Militancy a ruse to save Badal’s legacy? : The Tribune India

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Militancy a ruse to save Badal’s legacy?

The recent volcanic turbulence triggered in Punjab''s religio-political domain by Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 has deeply impacted both the Sikh religio-political dynamics as well as the state''s political discourse.

Militancy a ruse to save Badal’s legacy?

Simmering cauldron: Panthic organisations have been protesting at Bargari seeking action in sacrilege case.



Jagtar Singh
Senior journalist

The recent volcanic turbulence triggered in Punjab's religio-political domain by Justice Ranjit Singh Commission report on the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 has deeply impacted both the Sikh religio-political dynamics as well as the state's political discourse. The situation has forced five-time chief minister and the Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal to defend his legacy at the age of 93 with his back to the wall. 

The report has put a question mark on his legacy by bringing on record the denigration of the highest Sikh institution, including the Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), by Badal and his son and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal. More than the Akali Dal, in crisis are Badal and Sukhbir, whose strategy is to create a fear psychosis by raising the bogey of threat to peace and harmony.

However, the issues relate to Sikh political matrix, not the Hindu-Sikh dynamics.

The Bir of Guru Granth Sahib was reported missing on June 1, 2015 from Burj village gurdwara near Bargari. Torn pages from this Bir were later found scattered in the streets of Bargari. The police opened fire on protesters at two places killing two persons at Behbal Kalan.

The controversial pardon to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh secured through the brazen misuse of Akal Takht coincided with this situation. That pardon was later withdrawn by the Akal Takht in the face of Sikh anger.

One line in Ranjit Singh Commission report is very damaging personally to Badal: "One can say without fear of contradiction that such an incident may not have happened even during the Mughal rule when there was a price over the heads of the Sikhs." This was regarding the theft of Guru Granth Sahib from Burj village.

Panthic organisations are staging a dharna at Bargari village since June 1 demanding action against the culprits. The Badals are alleging a nexus between the ruling Congress and the Bargari Insaaf Morcha leaders saying this party is resorting to the earlier strategy that kept Punjab aflame for more than a decade and a half. Pakistan's ISI has also been dragged into this discourse.

It is ironic. It was the Akali Dal that was created as a Panthic organisation. However, it is no more Panthic and the Panthic outfits are being slammed by this party as tools of the ISI and the Congress. 

However, while resurrecting the narrative of a Congress hand in militancy, Badal overlooks certain facts. He has been the chief minister thrice since 1997 and could have ordered a probe to nail this party. Such a probe had been promised by the Akali Dal in its manifesto in the 1996 Lok Sabha election and a Common Minimum Programme with the BJP in 1997 Assembly elections. Badal backtracked from that promise in August, 1997.

Moreover, legitimacy to the use of violence as political weapon was provided by the Akali Dal through a resolution adopted by its working committee on August 20, 1980, that stated: "The brave act of the  killing of the Narakdhari (Nirankari chief Gurbachan Singh) by a valiant person is a matter of pride". 

Moreover, Badal is also a signatory to the memorandum to the UN Secretary General on April 22, 1992 that stated: "The Sikh nation, in accordance with the UN Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples, seek an independent and sovereign state."

The history of his compromised politics is long. The people sitting on dharna are the product of that compromising politics of Badal from which he subsequently managed to dissociate.

Yet another dimension of his latest narrative is in the context of Sikh institutions. The radical political discourse that rocked Punjab for about a decade and a half are symbolised by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale Martyrs Memorial in the Golden Temple complex. Sant Bhindranwale was accorded the status of a martyr by the Akal Takht. The first resolution to raise this memorial was adopted by the Akali Dal on October 7, 1984 and a decision in this regard was taken by the SGPC.

It is the SGPC and Damdami Taksal that should come out with their stand on this narrative of a Congress hand in militancy in the context of this memorial. Badal was present at Mehta Chowk as the chief minister when Sant Bhindranwale took over as Taksal chief on August 25, 1977. This memorial has been constructed by the Taksal after a decision by the SGPC.

Badal is known to be a very calculating and shrewd politician who sailed through every crisis. However, he erred twice in the context of sacrilege and related issues. It was wrong to boycott Justice Ranjit Singh Commission. He was responsible as the chief minister for whatever happened in 2015. The second blunder was the boycott of Assembly proceedings by the Akali Dal when this report was released in the House recently. His party should have defended his legacy and regretted whatever went wrong.

The Badals can't dissociate from the sacrilege and the subsequent collateral damage just like the Congress can't remove the blot of Operation Blue Star and the Sikh carnage of November 1984.

The Akali Dal has a history of its stalwarts going out in ignominy and they include leaders like Baba Kharak Singh, Master Tara Singh, Giani Kartar Singh and Sant Harchand Singh Longowal. The contribution they made to the religio-political discourse was historic but they slipped at crucial junctures. So has Badal.

The Sikh religio-politics always needs an ideologue like Gurcharan Singh Tohra to act as a buffer between the Akali Dal and Sikh institutions. The Badals are paying the cost of destroying that vital link by bringing in dummies. 

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