” says Kanwar.

The rest of the family hasn’t taken to this kindly. “We are saddened by this,” says Randeep Singh, Manmohan’s grandson. The extended family says it does not know why Kohli chose to join BJP. But they haven’t got in touch with him to find out. “Nobody wants to contact him. The PM’s office also told us that we should not call him,” says one of Manmohan’s relatives who does not wish to be named. “Kohli is an unknown entity in politics,” adds another.

BJP may not gain anything out of this move, but it might have succeeded in embarrassing the prime minister.