Punjab Assembly polls 2017 - Part V

After a very traumatic day when Punjab faced a major militant attack on Gurdaspur police station, the entire counter-insurgency operation that lasted for 12 hours shook the whole nation, not just Punjab. A shocking incident that reminded Punjab of its dark days of militancy. Though there have been many speculations about the various terrorist organisations about the attack, but I completely rubbish this claim or any possibility of yesterday's Gurdaspur infiltrators belonging to Babbar Khalsa or any sikh extremist outfit. Prima Facie, from the photos of their dead-bodies circulated on social media, they're looking like Muslim terrorists. Maybe the Indian intelligence is right if they link it to LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba). KPS Gill's speculation cannot be ignored either if he says that it's an IS's (Islamic State's) knock on the Indian doors. I don't think situation is under control yet. Not just me, every Punjabi is worried about the peace and harmony in the state after this attack.

Now this incident clearly indicates that Punjabis need a strong government that can not only ensure communal peace and harmony but can also ensure about its effectiveness in dealing with insurgency. Though today's operation was carried out by the Punjab Police SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team assisted by the army and the para-military forces, but it lost an SP level officer and two home-guards. But the political tragedy behind this whole episode is that we clearly saw a center-state blame game for covering up government's reluctance to act swiftly on the inputs given by the intelligence, though some analysts claim the loopholes in the intelligence to avert such untoward incident. Though Punjab has also seen the rise and fall of a very powerful secessionist movement in 1980's which claimed almost a million lives over a decade, this attack had absolutely nothing to do with its dark history.

Whenever an act of terror strikes, it is either the army, para-military or the police force who emerge as heroes, politicians look more like superficial actors who can only make stereotypical statements and do nothing bold or show no act of valour. Now this has been the tragedy of every democracy, that soldiers and policemen die fighting such evils and politicians move on without shedding a single tear by simply making a hackneyed, superficial statement that simply provokes a sense of patriotism for the moment. It would be really interesting to see a minister or a high ranking official showing some physical courage by fighting alongside a soldier or a policeman. Today's event was also a great satire on those Punjabi singers who promote useless violence in their songs and people especially youngsters can ask them that "where were their guns and guts when terror struck Punjab ??"

Another phenomenon that has kept the government engaged is "Surat Singh Khalsa's fast unto death" to protest against extended sentence of all the sikh prisoners who have finished the duration of their sentence announced by the court. Though the Badal govt. has been very reluctant to hear their woes, and has stuck to the Supreme Court judgement which states that: A convict undergoing life imprisonment is expected to remain in custody till the end of his life, subject to any remission granted by the appropriate government. The convict will be in custody for an indeterminate period. Therefore, remissions earned by or awarded to such a life convict are only notional. In this case, to reduce the period of incarceration, a specific order under Section 432 of the CrPC will have to be passed by the appropriate government. However, the reduced period cannot be less than 14 years as per Section 433-A of the CrPC.

Now the tragedy behind this episode is that an 82 year old man has been on a hunger strike for more than 6 months, has been kept in police custody, force fed, hospitalized and has been given intra-venal drip several times, but he has refused to back-out from his objective. Though there have been many violent clashes and arrests of right-wing sikh hardliners who are khalsa's supporters , the Punjab government has stayed phlegmatic. Now sikhs expect SAD to support and pursue panthic interests but it has failed to resolve the matter with the undaunted octogenarian. BJP has distanced itself from the issue. AAP and Congress haven't shown any reaction yet but what are they waiting for. Their silence at this stage means they're not supporting Khalsa and by definition, they too are opposing him. Hence, panthic interests are the victims of the power-struggle in the state and it would be in the best interest of the sikh youth to understand that they should pursue panthic interests through other organisations like Dal Khalsa and SGPC and not leave them at the mercy of any political party. And SGPC should define a clear-cut distinction between panthic and non-panthic issues and try to minimize political interference in religious matters.

One best thing which can be pointed out about the incumbent government is that it knows how to handle the sikh radicals and is well aware of ways and means to appease them. Even if it pursues its own vested interests, it can always project an image of being the voice of the sikh community which is in minority in the country. Taking into account all the hardcore ground realities of the state, the idea to support student politics is justified only if students are aware of such sensitivities. The PUSU (Punjab University Student Union) elections is the perfect show of muscle and SUV's with very little morality and substance, and is more of a glamorous affair for rich, spoil brats. If the sikh youth needs to be empowered even at the student level, they should make AISSF (All India Sikh Student Federation) more active and start operating more vigorously like NSUI (National Student Union of India) backed by Congress and ABVP (Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad) backed by BJP.

Undoubtedly, all these factors have a bearing on the upcoming assembly elections of the state. The message conveyed through this article is simple that whether it's Congress, BJP, SAD or AAP, all have to keep in mind the sensitivity of Punjab as a political battleground and contest the elections in the right spirit so that no secessionist movement or insurgency can rise again and make Punjab bleed to hell, like it has in the past. All politicians cutting across party lines, should do some soul-searching and try to make their home state more peaceful and livable instead of turning it into a political battleground.

Punjab Assembly polls 2017 - Part IV

At this juncture of time, too much has happened in the political space in Punjab which is likely to have a direct impact on the upcoming Assembly polls. Actually I am in a complete state of disgust after observing the political updates in the last 2 weeks and the reason behind that is the leading faces of all the political parties which are the main competitors of the upcoming polls. The following news featured in The Tribune dated 13 July 2015.

Apparently on different pages of the same newspaper, the former CM and the incumbent CM made a statement contradicting each other just for the sake of it. The most irritating part is that these two leaders have made it a personal battle and are so much consumed with their political rivalry that they think it's either me or the other one who can rule the state and no third power can emerge as long as two of us are there. I won't call it an SAD-BJP-Congress nexus but definitely a Captain-Badal nexus to make a fool out of Punjabis.

But even worse is the fact that I'm much more disgusted with AAP as compared to Congress or SAD out of the infighting and factionalism coming in the public domain. Though many AAP loyalists in Delhi were highly disturbed over the expulsion of Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav from the party, expulsion of Dr. Daljit Singh from the Punjab executive committee has infuriated many AAP workers in the state. Many prominent leaders of the party are blaming Arvind Kejriwal for having a dictatorial attitude. Actually, this is changing the entire scenario of the AAP image. Now AAP is making an impression that it's become so much ambitious that it's forgetting about the ways and means of achieving their political success. They're simply looking for leaders who can fetch them seats irrespective of their morals and are bypassing "the neat and clean image" as a criteria for induction into the party. Even Dr. Dharamvir Gandhi has questioned the integrity of Sucha Singh Chhotepur, the Chairman of AAP executive committee of Punjab, by calling him an opportunist who has switched various political parties in the past for making a political career. Only Bhagwant Mann is projecting a magnanimous image and talking of taking everyone along. 

Another social-media source that is worth sharing here is the youtube video of Balwant Singh Nandgarh, the erstwhile Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib:

  

I recommend all the readers to watch this video as the Jathedar though, has been hesitant in making any political statement but has clearly said : "BJP does exactly what SAD tells it to do and SAD does exactly what RSS tells it to do, hence SAD is not thinking about panthic interests."

Though SAD-BJP put up a united face during the Union Finance Minster's visit at Amritsar but it would be really interesting to watch that whether they keep their words about the alliance or not. Punjab politics is actually as bad as any crooked state which has little hope for the future and I recommend the youth to stay away from it as much as possible as the established leaders can make a political non-entity out of a powerful person like Navjot Singh Sidhu at any time and hence the aspiring leaders have absolutely no future in state politics, even AAP doesn't ensure a stable and a reliable platform.

I will present the sequel of this article soon where I'll touch the role of right-wing Sikh outfits and student politics which are the burning topics nowadays.