Skip to main content

Would 5-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal have to prove his citizenship under NRC? The fight is on.


Image result for pics of protest against caa nrc

Chandigarh: On a day the divisive political discourse pushed by the Bharatiya Janata Party hit the roadblock in Jharkhand, India witnessed the consolidation of secular mobilisation against the citizenship act and national register of citizens.
Even allies of the BJP, JD(U) and some others have repositioned themselves asserting their opposition to NRC. It is the Shiromani Akali Dal that otherwise was rooted in secular tradition of universal brotherhood that continues to fumble. Not only that. Some of the Sanghi Akali leaders, especially in Delhi, are functioning as megaphone of the BJP issuing statements that from all accounts are anti-Muslim.
The charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and management skills of Home Minister Amit Shah seems to have failed the BJP in Jharkhand with the party having tasted defeat. The trend that was triggered with the recent Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana has consolidated in Jharkhand. It is the Congress-JMM alliance that has pushed out the BJP from power.
Amit Shah’s promise during the last phases of the campaign to build sky high Ram temple in Ayodhya where Babri Masjid stood at one time just could not sustain the BJP. It is apparent the same card can’t be played repeatedly.
The economy continues to be on the downward trend but the ruling party at the centre had been trying to engage the people in issues in the citizenship bill and the NRC. Attention can’t be diverted from the real issues when the onion price has touched the highest ever of Rs 200 per kg in several parts of the country.
It is a lesson for the entire ruling elite in India. The issues concerning the lives of the people directly have to be prioritised. The Mandir-Masjid politics can wait, rather such issues should be buried for ever.
Narendra Modi at a rally tried to allay the apprehensions of the people on issues like NRC but what he said has come to be questioned at the empirical level. He denied the existence of detention centres but the record is to the contrary.
He contradicted the position of his party on NRC as articulated repeatedly by his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh and BJP acting president J P Nadda. Whom should the people believe? It is crisis of credibility now.
Opposition is getting consolidated on CAA-NRC with even allies of the BJP barring the Akali Dal taking a clear position.
Some of the Akali leaders are functioning as mouthpiece of the BJP on this issue despite strong opposition from the Sikhs in general. The Akali Dal seems to be further getting alienated in Punjab. The Akali leaders in Delhi have already turned Sanghi. It may be mentioned that the Akali Dal had always stood by minorities till Parkash Singh Badal took over as president and shed its Panthic credentials over time, the transformation that was intensified when his son Sukhgbir Singh Badal succeeded him.
The basic issue is: Would 5-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal have to prove his citizenship in case NRC is implemented? This is the question that should be answered by Sukhbir Singh Badal in his capacity as the Akali Dal president.
The Congress that seemed to be dithering to taking strong position in this fight today drew the line by staging dharna at Rajghat led by Sonia Gandhi and attended by former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other senior leaders.
This is a fight in which none can stay neutral. And should not.


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