Nearly five years after his death and more than a decade after his political retirement, Sardar Buta Singh—once India’s Union home minister and among the most-powerful Dalit politicians Punjab ever produced—has returned to the political stage of his home state Punjab. Not through remembrance or revival of his ideas but a controversy triggered by Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, state chief of his own party, the Congress.
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During a campaign speech in Tarn Taran, where a crucial assembly by-election will be held on November 11, Raja Warring referred to Buta Singh in a remark that touched both caste and colour—words that travelled across social media and set off a political storm.
For the Mazhabi Sikh community, to which Buta Singh belonged, the comment was deeply offensive. Within hours, outrage spread through Punjab’s Majha and Malwa regions, turning what might have been dismissed as a campaign gaffe into a symbol of caste arrogance and wounded dignity.
The response was swift and widespread. Buta Singh’s son, Sarabjot Singh, lodged a formal complaint, and the Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission took suo motu notice.
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