Remember the good old days when Satyendar Jain along with his mentor Arvind Kejriwal, stormed Delhi politics armed only with idealism—and the odd whistle stop rally? Fast-forward to today, and our once-on-a-mission maverick is quietly running Punjab’s health show…from his swanky government bungalow in Chandigarh. Yes, that’s right: the very same man who famously duelled with bureaucratic red tape in Delhi is now pulling strings in Punjab’s Health Department—no scalpel needed. His former “Officer on Special Duty,” Shaleen Mitra, has even decamped north to join him, suggesting this isn’t just a weekend hobby. But Jain isn’t alone in his Punjabi escapade. Delhi’s ex-Deputy CM, Manish Sisodia, long champion of free textbooks, has slipped into an advisory role in Punjab’s Education Department. And who could forget Reena Gupta—once sparring verbally with Kejriwal’s critics—is now bossing around the state’s Pollution Control Board.
It’s like a political exchange program in reverse: Delhi’s brain trust setting up shop amidst Punjab’s lassi-loving heartland. Jasmine Shah, erstwhile vice chair of Delhi’s Dialogue Commission, is now the “lead governance fellow” (fancy!) in Punjab’s IT wing. Meanwhile, Kamal Bansal has swapped pilgrimage panel meetings in Delhi for Tirth Yatra Samiti chairmanship in Punjab—holy detours, indeed! Insiders whisper there are at least ten government flats in Chandigarh now occupied by these Delhi imports, who’ve brought their own brand of “principled” bureaucracy. Critics chuckle that, once fighting the system, they’re now…the system. But hey, if you can’t beat ’em, send in your most devoted ex-crusaders to run the show—bungalow style.
