The gala event marking Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s daughter Niyamat Kaur’s second birthday at his Old Baradari residence in Jalandhar on Saturday evening turned into a public spectacle, with social media abuzz for two days as videos from the celebration circulated widely. The guest list read like a roll call of Punjab’s political and musical elite.
From Mohammad Sadiq, Hans Raj Hans, Harbhajan Mann, Jasbir Jassi, Ranjit Bawa, Ammy Virk, Nimrat Khaira to Basant Kaur—leading voices of Punjabi music took centre stage. Many performed live, while others shared glimpses online, turning the evening into a vibrant cultural collage. Folk beats, including Sadiq’s evergreen ‘Chhankata’, set the tone, with the Chief Minister and his wife, Dr Gurpreet Kaur, joining in to the Punjabi boli ‘Gera dede ni mutiyar lambi baanh karke’.
Mann, a former performer, stepped onto the stage, took the microphone and thanked the artists, saying, “Ajj tusin sadian khushian dugnian tignian karan aaye ho. Bahut bahut dhanwad” (You are here to double, triple our excitement. I thank you all).
The political presence was equally striking. AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal attended with his family, including daughter Harshita, son-in-law Sambhav Jain and son Pulkit Kejriwal. AAP Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, along with almost all ministers and MLAs, underscored the event’s subtle political undertone.
Amid the music and movement, the visual setting remained rooted in tradition, featuring a rural Punjabi-themed house as the backdrop for the cake-cutting ceremony. The butterfly-decked, white multi-tier cake bore Niyamat’s name in Punjabi. Dressed in a pink frock, the child cut the cake while holding her parents’ hands—an occasion the family sought to make memorable in the final year of the present government’s tenure. What emerged was more than a family celebration. It offered a snapshot of Punjab’s distinctive blend of politics, performance and public optics—all playing out on a single stage.
