For Punjab’s sake
NATIVE wisdom is what helped the hardy farmers of Punjab take on the Central Government, making it withdraw the three farm laws that they feared would dismantle the Minimum Support Price regime, thereby breaking the back of honest farmers of North India. Now, with the Ukraine war triggering a global foodgrain crisis, even the Central Government would be thanking the farmers of Punjab for having ensured the continuance of the assured price mechanism that fills up Indian granaries. Had the foodgrain sector been privatised and an Adani-like company been allowed to buy foodgrains, the entire sector could have got hit as badly as the Indian market gets shorted when crony capitalists are targeted. The government ought to internalise the Punjabi farmers’ wisdom and institutionalise government procurement to make eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar prosperous, too.
There is no worse government than the one that is indecisive in the face of adversities. And peace bought under duress by the police at a protest site robs them of all their authority.
After the farm protests, Punjab is at the crossroads yet again. This time around, the native wisdom is questioning the Central Government and the BJP on their perception of the man who dresses up like Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was the face of Khalistani militancy 40 years ago. Amritpal, the Dubai businessman who suddenly appeared on Punjab’s political horizon, is no Bhindranwale 2.0; at best, he is a poor imitation and his emergence has led most Punjabis to ask the same question: Whose plant is he? While the Centre and the state government point fingers at our western neighbour, there aren’t many takers for the Pakistan-ISI story closer home — for had Amritpal been a Pak stooge, the Centre would not have blinked its eyes before arresting him and taking him to Delhi.
There are times when one hopes one would not be proved right. A fortnight ago, one had argued that Punjab is on the boil. The Mohali incident, in which Khalistani protesters crossed the Punjab-Chandigarh border and attacked the Union Territory police, inflicting injuries on about 40 cops, occurred on February 8. It indeed was an appalling display of weakness by the Punjab Police to have let the protesters gather at one spot over many weeks and then to have allowed them to turn violent. The ominous signs were there for everyone to read, particularly the police. But the police turned a blind eye to them, giving a fillip to the radical rant for the release of the convicts who had blown up a former Punjab CM. Then, two weeks later, the Punjab Police were again caught unawares by Amritpal’s highhandedness. His mob simply surrounded the Ajnala police station in Amritsar district, forcing the police to capitulate.
The Punjab Police are as good as any other state police force — probably better, in fact. After all, they had taken the brunt of militancy, fought back and won the state its peace and prosperity. So, if the Punjab Police are not doing what they are supposed to do, the reason ought to be simple — the force has been asked by its political bosses to keep its hands in the pockets and watch. And at Ajnala, the police had also to say sorry and release an accused arrested for kidnapping. The difference between the Mohali clash and the Ajnala incident is the presence of Amritpal. Photographs of him sporting a trendy look without a turban, wearing T-shirts and jeans like any other 29-year-old, have gone viral in a meme that accuses him of being a Central Government stooge. What lends credence to this accusation is the kid-glove treatment meted out to him by the Centre.
On the day of the Ajnala police’s capitulation, Amritpal had threatened Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Indira Gandhi’s fate if he tried to crush the Khalistani movement. Arrest warrants have been executed by various BJP state governments against mainstream politicians for much less — the latest being an Assam Police attempt to take Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera into custody for making an unseemly comment on the PM. Yet, no Central agency responsible for the Home Minister’s security seems to have heard of Amritpal’s statement. Nor have the local police. But if Amritpal is indeed the Centre’s stooge, planted to destabilise the Aam Aadmi Party government, what stops CM Bhagwant Mann from arresting the Khalistani separatist?
Why are the Central agencies and the local police protecting Amritpal? Is he being built up into Bhindranwale 2.0, in a redux of the incidents that had drenched the soil of Punjab with blood? If so, people will soon make a simplistic cost-benefit analysis and would begin blaming both the Centre and the Punjab Government for letting loose another round of anarchy on them.
Curiously, BJP politicians are seeking President’s rule in the state, instead of Amritpal’s arrest. If the National Investigation Agency could swoop down on the top leadership of the Popular Front of India without a single Islamist secessionist getting wind of the operation or escaping the dragnet in a hostile state where the extremists had allegedly infiltrated even the local Kerala Police, the likes of Amritpal are not a serious challenge for the Central agencies. If he is indeed an ISI plant, this is a great opportunity for the Centre to expose Pakistan’s designs, not just in Jammu and Kashmir but in Punjab as well. After all, the drone-drops of drugs and arms from Pakistan have been well established by diligent BSF officers.
While the Centre’s reluctance to act can at least be blamed on its attempt to expose the Punjab Government, the latter’s governance record has got sullied by its timidity at Mohali and complete surrender at Ajnala. So, even if the Punjab Government is trying to buy peace with the radicals, it would actually be buying a ticket to anarchy and thereby President’s rule if it does not act strongly. There is no worse government than the one that is indecisive in the face of adversities. And peace bought under duress by the police at a protest site robs them of all their authority.
