Induction of Sirsa indicates BJP strategy to turn February 2022 Assembly polls in Punjab 4-cornered

 

 

With induction of Sirsa, BJP unleashes its design for February 2022 Punjab polls

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

The BJP has hit the Shiromani  Akali Dal the hardest where it hurts the most.

The issue is not that of Manjinder Singh Sirsa joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. A political leader leaving one and joining another party causes only temporary ripples.

The issue is that of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president jumping over to the BJP bandwagon. This is an issue that directly concerns the Sikh religio-political domain and not just the Akali Dal.

The DSGMC is the second most important statutory body of the Sikhs after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee controlling the Sikh shrines in the national capital.

In that context, it is not important whether he was close a confidant of Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal or not.

At another level, the BJP is emerging as the top player in the political market.

With the political parties turning non-ideological, it is now free for all in the political market where one can join any political formation without much loss of credibility.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa as Akali Dal leader defecting to any other party can be his personal choice but the DSGMC president resigning from office and joining any other party amounts to treachery with the Sikhs.

He had lost in the recent election to the general house of the DSGMC. However, it seems the decision by the Akali Dal chief to get him co-opted to continue as the president was wrong in retrospect. That he was facing disqualification from the Gurdwara Election Commission is a different issue. He failed the test of writing correct Punjabi that is one of the qualifications under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Act.

His co-option to facilitate his continuation as the president by Sukhbir was  manifestation of the trust reposed in him.

Never in the recent past, the Sikh religio-political domain has been faced such turbulence.

It may be recalled that as the DSGMC president, he was allowed by the Akali Dal to contest election to the Delhi Assembly as the BJP candidate as it was supposed to be a short-term arrangement. It was not.

Sirsa had started functioning as the BJP spokesman in Delhi. The DSGMC chief is not expected to follow in the footsteps of the party practicing divisive politics.

The issue is as to how the BJP is going to use him in Punjab and in the Sikh stream.

The BJP  and the Aam Aadmi Party have been searching for a Sikh face for long in Punjab.

The problem would have been different in case the farmers’ struggle had not been there as many of the Sikh leaders from across the political spectrum in Punjab were known to be keen to get inducted by the BJP. The BJP itself had sent feelers to several of them. This design can be timed to senior leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa leaving the Akali Dal. The farm struggle turned the BJP virtually non-touchable in Punjab.

The situation has now started returning to normal with the repeal of the three fam laws that had provoked the agitation. However, the time now is too short.

The BJP has former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh as an ally but his new outfit can act more as a spoiler. The BJP had earlier won over some Sikhs with the radical past but they are not well-known faces and have not been active in electoral political discourse.

With the induction of Sirsa, the BJP has unleashed its design of poaching. However, there is every likelihood of the credibility of such leaders coming under question.

It is now clear that the BJP is serious in adding the fourth dimension to the electoral political discourse in Punjab with the other three dimensions being the ruling Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance, and the Aam Aadmi Party.

The BJP in Punjab on its own does not carry much weight and Narendra Modi is not a factor in this only state in the country whose religio-political and electoral discourses are different from all other states.

The Shiromani Akali Dal in particular would have to tread cautiously. Looking back, the enforcement directorate raids on associates of Sukhbir Singh Badal were a signal. Sirsa too faces accusations of corruption in DSGMC.

The Akali Dal might not end up the lone victim in this poaching game.

Capt Amarinder Singh is also on the prowl for leaders from within the Congress to strengthen the BJP design.

Sirsa has ditched the Akali Dal at a critical juncture.