Akali Dal strategizing revival by mobilising SGPC on issue of Sikh political prisoners

 

Akali Dal strategizing revival by mobilising SGPC on issue of Sikh political prisoners

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal might be using the term “terrorism days” for the period of militant Sikh struggle that phased out in mid-nineties but his party is now putting into action the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to build pressure for the release of Sikh political prisoners associated with that very struggle.

While making a qualitative shift from Punjabiat to Panthic agenda for the revival of this once the Sikh party that now stands completely marginalised, he would have to shed the very terminology that he has been using till today morning. Seeking release of political prisoners is different from demanding release of “terrorists”.

The basic issue here, however, the design to revive the Akali Dal through the statutory SGPC dominated by it.

It has been proposed to launch a massive state wide signature campaign under the banner of the SGPC on the issue of release of the ‘Bandi Singhs”. A meeting of the general house of the SGPC is being convened at Amritsar on September 2 on this agenda.

As per the proposal, the members of the SGPC and the staff would fan out across the state to collect signatures. The SGPC members would focus mainly on the constituencies they represent, several  of which are double.

The effort would be to go to every nook and corner of Punjab.

As per the present proposal, the truck-load of these signatures would be presented to the Punjab governor by the SGPC and the Akali Dal leadership.

It is appreciable move on the surface.

The problem, however, is that Mr. Badal in his capacity as the party president has not explained the shift in stand on this issue that is highly sensitive in the Sikh religio-political matrix.

This issue has come on the agenda of the Akali Dal and the SGPC only after this first political party in India constituted by the Indians themselves has been dumped by the people in general and the Sikhs in particular.

The perception has taken roots that the party can’t be revived under present leadership but Mr. Badal is resisting the pressure. But then the issue is not his survival but that of the Akali Dal, a party whose leaders and cadre has history of sacrifices and struggles.

It is pertinent to mention that it was the SGPC that had mothered the Akali Dal but the roles reversed over the years. This Sikh institution has been totally subservient to the dominant leadership of the Akali Dal since the passing away of Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra.

This body was given a corporate look by this dominant leadership as a result of which it  got reduced only to the management of the gurdwaras abandoning its historical role. This was a major distortion.

Now it is this corporate body that has been assigned the task of revival of the Akali Dal by mobilising the Sikhs on the issue of release of Sikh political prisoners.

This issue is not new and has been on the agenda of the Sikh organisations for years. The Akali Dal  when in power did not bother except when pressure built up from time to time like the case of capital punishment to Balwant Singh Rajoana who was part of the Babbar Khalsa group that assassinated chief minister Beant Singh in 1995.

It may be recalled that the Parkash Singh Badal government had gone to be extent of opposing shifting of another militant Davinder Pal Singh Bhullar from Tihar jail to Amritsar although he was sick and undergoing treatment for mental ailment.

It is necessary to go back to this recent history when the Akali leadership is trying to exploit the Sikh sentiments.

The leadership must explain this sudden change in perception now when the people have dumped this party.

Then there is the Bargari sacrilege blocking its path to revival.

Interestingly, at the time when the party is going back to Panthic issues, the SGPC has given permission to the Sikh bodies like Dal Khalsa to organise anniversary of militant martyrs Charanjit Singh Channi and Balwinder Singh Jatana at Gurdwara Thara Sahib in the Golden Temple complex on September 4. Such functions are normally held at this place next to Akal Takht.

The Dal Khalsa had earlier demanded that the photo of Jatana should be displayed in the Central Sikh Museum in the Golden Temple (Darbar Sahib) complex.