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Revival of militancy in Punjab returns to the electoral narrative with Rahul Gandhi raising it

 


Rahul Gandhi raises specter of revival of terrorism in Punjab

 

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

Militancy that characterised the dominant political narrative in Punjab for more than a decade beginning 1980 has staged a comeback in the electoral discourse in this state in 2022.

The revival of terrorism (Atankvaad) is the main issue that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi  has been hammering at his election meetings in Punjab since yesterday. He today forcefully raised its specter especially in the context of the Aam Aadmi Party.

“You would not find a Congress leader at the house of a terrorist but leaders from AAP would be”, he alleged.

He talked of threat to peace in this state that had been rocked by political violence that is terrorism for one section and militancy for the other.

He also talked of divisive agenda of the BJP in this context that  he said had the potential to spark this fire in Punjab. The context was yesterday’s comment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he could not visit Debi Talab Mandir during his visit to Jalandhar as the administration expressed helplessness in making the arrangement. In the process, Modi was attacking the Charanjit Singh Channi administration. This comment has been interpreted as rooted in the divisive discourse of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.

Rahul Gandhi, apparently, was targeting the Hindu sections in Punjab by referring to this fear factor.

Ironically, going by the data with the union home ministry, about 60 per cent of the people who became victim of violence by terrorism were Sikhs but this issue is raised commonly in the context of the  Hindu population.

Punjab’s political dynamics is different from other states as from the very beginning since 1947, it is the Congress that has been articulating the Hindu view and not the Jan Sangh or its later avatar the Bharatiya Janata Party. This is precisely the reason that the Modi factor does not matter much in electoral discourse  here.

Interestingly, former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and the BJP too have been talking of threat to national security from Pakistan, the immediate neighbour of Indian Punjab. These leaders don’t talk of China.

Threat from Pakistan has never been an issue in Punjab despite this state having been the war theatre both in 1965 and 1971.

Rather people in two Punjabs across the Radcliffe Line now desire for peace and the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor is cited as the best example of being a major step  in this context.

The demand here for years has been to open the border for trade as this can provide access not only to Pakistan but to the entire central Asian market.

The specter of revival of terrorism has a different context as this is perceived to be rooted in the demand for an independent Sikh state that characterised the militancy during the post Operation Bluestar period.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Shiromani Akali Dal has been projecting itself as the best guarantee for maintenance of peace and harmony since 1997 and continues to stick to this agenda.

Akali Dal’s manifesto for 2022 emphasises this point stating’ “Our vision is defined by our commitment to peace and communal harmony as encapsulated in the sacred words of Sarbat da Bhala.”

The choice of Charanjit Singh Channi from scheduled caste sections as the chief minister is viewed as a major initiative to mobilise these sections. Rahul said the Congress would carry forward this experiment in other states too.

The Congress has also been banking upon the role the party played during more than a year long  Punjab led agrarian struggle that forced Narendra Modi to withdraw the three controversial farm laws to woo the Sikh peasantry.

However, the farm struggle is not having any impact on the election scene in the state.

From the way the specter of revival of terrorism is being raised, it is clear that the  political narrative in which it is rooted has survived over the years.

 

 

 


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