From a comedian to Punjab chief minister, Bhagwant Mann has seen a phenomenal rise in a political career of just over a decade. Mann on Wednesday, March 16,  was sworn in as chief minister at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in Punjab’s Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar district.

Mann, 48, is a sitting Member of Parliament from Punjab. He won from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 and 2019. He was chosen as the AAP‘s chief ministerial candidate earlier on January 18 this year and won the Punjab polls from Dhuri seat.

He now becomes the first non-Congress and non-Akali leader to become the CM after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966. Inviting people of Punjab to his oath-taking ceremony, Mann told them it will be their government. Weeks before election day, Arvind Kejriwal‘s AAP declared him its CM face after a phone-in poll, called ‘Janta Chunegi Apna CM’ (people will pick their own CM).

The AAP state unit president was the first choice of over 90 per cent of the 21 lakh callers. He fought the polls from Dhuri, an assembly segment in his Sangrur parliamentary constituency, winning by a margin of over 58,000.

Mann’s career in comedy was at its peak when he quit and took the political plunge. In 2011, he joined Manpreet Badal’s People’s Party of Punjab. The People’s Party of Punjab was an experiment in clean politics in 2011 by Manpreet Badal, a nephew of Akali patriarch and five-time Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

In 2012, Mann fought his first election from Lehragagga assembly seat against former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal but lost.

Manpreet Badal merged his party with the Congress before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but Mann refused to go along.

In 2014, Mann fought on the AAP ticket from the Sangrur Lok Sabha sear and won by a record margin of over two lakh votes defeating veteran Akali leader S.S. Dhindsa.

Early Life And Childhood

Mann was born into the family of a school teacher at Satoj village in Sangrur on October 17, 1973. He released his maiden audio cassette while in B.Com 1st year at Shaheed Udham Singh Government College, Sunam (Sangrur), at the age of 18. Mann, a master of social and political satire, was soon the undisputed king of comedy in Punjab with long-running television shows such as ‘Jugnu Mast Mast’.

Some of the notable comic characters played by Maan include  Jugnoo, Jhandaa Singh, Bibo Buhaa and Pappu Paas. His comedy TV shows include ‘Jugnu Mast-Mast’ and ‘No Life With Wife’. In 2008, Mann competed in the Great Indian Laughter Challenge on Star Plus which increased his audience. He also acted in National Award winning film “Main Maa Punjab Dee” directed by Balwant Dullat.