Recent developments have raised questions which will influence future course of Punjab politics. For instance: Will the ‘offence is the best defence’ wartime strategy lately adopted by the Badals help them retrieve the lost politico-religious ground before the 2017 Assembly elections? Will they be able to meet the challenge posed by anti-incumbency and faulty governance which have hit the common man, particularly Akali Dal’s core farmer-Sikh constituency? Will they be able to counter the serious political challenge posed by the revamped state Congress with the fighter Capt. Amarinder Singh as its head?
A look-back at some of the past few months’ developments may help find answers to the questions.
Punjab’s ongoing religio-political turmoil triggered by the unnerved Akali leadership’s eagerness to promote its 2017 electoral prospects has caused deep erosion in the party’s popular base. It began with the Badals politically-managing pardon from an obliging clergy, for the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s “blasphemy” of attiring himself as the tenth Guru Gobind Singh for which the clergy had declared Tankhaiya. The Dera head commands huge following in Akali Dal’s Malwa stronghold. The pardon evoked strong resentment among the Sikhs causing revolts in the Sikh religious bodies and cracks in the ruling party.
Coupled with Dera chief’s politically-managed pardon, what proved to be most damaging for the ruling party and the government’s image was the sudden spurt in Guru Granth Sahib’s desecration incidents. Failure of the police to nab the culprits strengthened the impression that under Sukhbir Badal, who holds the Home portfolio, the police is misused more as ruling party’s tool against its political opponents than taking care of law and order. This impression has gained momentum with the reports that at micro-levels, the police are functioning at the command of the extra-constitutional outfit of Akali Dal’s ‘halqa’ (constituency) in-charges appointed by Sukhbir. It will be keenly watched how far Punjab’s newly appointed DGP Suresh Arora succeeds in fulfilling his November 25 promise that “he would not allow Akali ‘halqa’ chiefs to interfere in police matters and any policeman found flouting norms under political patronage would not be spared”. Arora was replying to newsmen’s questions about interference in police functioning by SAD ‘halqa’ incharges.
It is in the above backdrop that the developments including the Sikh radicals’ Nov 10 Sarbat Khalsa held near Amritsar and the Akali Dal’s inaugural Nov 23 Sadbhavna Rally held at the Badal’s Bathinda stronghold need to be analysed.
The Akali leadership should be ready to face greater challenges on the political front. Taking cue from the electoral sweep of Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan, there is a possibility of Punjab’s opposition parties also joining hands to oppose the Akali-BJP alliance for fighting 2017 elections.
Despite being massively attended, the two rallies conveyed diametrically opposite political messages reflecting the conflicting realities of the present day Punjab politics. The first was the spontaneous massive participation in Sarbat Khalsa by the Sikhs hurt by the holy book’s desecration while those attending Akali Dal’s Sadbhavna rally were ferried in party-provided vehicles. According to an on-the-spot report in an English Daily, the attendees at the Sadbhavna rally included a large number of “MNREGA workers, daily wagers and senior citizens” and there was rampant misuse of official machinery for organising the function.
The second message was the conflicting objectives behind the two rallies. Sarbat Khalsa was held to protest against the desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and the government’s failure to check the sacrilege incidents. Though divided, the radical groups which organised Sarbat Khalsa could not hide their real intentions as they got separatist resolutions passed by the congregation.
The ostensible objective of Sadbhavna Rally as enunciated by Parkash Singh Badal was to “promote peace and communal harmony” in the state. He warned against attempts to bring back the dark days of the 1980s. Sukhbir, however, did not hide the political objective behind the rally saying that it was the beginning of the party’s 2017 elections campaign, naming the Congress as the party’s main target.
If Sukhbir’s charge that the Congress helped in sending people for Sarbat Khalsa is believed, it would imply that the Opposition has been able to cause deep erosion in the Akali Dal’s main Sikh support base. In support of his charge, Sukhbir gave unconvincing reason that two Congress leaders including former Congress MLA Ramanjit Singh Sikki were present on the stage. Responding to Sukhbir’s contention, Sikka said that deeply hurt by Guru Granth Sahib’s desecration he had even resigned from the Assembly and attended Sarbat Khalsa as a devout Sikh.
These developments need to be seen in the background of the dubious role both Congress and Akali leaders had played in promoting militants in the 1980s. Our younger generation is not aware how the then all-powerful Sanjay Gandhi and Union Home Minister Giani Zail Singh propped up the then relatively young and obscure fundamentalist preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who later turned into a Frankenstein to haunt his creators. Disregarding the consequences for the Indian polity and its secular character, Zail Singh believed that by using the Akalis’ panthic (religious agenda and by promoting religious extremism, the Congress could politically defeat the Akalis. Otherwise a skillful political operator, Zail Singh had forgotten that in the use of the ‘religion-for-politics-are-inseparable ideology’, the Akalis could always outmaneuver the Congress.
The Akali leadership did not lag behind in promoting the Bhindranwale cult who was allowed to move to Akal Takht along with his armed entourage on December 15, 1983 by the SGPC President Gurcharan Singh Tohra by overruling the indignant Akal Takht head priest Giani Kirpal Singh’s objections. Bhindranwale fortified the Golden Temple Complex with light and heavy arms and turned it into his fortress for launching a separatist campaign with his armed men killing thousands of innocent Hindus and Sikhs.
Besides the religio-political turmoil, the Akali leadership is facing a more serious situation created by the agrarian crisis, crop damages and spate of suicides by debt-ridden farmers. Another serious failure of the government is the state’s deepened financial crisis and the deteriorated law and order. Badals have also failed to secure the promised special economic package from Modi even after the spate of such packages Modi has announced for some states including Bihar and J&K.
The Akali leadership should also be ready to face greater challenges on the political front. Taking cue from the electoral sweep of Bihar’s ‘mahagathbandhan’, there is a possibility of Punjab’s opposition parties also joining hands to oppose the Akali-BJP alliance for fighting 2017 elections.
The beleaguered Akali leadership is heading for testing times. Introspection is a valuable virtue in politics. (IPA Service)
