Punjab ex-minister Bhagat Chunni Lal, the BJP face in Jalandhar, dies at 94

Bhagat Chunni Lal, a former minister in the Punjab Cabinet and a prominent BJP figure with more than three decades of electoral experience, passed away on Thursday at the age of 94. For generations of voters in Jalandhar, Chunni Lal served as a familiar face in politics, leading a career that endured changes in constituencies, governments, and political dynamics.

As a three-time MLA and former deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, his influence persisted even after he stepped away from electoral politics through his son, Mohinder Bhagat, who is now an AAP leader and Cabinet Minister. Born on December 1, 1932, in Sialkot, which is currently located in Pakistan, Chunni Lal relocated to Jalandhar with his family following the partition.

His political journey commenced in 1985 when he contested the Jalandhar South Assembly seat as an independent candidate but lost. He subsequently joined the BJP, contested again in 1997 as their candidate, and was victorious. Chunni Lal secured his seat again in 2007 and continued to win in Jalandhar West after the constituency's boundaries were altered in 2012 due to delimitation.

His political progression within the party was marked by his election as Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in 2011, and he later joined the Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government as a Cabinet minister in 2012. During his tenure from 2012 to 2017, he oversaw responsibilities such as Local Bodies, Medical Education and Research, Labour, and Forest and Wildlife, and served as the leader of the BJP legislature party in the Assembly.

After opting not to contest the 2017 election, Chunni Lal retired from electoral politics. However, his grandson, Mohinder Bhagat, took over as the next representative of their family's political legacy, emerging as a figurehead for the family's politics following his retirement. Despite some political complications, such as Mohinder's resignation from the BJP in 2023, Chunni Lal had expressed his disappointment, stating that his son had not informed him about the decision and became emotional during the conversation.

A year later, when Mohinder contested the Jalandhar West Assembly bypoll on an AAP ticket in 2024, Chunni Lal called on voters to support his son, who went on to win the bypoll. The Punjab government announced a half-day holiday in remembrance of Chunni Lal's passing, and several political leaders, including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, and Congress MP and former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, expressed their condolences.