NISSMAT is thrilled to share with you a compelling video on the crucial topic of “Veterans in Politics.” In this video, we had the honor of interviewing Col Jaibans Singh, BJP spokesperson for Punjab, who sheds light on the invaluable contributions of veterans to our nation’s politics.
What this session covered
This session took the form of a one-to-one interview between a host and a single guest: a retired Army officer who now serves as a spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Punjab. The guest traced his path from a career spent largely in the armoured corps to postings in the Army's information and public-information organisations, where analysing the political environment of Jammu and Kashmir first drew him towards political work. After retirement he continued that work through his own websites and a spell in the news media before formally joining the party, describing himself as a reluctant politician who prefers the intellectual and social side of party work to electoral ambition.
On what veterans bring to politics, the speaker pointed to discipline, punctuality, organisational ability, clarity of thought and perseverance, while cautioning that politics is a harder field than the Army: orders are obeyed in the military, whereas every voter must be persuaded. He advised veterans to be clear about why they are entering politics, which party suits them and at what level they wish to work, to respect career politicians rather than assume superiority, and to expect to prove themselves on the ground. He described party ex-servicemen cells and official channels through which he takes up individual veterans' grievances, mentioned efforts around recruitment testing, including seeking Punjabi as a test language, and said he had deliberately stayed out of pension-related agitation.
The latter part of the discussion turned to Punjab. The speaker listed drug abuse, public debt, youth emigration, the wheat-paddy cropping cycle, land disputes and freebie-driven electoral politics as the state's central problems, argued that civil-society attitudes must change, and claimed his party alone has the organisation and will to address these issues following its break with its former regional alliance partner. He also framed his personal motivation as preserving Punjab's place as the centre of the Sikh faith. The host closed by expressing the hope that more veterans would enter political life.
Key points raised
- The session was a one-to-one interview: the host questioned a single guest, a retired Army officer now serving as a political party spokesperson in Punjab, not a panel discussion.
- The speaker argued that discipline, punctuality, organisational skill and perseverance transfer from military to political life, but that politics is the harder field because voters must be persuaded rather than ordered.
- Veterans were advised to be clear about why, where and at what level they wish to work before joining a party, and not to assume superiority over career politicians.
- The speaker described taking up individual ex-servicemen's grievances through party cells and official channels, while saying he had deliberately stayed out of pension-related agitation.
- On Punjab, the speaker identified drug abuse, public debt, youth emigration, the wheat-paddy cropping cycle and freebie politics as central problems, and argued his party is best placed to address them.
