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Sangrur bypoll result could dictate future political discourse in the Sikh religio-political domain

 


Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll result to be more crucial for Sikh religio-political domain

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

Bhagwant Mann had been winning the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat with massive margin. Now he is the chief minister whose resignation from Parliament has necessitated this byelection. He now represents Dhuri Assembly constituency that is a segment of Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.

In this context, the margin would be an important factor in case his party retains the seats. That Bhagwant Mann has to himself focus on this byelection is an important dimension as his government has been in power for a little more than three months and the performance of a new government is normally assessed after six months. This government is yet to present its first regular budget.

However, there is another dimension that is all the more crucial for the future political discourse of  Punjab and this concerns the Sikh religio-political matrix. It is the Sikh domain that by and large dictates political discourse of this Sikh dominated state. Punjab is one of the two states in the country dominated by a minority, the other being the Jammu and Kashmir with which it shares the boundary. Punjab has at times impacted the national political discourse.

In fray to wrest this seat from the Aam Aadmi Party are two Sikh parties besides the Congress and the BJP.

Although the Shiromani Akali Dal over the years had consciously distanced from the Panthic domain, it is still a Sikh party. This party has fielded Kamaldeep Kaur, foster sister of death convict Balwant Singh Rajoana in the assassination of chief minister Beant Singh who was killed by human bomb Dilawar Singh. Akali Dal had opposed her in 2014 Lok Sabha election.

The Akali agenda is release of Sikh prisoners in jail relating to cases during militancy who have spent years behind bar.

The other candidate from the Sikh domain is Akali Dal (Amritsar) president and twice MP Simranjit Singh Mann, the former IPS officer, who has spent several years in jails after Operation Bluestar, and later under the Akali Dal government.

Shiromani Akali Dal is in grey area so far as its record on the issue of release of these prisoners, especially when in power. Of course, the party took up the issue of release of Rajoana but only after protests against award of death sentence when the court issued warrant for his execution. The case of another detainee Devinderpal Singh Bhullar was also taken up but only after the Badal government in an affidavit opposed his transfer from Tihar jail to Amritsar jail.

The party was also instrumental in release of Bhai Ranjit Singh who was convicted in the assassination of Nirankari chief Gurbachan Singh triggering militant but the main player at that time was Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra who had also secured the release of hijackers including Amarinder Singh and Devinder Singh of Chandigarh.

The stakes of Shiromani Akali Dal headed by Sukhbir Singh Badal are much higher than the victory or defeat. Sukhbir has been under pressure to resign since the unprecedented humiliating defeat of the party in the last Assembly elections. Not only he himself failed to win, his father and party patron Parkash Singh Badal too lost from his home turf. He had earlier lost only one election and that too his second one. The politics of the Badal family in religio-political domain finally hit the party although Parkash Singh Badal achieved the distinction of becoming the chief minister for five times, including two successive terms.

However, there has been no introspection.

The issue is as to whether the Akali Dal candidates gets more votes than Simranjit Singh Mann or not. This aspect is crucial for the Sikh domain. The issue in Sikh domain is release of Sikh political prisoners.

However, it is puzzling as to how the victory of a candidate from the Akali domain would facilitate release of political prisoners as the Akali Dal has been represented all along in Lok Sabha and till recently, in Rajya Sabha too.

Moreover, the Akali Dal was part of the Narendra Modi government. One does not know whether Harsimrat Kaur Badal as minister ever took up this issue with Modi or not.

Both Harsimrat and Sukhbir are part of the present Lok Sabha. How can the victory of one more Akali Dal candidate can make the difference so far as the release of these prisoners is concerned?

The issue of their release should have been taken up long time ago  with commitment and not as part of politics of opportunism.

The Shiromani Akali Dal must introspect on its role towards militant movement since 1996.

The revival of Shiromani Akali Dal is vital to Punjab dynamics but that calls for total change.

It is from this dimension that the result would be crucial for the Sikh domain in general and Sukhbir Singh Badal in particular.

 

 


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