Political parties must evolve consensus to save Punjab from sliding down into the dark tunnel

 

 

 

Punjab seems to be entering into critical domain with incidents of sacrilege and bomb blast

 

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

April 24: Cow heads were placed in Katra Ahluwalia and Bazar Kathian, Amritsar.

April 27: Two carcasses of calves were found in Kharar area.

April 28: Virendra of Daily Partap and Ramesh Chander of Hind Samachar group in Jalandhar received parcels containing cow ears.

April 30: Three packets of cigarettes recovered from a gurdwara in Tarn Taran.

May 1: Packet of Bidis found in a gurdwara at Anandpur Sahib.

May 1: Cigarette packets found in the Golden Temple complex.

It is that it happened about four decades back in 1982 sparking fire in Punjab that raged for about a decade and a half that consumed more than 40,000 lives including that of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Akali Dal chief Sant Harchand Singh Longowal and Chief Minister Beant Singh.

Now come to 2021.

Sacrilege at the Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib) has been followed by a powerful bomb blast in the district court complex at Ludhiana. Yet another case of sacrilege was reported from Anandpur Sahib but the police perhaps did not take it seriously.

Not that the history is repeating itself.

However, what is now happening raises apprehensions about the same.

The only difference is that Punjab is not witnessing protests by any political party unlike in 1982. The launch of Dharamyudh Morcha on August 4, 1982 by the Shiromani Akali Dal had come at the culmination of a long narrative and failed negotiations with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The Akali Dal presently is in a different kind of situation as one of its senior leaders and former minister Bikram Singh Majitha faces drugs related case.

The party today after years decided to return to Diwan Hall Manji Sahib in the Golden Temple complex to organise a Panthic convention on the issue of continuing cases of sacrilege on January 2 next.

Party president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is always up-to-date on every move of the Congress government in the state, asserts the case against Majitha is a frame up. Several senior officers are on the record having refused to register this case and were shifted.

It is the timing that is one of the most important dimensions as fear rises about Punjab sliding back into the dark tunnel. The Assembly elections are due in February 2022. Such incidents are being seen to create fear psychosis in this sensitive border state that can impact on the electoral discourse and outcome.

It is for the first time that the Assembly polls in this state are going to be four dimensional with the emergence of unexpected permutations and combinations.

It is pertinent to recall that Punjab has witnessed deadly bomb blast at Maur in Bathinda district in the run up to the 2017 Assembly polls.

That bomb blast is a case as to how the government fails the people.

This case is still waiting to be taken to the logical conclusion.

So is the case with the shocking case of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari on October 12, 2015 during the Akali Dal government headed by Parkash Singh Badal who was in his record fifth term.

That case too is still awaiting closure despite having gone into by two judicial commissions and several probes.

The name of Dera Sacha Sauda had emerged in both Bargari and Maur cases but for some strange reason, the probe halted at the gate of this Dera at Sirsa in Haryana. Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim is serving jail term in a rape and murder  cases.

Badal today came out of self-imposed hibernation due to old age as he is 94 to attend the core committee meeting. He has already signalled that he is not averse to entering into poll fray for one more time.

The situation demands that the political formations avoid competitive politics on such sensitive issues and evolve some minimum consensus to confront such threats unitedly.

These parties should have learnt from the losses they and India suffered due to opportunistic politics during those dark times.

The problem now is that even the ruling Congress is faction ridden with several groups competing amongst each other despite the fact that the situation at the political level continues to be nebulous unlike the earlier elections.

Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi must assure the people that the situation would not be allowed to get vitiated again.

Punjab being a border state is also a vital aspect but what is more important is the situation in the state itself. Pakistan would definitely exploit the situation in case the socio-political tension here rises.

The positive vibes that the farmers struggle created must continue to dominate the narrative as that is the only way forward to confront the divisive narrative.

It would be myopic view to link these incidents to just elections. Of course, that could be an important dimension.