Bargari sacrilege
narrative must be taken to logical conclusion but transparently
Ground zero
Jagtar Singh
Sacrilege of
Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari and the related narrative continue to be one of
the main factors dictating religio-political discourse in Punjab and returning
to the centre stage of the February 2022 electoral matrix like in 2017. The
narrative awaits to be taken to logical conclusion despite probes by two judicial
commissions and several special teams of investigators including the Central Bureau
of Investigation.
In the eye
of the storm on this sensitive issue has
been the top leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal as Parkash Singh Badal was
the Chief Minister with his son Sukhbir Singh as the Deputy Chief Minister who
was also the Home Minister in 2015 when Bargari happened. The perception that
has been created over time is that the Badals, Sukhbir in particular, were part
of the conspiracy leading to sacrilege and also responsible for firing on
protesters at Behbal in which two devotees were killed.
The issue
must be put in proper perspective in both political as well as the administrative
frameworks.
The senior Akali
Dal leaders including former MP Prem
Singh Chandumajra and others today alleged that the people in power have conspired
to frame Sukhbir in the act of sacrilege itself that was carried out by
followers of Dera Sacha Sauda as per the investigations so far. Dera chief
Gurmit Ram Rahim too has been questioned by the Punjab police team in Rohtak
jail in Haryana.
There are
three parts of this narrative.
The first part
relate to the period that started when the picture of Gurmit Ram Rahim attired
like Guru Gobind Singh, the 10 Guru of the Sikhs, appeared in the newspapers in
May 2007 within weeks of Badal having been taken over as the chief minister.
This Dera had supported the Congress in that election. Punjab turned highly
tense with the situation reminiscent of 1978 when the Nirankari sect had come
into confrontation with the Sikh organisations at Amritsar on April 13, 1978
for the mishandling of which Punjab continues to pay the cost. The chief
minister at that too was Badal.
The second
part of the narrative is the theft of the Bir of Guru Granth Sahib from Burj
Jawahar Singh Wala village near Bargari in Faridkot district on June 1, 2015
whose pages were found scattered on the streets of Bargari on October 12.
Sukhbir Singh Badal was the Deputy Chief Minister and the Home Minister atv
that time.
The third
part include post-October 12 events that include police firing on protesters
demanding justice on October 14, first at Kotkapura and three hours later at
Behbal next to Bargari.
The Director
General of Police in 2015 was Sumedh Singh Saini. The DGP is always the choice
of the political leadership and it was a wrong choice as his name was
associated with brazen human rights violations during militancy.
It is preposterous
to think that Sukhbir Singh Badal would be part of the sacrilege conspiracy
going by political dimensions of this sensitive subject that had the potential
to put Punjab back on fire. The Akali Dal could not make any political gain
from sacrilege.
Of course, the
sacrilege was rooted in the political narrative that the Badals had adopted as part of which the Dera extended
support to the Akali Dal in 2009 Lok Sabha election. Harsimrat Kaur Badal was
the candidate from Bathinda in that election that was her debut.
It was a
blunder in 2015 to facilitate exoneration
of Dera chief who had been excommunicated by the Sikh clergy in 2007 for his
blasphemous act. It was wrong on the part of Parkash Singh Badal to summon Akal
Takht Jathedar and his associates to his official residence in Chandigarh for
that purpose. That exoneration had to be withdrawn as anger hit the Sikh domain
against the clergy and the SGPC that had defended the exoneration.
These are
the issues that concern the religious domain of the Sikhs.
This exoneration
was a concession to the Dera whose film MSG II was not being allowed to be
screened in Punjab at that time and the devotees were protesting. The sacrilege
conspiracy relates to that period.
The
situation was mishandled after the theft was reported from Burj on June 1.
The situation
was again characterised by administrative and political indifference when abusive
posters appeared in Bargari and Burj challenging the Sikhs. The name of Dera
Sacha Sauda was mentioned in these posters. The pages of Guru Granth Sahib were
found scattered after that.
The Behbal
Kalan firing by the police could have been averted by timely intervention after
the situation deteriorated as the police swooped down on peaceful protesters at
Kotkapura early in the morning. The police should have been directed by the
chief minster to observe restraint. Two persons were gunned down by the police
at Behbal Kalan. Punjab highways remained jammed for days after that.
The DGP was
keeping Badal informed about the situation at Kotkapura. That was the time to
order restraint.
Sukhbir
Singh Badal was not in touch with the DGP as no such information has emerged in
the investigations so far to that effect.
The police
on the spot do not take orders to open fire from the chief minister or the home
minister. It has to be spot decision. The paper work is normally completed
later with duty magistrate putting signature on the firing order.
No chief
minister or home minister in India has ever faced action for firing resorted to
by the police in any action.
Mishandling
of the situation at the political level and administrative failure are
different from direct involvement in act of sacrilege or police firing.
The sacrilege
narrative was much broader beginning with that of Guru Granth Sahib as
religious texts of other religions too were targeted at some other places.
It is in
this context that the probe and justice must not only be transparent but also
seem to be transparent.
Justice must
be done and done transparently.
At stake is
Punjab.
Comments
Post a Comment