PATIALA: In 1977, when the shroud of Emergency clouded the country, a student at Government Medical College in Amritsar forgot put his studies to become a doctor in the backburner and instead raised a flag against this “oppression”. At the time, Dharamvira Gandhi had to spend a month in prison.Cut to 2014, the student became a renowned cardiologist, but the rebel inside never died: So, when Arvind Kejriwal formed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from Anna Hazare’s Indian Anti-Corruption Movement in 2013, Dr Gandhi, who was practising medicine in Patiala at the time, jumped on to the bandwagon and started his political career. He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Patiala on an AAP ticket and defeated former minister for external affairs (state) Preneet Kaur, wife of present CM Amarinder Singh, by 20,942 votes.However, when the AAP national convener tried to purge dissidence within the party by showing the way out to senior leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, Dr Gandhi went ballistic against the move. This paved the way for his suspension from the party in April 2015.Having been sidelined within the party, Dr Gandhi shaped his politics around the issues that dominated the Punjabi psyche — including the decriminalisation of transitional drugs like opium and seeking royalty from non-riparian states over the use of Punjab waters to strengthen the state’s economy. As a member of Parliament’s standing committee on urban development and the consultative committee of Union ministry of railways, he got approvals for the Rs 1251-crore project for double laning the Rajpura–Bahtinda rail track and Rs 200-crore electrification project for Rajpura-Bathinda rail line.He also credits himself for introducing private bills in the Lok Sabha — like the Guardians and Wards (Amendment) Bill, 2016; The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Sikh Marriage Bill, 2016; the Hindu Minority and Guardianship (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Thalassemia Prevention Bill, 2018; the Indian Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2018; and the Industrial Employment and Environmental Protection Bill, 2018. He even got Rs 1.98 crore sanctioned from the Prime Minister’s Office for poor patients of his constituency who needed money for treatment of cancer, thalassemia, bone marrow transplant, heart surgery and dialysis.He landed in a controversy when he sowed poppy (opium) seeds at Chhapar village in Ludhiana district and the police initiated a probe against him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS) Act in October, last year. However, he remained unfazed and continued with his crusade to decriminalise traditional drugs such as opium and poppy husk, claiming it would go a long way in bringing down the use of synthetic drugs.He has been contending that countries like the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Brazil have already withdrawn bans on cultivation of marijuana and these countries have even increased their income while saving their young population from unnecessary prosecution. He also held a meeting with Union home minister Rajnath Singh, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and the state’s chief secretary on the issue.True to his nature of being a rebel, Dr Gandhi was often seen with leaders who, despite possessing a strong political acumen, had failed to find a suitable place in traditional parties. He was seen sharing the centre stage with former Congress leader Jagmeet Singh Brar when he took out the ‘Mukti Yatra’ on the issues concerning Punjab and even reached out to Taksali Akalis when Brahmpura and his loyalists were shown the door by the Shiromani Akali Dal.In March, last year, he floated Punjab Manch expecting it to evolve into a political party, but he formed the Patiala Democratic Alliance (PDA) with Sukhpal Khaira and his MLAs, along with the Bains brothers and the BSP state president Rashpal Raju, in December last year. He insisted on having a single party and contesting the elections under a single leader and a single slogan. However, when Khaira announces his Punjabi Ekta Party, he was seen supporting him at the launch, but never joined the party himself.He now says he would be contesting the next Lok Sabha election as a member of the PDA and not of any political party, which, according to political observers, can change if the PDA paves the way for a single political party.

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