Jagtar Singh

Jagtar Singh Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is in the firing line on the issue of bungling in the sensitive cases of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib that have been rocking religio-political discourse since 2015. The issues relating to Sikh religion have always been a double edged weapon in the political domain. One has to understand the deeper nuances of such weapons. Playing with these issues is too serious a risk. None can realise it better after Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal, the first victims of the narrative related to the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib beginning June 1, 2015 when the father-son due had monopoly control over administration and religio-political affairs. Admitting the same is a different issue. When Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on August 28 called upon Capt Amarinder Singh to come clean on the issue, it was apparent that the situation is getting a serious turn. It may be mentioned that under current has al...

Ground Zero Is Bargari sacrilege case being messed up under deeper conspiracy? The developments related to the religio-politically sensitive Bargari sacrilege cases beginning with the closure report filed by the CBI towards the end of July and now the same agency seeking permission from the same court for withdrawing that plea to continue the probe points to a deeper and multi-layered conspiracy to put these multiple cases that have been dictating religio-political discourse in this border state since 2015 in a deep freezer. The ruling elite should learn lessons from Punjab history during the last about forty years. Nothing can be put in deep freezer in this only state that is dominated by the Sikhs, the community that is a minority at the national level. Going by the history, it is the Sikh discourse that has been dictating the political course with Hindu political discourse being that of reaction. Two headlines from the same person and on the same issue are very signif...

Kashmir draws battle-lines between ideologies of Bhagat Singh and Savarkar The decision of the BJP government to dissolve what was the state of Jammu and Kashmir by revoking Article 370 of the Constitution has at one level seems to have triggered the battle between the ideologies represented by the revolutionary Shaheed   Bhagat Singh and Hindutva icon V D Savarkar. It is a battle between humanism and liberalism on the one side and sectarianism and bigotry on the other. The revocation of Article 370 was the very edifice on which the Jan Sangh, the parent body of the BJP, was founded in early fifties by Syama Prasad Mukherjee rooted in the Sangh Parivar, the organisation that came into existence to articulate the ideology of Savarkar that is Hindutva. Bhagat Singh was pro-people revolutionary ideologue as against his projection of a gun wielding young romanticist. He was the man with a pen who advocated politics and ideology that were pro-people. He walked to the gall...

As Sikh bodies support Kashmiris, BJP projects Sukhbir Badal as chief minister Here is the quid pro quo. As hard-line Sikh bodies in Punjab and some other countries observed India’s Independence Day as the Black Day and came out in solidarity with the Kashmiris, the Bharatiya Janata Party the same day projected Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal as the next chief minister. Akali Dal Badal is in alliance with the BJP. It can’t be dismissed as just off the cuff remark from state BJP president Shwait Malik. The occasion was Akali Dal’s annual conference on Rakhar Puniya at Baba Bakala in Amritsar district on Independence Day that the BJP normally used to give a miss. The Dal Khalsa, Akali Dal (Amritsar) and the United Akali Dal staged protests at several district headquarters that day to observe Independence Day as the Black Day. The   political agenda of Dal Khalsa is Khalistan through democratic means. Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann too...

Informal formation within Congress emerges to occupy Opposition space in Punjab Punjab is witnessing an interesting and unprecedented phenomenon in its political spectrum. With   Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and House of Badals   perceived to be in collusion and the Aam Aadmi Party having disintegrated with remnants miserably failing to perform, a new informal formation is emerging to occupy the space of effective Opposition in Punjab’s political matrix. It is within the ruling Congress in the state. A visit to Badal village is enough to re-inforce the perception of this place being the sub-capital of Punjab. It is a different matter that Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal has his residence about 500 meters from the sub-capital but he has already protested against his functional status in the area of not being more than a municipal councillor. A group of Congress MLAs led by a section of ministers has made it known to Capt Amarinder Singh   unam...

Compensating loss of Kashmiri identity with promise of faster development Sikhs in Punjab felt cheated when Akali Dal president Sant Harchand Singh Longowal entered into unconditional accord with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in July 1985 within three months of his release from jail. This was   more than a year after Operation Bluestar, the code name for army attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar beginning June 4, 1984 after imposing 72-hour curfew in the region. The terms of engagement had changed by then and this was not realised while signing this accord. The Accord promised compensation to innocent persons killed in Punjab “in agitation or any action” after August 1, 1982. This also included compensation for property damaged will also be paid. The second point of settlement was merit being the sole criterion of recruitment to the armed forces rather than the state quota. These promises were besides transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab and referring the issue...