AAP government should focus on governance rather than entering religious domain in Punjab

 

AAP government in Punjab should focus on Bargari sacrilege, not on telecast of Gurbani

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

The offer made to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee by the Aam Aadmi Party government, the first non-Akali and non-Congress one, in Punjab to facilitate live telecast of Gurbani from the Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib) in Amritsar is a highly appreciable gesture.

After all, this is the place from where emanates the universal message of  humanism, universalism and egalitarianism. This is the place that is the centre of the thought that makes no distinction between man and the man on the basis of caste, class or Faith.

At that level, this message is all the more relevant in the modern world, especially in India where sectarianism is raising its ugly head and this must be disseminated to every nook and corner of the globe.

The uniqueness of this shrine is that its every grain of its soil is soaked in the blood of the Sikh martyrs who sacrificed their lives to protect this thought and the value system.

This is the place that inspires people to fight against injustice.

In this context, the offer made by the present state government seems to be the right move.

However, this is not all that simple.

Shrines of other faith too would like telecast of their programmes although it is only in Golden Temple that uninterrupted Kirtan is performed from early morning till late evening.

Every politician who visits Golden Temple pays obeisance at Durgiana temple too that had come up after idols of Hindu deities were removed from the centre of the Sikh Faith.

The basic issue here is that of priorities of the AAP government in Punjab that has come to power promising “change” in the ways this state has been governed all these years and rectify the distortions in the system rather than wading into the sensitive domain of the religions.

The offer has come at the time when the channel that has been telecasting Gurbani for years from this shrine has landed into controversy. This group of channels is owned by the House of Badals. A section of the Sikhs has been protesting over the years against this monopolisation of this telecast by these channels as it involves commercial interests by way of increase in TRP.

The SGPC at one stage toyed with the idea of setting up its own channel. Akali Dal too had made this promise in its manifesto in the election to the general body of the SGPC at one time. That idea was taken over by the Badal family owned channel.

The first time that the SGPC had come up with the proposal for live broadcast of Gurbani was way back in 1979 in its 5-point programme that focused on the separate and exclusive Sikh identity.

Now the SGPC is making arrangements to start telecast on YouTube channels to begin with.

The problem is not with the resources. Just an appeal by the SGPC to the Sikhs would be enough. It may be mentioned that the NRI Sikhs had offered to provide equipment when Bibi Jagir Kaur during her first term as the president had come up with the idea.

In this backdrop, the Mann government should focus on the equally pressing issue and that is justice in the cases associated with sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari beginning June 1, 2015. This is one of the issues that have decimated the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress. AAP had promised to deliver justice at the earliest.

Equally important is the case of bomb blast at Maur Mandi in the run up to the 2017 Assembly election.

In both the cases, the probe stops at the gates of Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa whose chief Gurmit Ram Rahim is in jail in rape and murder cases.

He is still to undergo custodial interrogation by the Punjab police.

AAP has been mandated by the people to clean up the mess.

The Mann government too has landed in controversy in the sacrilege cases and raising this issue is none else but its MLA Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh from Amritsar North. He was the inspector general of police and one of the five members of the Special Investigation Team that was set up by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to probe Bargari cases. The SIT was headed by ADGP Prabodh Kumar. This SIT never functioned as a team and the investigation was carried out by Kunwar Vijay Partap alone. Now Prabodh Kumar has been posted as the intelligence chief. Kunwar has questioned this posting. He had resigned from service.

It may be recalled that it was Prabodh Kumar who had written to the CBI to reopen the case after the same had been withdrawn from it by the Punjab government.

The issue is not the posting but that of intention of the government.

The government should focus on taking these sensitive cases to the logical conclusion rather than entering into religious domain.

SGPC, after all, is a statutory body.