Sukhbir Badal gives ironic twist to Bargari-Behbal religio-political discourse

Chandigarh: In apparently a bold move, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal entered that village yesterday from where the downfall of his party was triggered in October 2015. The village is Behbal where two Sikh protesters were gunned down by the “unidentified” police. Sukhbir Singh Badal was the deputy chief minister incharge of Home department.

They were protesting against the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in the adjoining Bargari village. The Guru Granth Sahib whose pages were found scattered on the morning of October 12 had been reported stolen from Burj village adjoining Bargari on June 1. The peaceful protest was against the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib. This was the first case of Guru Granth Sahib been stolen in the recorded history.

Here is the irony.

Sukhbir Singh Badal never entered that area after October 2015 despite the fact that he had twice represented these villages in the Lok Sabha being the representative from Faridkot seat. These villages used to be traditional Akali stronghold.

Sukhbir sprang a surprise as he landed yesterday in Behbal to condole the death of former sarpanch Surjit Singh. The issue here is not the cause of death that otherwise is heart failure.

What is significant is that Surjit was among the main witnesses in the firing on protesters. The Behbal Kalan firing case is being tried in a Faridkot court. Both Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal have been questioned by the SIT probing the case.

This case is the most controversial during the recent years in Punjab.

Here is the twist.  Sukhbir alleged that the deceased was under pressure from Congress MLA Kushaldeep Singh. And it is the reason that is all the more intriguing as Sukhbir said he was being pressurised to backtrack as witness in the Behbal Kalan firing case. He said it was a move to save the policemen who had fired on the “innocent Sikhs”. What an irony. He was the home minister at the time of firing and the FIR in this case registered at Bajakhana police station had mentioned firing by “unidentified police”.

The anger among the Sikhs spilled out on the roads that remained blocked in several parts of the state in 2015. The result: The Akali Dal was reduced to 15 seats in 2017 Assembly elections, the lowest ever score by the Akali Dal.

Sukhbir has made a bold move to reverse the Bargari-Behbal discourse by saying that the case be expedited.

It is Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh who has been facing the flak and that too from within the party for not taking the Bargari-Behbal cases to the logical conclusion.  Now it is Sukhbir who has taken the position that it is the Congress government that was dilly-dallying.

Here is a challenge to Amarinder.

This is second case on which the Akali Dal chief has tried to counter-attack the Amarinder government, the first being the Power Purchase Agreements that the Badal governments had signed with the private sector thermal plants in the state. As per these agreements, the state government is bound to  make certain payments even for the power not purchased. The recurrence hike in power tariff in Punjab is attributed to these agreements. The Congress had promised to institute probe and renegotiate these agreements.

However, Capt Amarinder Singh turned indifferent after coming into power. State Congress chief Sunik Jakhar and Rajya Sabha MP Partap singh Bajwa want the PPAs probed. The chief minister has now announced that white paper would be brought out on PPAs.

Obviously, it is Capt Amarinder Singh who is providing space to Sukhbir to reposition himself on these sensitive issues.

Has Bargari-Behbal discourse phased out?

What is obvious is that Sukhbir has entered the aggressive mode in Punjab to revive his party. It is a different issue that the Akali Dal has been ditched by its alliance partner the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi polls.