Skip to main content

Democratic Sikh mobilisation to seek justice for Bargari sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib collapses



Jagtar Singh

The Sikh religio-political discourse is confronted with a thought provoking  situation.
The democratic mobilisation to seek justice for sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari and the related cases has ultimately collapsed.
The failure of peaceful struggle that rocked the boat of the Shiromani Akali Dal  over the last four years is the inference that can be drawn from the three functions organised yesterday at Bargari and Kotkapura on its 4th anniversary. The Sikh organisations that had at one time aggressively taken up the cause are now disgustingly divided and hence the failure to share a common platform. The Sikhs refused to respond going by poor participation. Two of these functions were just symbolic.
It may be mentioned that the Bir of Guru Granth Sahib was reported missing from Burj Jawahar Singhwala gurdwara on June 1, 2015 and its pages were found scattered in the streets of neighbouring Bargari village on October 12. The police fired on the protesters staging peaceful sit in on October 14, first in the morning at Kotkapura and three hours later at Bahbal Kalan next to Bargari killing two persons.
The Akali Dal led government in the state at that time was headed by Parkash Singh Badal with his son Sukhbir Singh Badal as the Deputy Chief Minister.
The first arrest in this case was made after the change in government and those arrested were the devotees of Dera Sacha Sauda. The investigation is still to be taken to logical conclusion as the main conspirators managed to evade arrest and now nothing is known about them. The probe seems to have been sabotaged going by the confusion in the state government.
The Sikh organisation under the command of parallel Akal Takht acting Jathedar Dhian Singh Mand started indefinite dharna at Bargari from June 1, 2018 demanding action against culprits that was lifted on December 9 that year leaving everybody dissatisfied. These organisations were mainly from the hard-line  section in the Sikh religio-political matrix having little experience in the democratic domain.
Mand is a former MP who got elected to Lok Sabha in 1989 from Ferozepur backed by All India Sikh Students Federation. His family lost two of its members during militancy as they were eliminated in false encounters.
The protest over sacrilege had witnessed massive mobilisation of the Sikhs from time to time but were accompanied by failures  in the absence of competent leadership. It is the leadership that has failed the Sikhs in this case by not taking these  massive mobilisations to the logical conclusion.
Now it is the contradictions within the ruling Congress in Punjab on this sensitive issue that can precipitate the matter. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh is under tremendous pressure to give results but the signals that are emanating from within the government lead to the inference  that the issue has been dumped in the cold storage. Would it be revived near the next Assembly elections due in February 2022?
However, it is the strategic aspect of the failure of the democratic mobilisation  coupled with failure of the state government to deliver justice that are its sensitive dimensions in the context of the apprehensions of the Centre  about the bids to revive militancy in this border state. Punjab had been hit by militancy for more than a decade beginning 1980  that initially was rooted in the Sikh-Nirankari clash on the Baisakhi of April 13, 1978 at Amritsar. Badal was the chief minister at that time too. The State had failed to deliver justice in Nirankari case.
It is the Bargari narrative that had witnessed the shift in the Sikh political domain towards the Congress in February 2017 Assembly elections  leading  to massive mandate for this party that is held responsible for  military attack on Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex in June 1984.
Would this section return to the Akali Dal in next elections? It might be too early to make any assessment but more important is the failure of the democratic struggle.
The investigation agencies have not even tried to question Dera chief Gurmit Ram Rahim in Rohtak jail after the earlier move was frustrated by the Haryana government.
Capt Amarinder Singh might come under increasing pressure from an aggressive section within the ruling party after the 550th anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev.
The House of Badals survives mainly because of incompetent non-Akali leadership in the Sikh religio-political domain.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Damage to institution of Akal Takht symbolising Sikh sovereignty more important dimension of current crisis in Sikh domain

  Ideological Damage to Akal Takht most important dimension of Akali Crisis Ground Zero By Jagtar Singh The Sikh religio-political discourse entered a new phase on Baisakhi 2025 — the historic day on which Guru Gobind Singh, in 1699, created the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib, completing the ideological foundation laid by Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh faith. Significant developments emerged from the well-attended Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) conference held at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib on April 13. It was the first major public appearance of Sukhbir Singh Badal since his re-election as party president on April 12, marking his return to the helm after a brief interregnum. Sukhbir, who first succeeded his father, Parkash Singh Badal, as party president in 2008, resumes leadership of a party long dominated by the Badal family—an influence that has spanned over three decades, the longest in the SAD’s history. For months, the religio-political landscape of Punjab has remained i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Akal Takht intervenes to reset Sikh religio-political discourse

  Akal Takht intervenes to reset Sikh religio-political discourse Ground Zero Jagtar Singh Chandigarh, Dec 8: The Sikh religio-political domain has the tendency to dictate religio-political discourse of Punjab whose polity is different from other regions in the country. This is the state where a national dynamic minority is in majority. This minority was the third entity in all the political negotiations leading to India’s independence. What happened in Punjab on December 2 has to be reviewed in this backdrop as this development is going to have far-reaching impact not only on the future of the Shiromani Akali Dal but also the political tendencies at several levels. It is pertinent to mention at this stage itself that the Sikh religio-political discourse is presently affecting even India’s geo-politics, especially in the American sub-continent in the context of the activities of a section of the Sikh Diaspora. December 2 was unprecedented in the history of more than a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Killing of Sidhu Moosewala is chilling reminder that all is not well with Punjab but not the time to indulge in blame game

  Something continues to be wrong with Punjab going by killing of Sidhu Moosewala Ground Zero Jagtar Singh   The killing of  Punjabi pop star Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu popular as Sidhu Moosewala is more than shocking. It has not only numbed Punjab but has triggered shock waves across the seas. The only inference that can be drawn from this tragic end of a young icon is that something is not right with Punjab, despite illusion created by degenerated political elite of so called normalcy. It is the system that has to return to normalcy. It has not. The unabated degeneration in the system at times tend to play havoc. This is not the time to play blame game. Rather this is the time to rise above parochial political interests. Punjab needs consensus to facilitate the return of this historically disturbed state and the injured psyche to return to normalcy. And it is not an easy task. What Punjab lacks at this juncture is a role model. After all, Punjab is not a state like any other...
Post a Comment
Read more