Tag: Parkash Singh Badal

Parkash Singh Badal: The Leader Who Saw the Making of Punjab

During the course of his seven-decade-long political journey, he never missed the chance to speak about Sikhs, Punjab’s rights and communal harmony in Punjab.

Jalandhar: It was February 1984. Parkash Singh Badal and a host of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) workers reached Delhi’s famous Bangla Sahib Gurdwara and burnt a copy of Article 25 (B) of the Indian constitution, demanding the Union government to amend it and give separate identity to the Sikhs. That clause said that the “reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly”.

Badal not only tore the copy of Article 25, he even wrote a letter to the United Nations raising the same demand. However, later Badal admitted several times that his actions were based on orders from Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, who was the president of SAD during the insurgency-hit Punjab of the 1980s.

A staunch supporter of federalism, Parkash Singh Badal breathed his last on April 25, 2023 at the age of 95. During the course of his seven-decade-long political journey, he never missed the chance to speak about Sikhs, Punjab’s rights and communal harmony in Punjab. He would take pride in the fact that Punjab never witnessed any communal clashes.

During his career, he witnessed the historical, religious and political developments of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s such as the Sikh-Nirankari clash of 1978, Operation Blue Star in 1984, the Rajiv-Longowal Accord in 1985 and the militancy in Punjab in the early 90s.

And in his main rival congress, Badal found the political ground to grow as the tallest leader of Punjab. His attacks against the Congress revolved around Operation Bluestar, its alleged anti-Sikh stance and corruption. He was known for maintaining cordial relations with everybody, a quality which earned him respect across party lines.

Tryst with BJP

By adopting moderate stand and politics following the SAD-BJP alliance during the historic Moga Conference of 1996, Badal started a new chapter in not just Akali politics but that of Punjab’s politics too.

During the Moga conference, Badal gave the slogan of ‘Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat’. Despite stiff opposition from the then SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Badal went ahead with the SAD-BJP alliance and ruled Punjab for two consecutive terms from 2007 to 2017. However, it often left the SAD juggling between the ideology of ‘Panthic party’ (focused on Sikh politics) and a ‘Punjabi party’.

The SAD’s journey with the BJP came to an end in 2020, severing ties with the party because of the three farm laws. But the damage had already been done. If its show of 18 seats in the 2017 assembly elections, owing to to aaparent failure to curb drug abuse and a lack of progress in sacrilege cases, was considered dismal, it was reduced to merely three seats in 2022. It clearly hinted at that the Akalis’ base was eroding in Punjab.

Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal. Photo: By arrangement

‘Art of compromised politics’

Director of World Punjabi Centre from Punjabi University, Patiala, Professor Balkar Singh said, “From being a common farmer, he became a sarpanch and a wealthy politician. His art of compromised politics, sometimes under pressure from the public and largely with the Centre, ensured his political success.”

Along with SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra and ex-SAD president Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, Badal was one of the few leaders who not just led but was also well informed about the behind-the-scenes politics of fundamental issues like Punjabi Suba Morcha, Anandpur Sahib Resolution, Dharam Yudh Morcha and the agitation against Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal.

Jaspal Singh Sidhu, a former journalist who covered nearly all the major developments of Punjab, said Badal was the main leader of the Punjabi Suba (state) struggle. “Punjabi Suba came into existence in November 1966 but Chandigarh was not part of it. He did not do anything for it. Badal was the main architect of Dharam Yudh Morcha, which started on August 4, 1982 from the Golden temple. He was the first one to volunteer and court arrest for it. Badal’s political trajectory was like that: if needed, he would compromise with the public, else go in sync with the Centre,” he said.

The Dharam Yudh Morcha led to the protest against the SYL Canal.

The senior journalist also said that during the 1997 assembly elections, Badal announced the constitution of a Truth Commission to expose fake encounters and human rights violation cases in its election manifesto. “That Truth Commission never saw the light of the day. Leave taking action against the guilty police officers involved in fake encounters, Badal appointed most of them to key posts and left the victims begging for justice,” he added.

The senior journalist said while the BJP kept on expanding its centralist agenda, Badal as chief minister chose to brush aside Punjab’s interests for the sake of electoral gains. “The rout of SAD [in the previous two assembly elections] was primarily because it kept ignoring the interests of Sikhs and Punjab,” Sidhu said.

Also Read: In Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Loses a Mass Leader

Overt and covert messaging

Badal also sought to commute the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was convicted for the assassination of former Punjab CM Beant Singh. In 2012 Badal and his son, then deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, handed a mercy petition to the President, seeking clemency for Rajaona. The latter was supposed to be hanged on March 31, 2012 but the Union government stayed it on March 29, 2012.

It was for this reason that the recently formed SAD-BSP alliance fielded Rajaona’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur as the ‘joint panthic candidate’ for the Sangrur by election in May 2022, where SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann won.

The former CM was also known for subtly conveying even the toughest of messages. With a laugh, he would convey messages which hold deep meaning. At an event in Lovely Professional University, where the then president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai was the chief guest, CM Badal – while concluding his speech – asked Karzai to “stop the smuggling of heroin from Afghanistan” as it was affecting the youth of Punjab.

Senior congress leader and the first woman CM of Punjab Rajinder Kaur Bhattal shared an anecdote about Badal. “He was committed to his party and Punjab issues. During the Dharam Yudh Morcha, he could not attend his only daughter’s wedding because he was arrested,” she said.

Badal spent many years in jail during emergency and for participating in different morchas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him the Nelson Mandela of India during an event in Delhi in 2015.

When in power Badal undertook several populist measures like providing free power to farmers, Atta Dal scheme for the poor, Shagun scheme for the marriage of SC girls and distribution of cycles to girl students in government schools. All of them struck a chord with the voters.

In Badal’s demise, people not only lost a popular leader but a politician whose life spanned parallel to that of Punjab’s journey.

In Parkash Singh Badal, Punjab Loses a Mass Leader

The Union government has announced a two-day state mourning period for the Shiromani Akali Dal patriarch, who leaves behind a mixed legacy. While he helped restore peace in Punjab, he also succumbed to nepotism.

Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, who remained a central figure of Punjab politics for nearly half a century, passed away at the age of 95 on Tuesday, April 25, after a brief illness.

He was admitted to a private hospital in Mohali on April 21 after experiencing chest pain and breathing difficulties. Since then, he was in constant observation in the intensive care unit.

As the news of his demise spreads, tributes pour in for the veteran politician. The Union government has declared a two-day mourning period on April 26 and 27 as a mark of respect.

He was just 42 years of age when he first became Punjab CM in 1970. He was 88 years when he demitted office for the last time in 2017. In total, he Was the chief minister of Punjab for a record five times. He also served as the Union minister of agriculture and irrigation in the Janata Party government in 1977.

Badal, who was president of the SAD from 1995-2008, was elected as an MLA 11 times (out of 13 times contested), a record in Punjab. He began his political career in 1947 as a sarpanch of his native village Badal.

Since then, the identity of his village became permanently etched in his name. Badal first entered the Punjab assembly in 1957 from the Malout constituency in Muktsar district on a Congress ticket.
Later, he joined the SAD and became a central figure of anti-Congress politics within the state and outside, after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966.

While he was a moderate Akali leader who remained committed to peace in the border state, he has a mixed legacy. Some say that he was a people’s politician, while others accuse him of making the SAD a family-driven party. His son Sukhbir Singh Badal is the current president of SAD.

Badal’s mortal remains will be placed at the SAD head office in Chandigarh from 10 am to 12 noon on Wednesday. Thereafter, his body will be taken his native Badal village, where he will be cremated on Thursday.

Conferred with the Padma Vibhushan in 2015, Badal returned it in 2020 as a mark of protest against the three contentious Central farm laws which were opposed by farmers in the state.

Complicated legacy

Pramod Kumar, a political commentator who is the director of the Institute of Development and Communication in Chandigarh, told The Wire Badal’s demise marks the end of an era. “He belonged to that generation of politicians who handled every situation with political maturity, unlike reactionary politics today. He represented a moderate voice of Punjab politics and did not encourage divisiveness in society,” he said.

According to Pramod, the SAD patriarch was one of the main architects of restoring peace in Punjab after a decade of militancy in the state in 80s.

He referred to the SAD’s Moga Declaration in 1996 under Badal’s leadership, which projected the Akali Dal as the party of Punjabis of all faiths.

Harjeshwar Singh, a history professor, also said that Badal was a mass leader and a humble politician who contributed to the development of the state through his record five times as CM. But during his time, he reduced the SAD, the second oldest political party in India, to a family party, Singh said. His opponents in the party were either shunted out or became politically irrelevant.

After serving the Akali Dal as president for 13 years, he handed over the baton to his son Sukhbir Badal and other members of his family.

“He is also often accused of degrading Sikh institutions,” said Harjeshwar, adding that the SAD has a history of struggle to protect regional interests of Punjabis and the state. Sadly, the party under his leadership did not live up to it. “SAD, which once was a strong regional party, plunged into existential crisis during Badal’s own lifetime, ” he added.

In 2022, when the most recent assembly elections were held in Punjab, the party was reduced to just three seats in the 117-member house, a record low for the 103 year old party.

Senior journalist and writer Jagtar Singh also told The Wire that while Badal might have been longest serving chief minister of the state, his legacy is questionable, especially in Sikh panthic (religious) domain.

However despite all his weaknesses, he was considered a humble politician and had kept his ears to the ground.

He was a 24×7 politician who understood his electorate very well. His sangat darshan – weekly meetings with the public in their villages – were hugely successful.

Badal’s strategic alliance with BJP helped him form three governments after the 90s, he said. Some called it Sikh and Hindu alliance – with the SAD seen as a Sikh party and BJP as a Hindu party – which was also important after 15 years of militancy in Punjab, Jagtar said.

The SAD patriarch’s populist schemes like free power to farmers and the atta-daal scheme for dalits brought relief to farming and poor communities. But for many, it was a short sighted vision and did not help uplift the farming community in the long run. Giving free power to farmers, which Badal started in 1997, is also blamed now for depleting groundwater levels to record lows in the state.

Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal. Photo: By arrangement

Tributes pour in

Top functionaries of the country, meanwhile, have paid tribute to Badal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Badal’s passing a personal loss. In a tweet Modi said, “I have interacted closely with him for many decades and learnt so much from him. I recall our numerous conversations, in which his wisdom was always clearly seen.”

President Droupadi Murmu also stated in a tweet that Badal was one of the tallest political stalwarts in independent India. “Though his exemplary career in public service was largely confined to Punjab, he was respected across the country. His demise leaves a void,” she said.

Union home minister Amit Shah said in statement that the passing away of the veteran is deeply saddening. “His career spanning several decades was dedicated to the welfare of the poor. His demise is an irreparable loss to Indian politics,” he said.

BJP national president J.P. Nadda said Badal was a towering political figure whose contributions to the development of Punjab are immense and will always be remembered.

In his statement, Congress national president Mallikaarjun Kharge said Badal was a veteran of Indian politics. “Although we differed in our ideologies, he earned immense respect among the people of Punjab for his simplicity and loyalty to his cadre, as he served multiple terms as CM,” said Kharge.

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann said in a condolence message, “Received the sad news of the demise of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.May Waheguru give place to the departed soul in his feet and give strength to the family to bear the loss.”

Note: This article was originally published at 10 pm on April 25, 2023 and republished at 11:55 pm on the same day.

Rookies, the Centre and the Role of ‘Insurgency’: What AAP in Punjab Can Learn From Assam’s AGP Govt

First-time legislators of the AAP government in Punjab would do well to look at Assam of the 1980s, considering what was Congress then is BJP now.

New Delhi: Recently, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal asked MLAs of his party who have been newly elected in Punjab to “perform or perish.”

The Delhi chief minister also added a second component to evaluating the right of his party’s Punjab legislators to remain in the first AAP government in the state – not indulging in corruption.

The news made catchy headlines and reminded me of a lively chapter of the political history of my home state of Assam.

For several reasons, it is easy to compare the first Asom Gana Parishad government of Assam – formed in December 1985 – with the first AAP government of Punjab, now in its early days.

In the 1980s, many in Assam also watched Punjab very closely as it hosted a parallel revolt of sorts against the Indira Gandhi government. This revolt hinged on sub-nationalism. It was also not devoid of the component of insurgency – born of long-held disgruntlement against successive Union governments.

In Assam and Punjab, insurgencies were brutally crushed. Their shadow lingers on in contemporary Assamese and Punjabi societies.

No sooner did the Rajiv Gandhi government sign the Punjab Accord with Sant Longowal in July 1985, there was subdued euphoria among Assamese who held strong jatiotabadi (sub-nationalist). They thought that the Union government would bend for them too.

I remember conversations among supporters of the anti-foreigner agitation then about how the Punjab Accord will have surely paved the way for an Assam Accord.

Assam movement. Photo: Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 4.0

Those expectations were not off the mark. Barely a few weeks after the Rajiv-Longowal pact came to be, the Assam Accord was signed between the All Assam Students Union (AASU), some other sub-nationalist entities and the Union government, clearing decks for the formation of a new regional party, the Asom Gana Parishad. The AGP would go on to win most of the seats in the assembly polls later that year.   

Like the recently formed AAP government in Punjab, in the AGP government too, several MLAs and ministers were first-timers. Eight of the 11 ministers in the AAP government in Punjab are first-time MLAs. Of the 85 first-timers in the 117-member Punjab house, 82 belong to AAP, a comparatively new party which has now grabbed power from a seasoned entity, the Congress. In the end of 1985 too, the newly formed AGP had seized power from the old power hub, the Congress, with a large number of first-time MLAs. 

Similar to Punjab of 2022 getting a first-time legislator as a chief minister in Bhagwant Mann, in Assam of 1985 too, the first AGP government had in the top post a first time MLA – Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. Mahanta’s record as the country’s youngest chief minister, at 33, has remained unbroken till date. 

These similarities between Punjab of 2022 and Assam of the 1980s are interesting and not just because factional fights within the Congress led to the creation of space for the new entrants. Assam also helps analyse a shift in Punjabi society in the last few decades, as a result of which all old power centres, like Congress or the Akalis, have faced a rejection.

For Kejriwal, the captain of his party’s ship, to get a glimpse of what indeed is likely to happen if the two markers of good governance – performance and keeping the books clean – are not made a priority, he only need look at the 1985 AGP government.

Governor of Punjab Banwarilal Purohit with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and the newly sworn-in state Cabinet ministers, pose for photographs at Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh, Saturday, March 19, 2022. Photo: PTI

The fall of the AGP government of 1985 was primarily because it failed on both these counts. Add to it party squabbles over ministers’ posts, and the downward spiral was written in the cards. The government fell even before its full term.

In his speech on March 21, Kejriwal did cover this essential vulnerability too. “I am told that some MLAs who could not become ministers are upset. We have got 92 seats. Only 17 will become ministers. It is not that those MLAs who could not become ministers are less competent. The people of Punjab have elected diamonds. You all are diamonds. You all are capable, but all 92 of us will have to work hard as a team. If we will not work like a team, but keep aspirations and greed at the forefront, Punjab will lose. It is important for Punjab that we all work as a team,” he said.

In the first AGP government, internal spats led to the formation of camps. Thus from a chink in the armour, infighting became the primary cause behind the party’s inability to deliver good governance.

Constant fights between Mahanta and his second-in-command Bhrigu Kumar Phukan, then the state home minister, ultimately caused a split in the party in March 1991.

Mahanta had told me in 2018 that the split was “engineered” by the Congress through a former Union minister in the V.P. Singh government, Dinesh Goswami, who had formed a covert axis with Phukan and then Assam education minister and senior AGP leader, Brindaman Goswami, to topple him.

Also read | Interview: ‘AGP Will Break Alliance If BJP Passes Citizenship (Amendment) Bill’

According to a top party insider, that axis had continued and funds were routed by the Congress through Goswami (then from the AGP) to split the party and bring Congress back to power in Assam in the 1991 assembly polls. 

Even before, there had been steady speculation that central leaders of the Congress had added flamed the budding insurgency in the Bodo-dominated areas of western Assam to weaken the Mahanta government. Mahanta had told me that the role played by “a top IPS officer” from the Bodo areas, “assigned the job of imparting actual training to the first batch of the Bodo Liberation Tigers insurgents” as “a part of R&AW operations”.

What must be also taken into account is the Mahanta government’s inability to ensure policies that made the tribes of the state feel included in wider Assamese society and governance in general, particularly in terms of imposition of the Assamese language among those whose first language is different. In turn, the Mahanta government fell right into the trap set up by the Rajiv Gandhi government.

While the player in Assam between 1985 and 1989 might have been Congress, powerful after winning – for the first time ever – 400-plus seats in parliament, a likely actor now is an all-powerful Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre, with an equally invincible public image and strength of numbers in parliament.

Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and Bhrigu Kumar Phukan are seen in this photo of the Assam Accord signing. Photo: www.inc.in

BJP has retained power in four of the five states that went to the polls recently. It is no rocket science to deduce that all efforts may be on to weaken the first AAP government. The constant power struggle in Delhi is testament to the fact that an AAP-led Punjab and the Modi-led Centre will be locked in a power tussle.

Ultimately, what led to the collapse of the first AGP government in Assam eight months before it could finish its five-year tenure was the allegation fuelled by the Centre that the Mahanta government and particularly home minister Phukan supported the separatist theory of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)-backed insurgency in the northeastern state.

Also read: Before Being Banned, ULFA Leaders Had Sought UK Support, Reveal Declassified Papers

The general contention in Assam has been that the newly-formed and shaky Chandra Shekhar government at the Centre was brought under pressure by the Congress – then supporting it from outside – to pull the plug on the Mahanta government citing rise in insurgency in the border state, and thereby impose President’s Rule alongside rolling out an Army operation to douse it.

Hiteswar Saikia. Photo: www.debabratasaikia.in

Some top IPS officials then serving in Assam were surprised at the sudden end of that plan, named Operation Bajrang, and the announcement of the 1991 assembly elections by the Election Commission of India.

This assembly election brought the Hiteswar Saikia-led Congress government back to power in Assam.  

In the run-up to the 2022 assembly polls in Punjab, the narrative that was pushed by the BJP, and naturally also the Modi government, against the farmers’ movement hugely backed by Punjabis was that it was a separatist one, egged on by Khalistanis. 

This fact is of importance to the first AAP government. A narrative enthusiastically encouraged by the ruling party in New Delhi has enough potential to be weaponised against a rookie government.

Punjab is a border state like Assam where central agencies play a much larger role than what often meets the eye.

Kejriwal’s message to AAP MLAs of Punjab to “perform or perish” and not indulge in corruption and factional fights over plum posts can be the antidote, if that party and its stakeholders are willing to learn a lesson from the first AGP government of Assam.

The Achilles’ heel of the first AGP government was its lack of vision to deliver good governance through state-based schemes and go beyond fulfilling the clauses of the Assam Accord which anyway could not be achieved without the cooperation of the Union home ministry.

Also read: Extractivism and Extremism: The Tangled Resource Politics of Northeast India

That government failed generate funds within the state itself but remained dependent on an unfriendly Centre for funds. There was also a lack of political astuteness among first-time AGP MLAs and ministers, who perhaps failed to fathom that their competitors were not within the party but in a powerful national party like the Congress.

First-time legislators of the AAP government in Punjab would have to learn from the mistakes seen in Assam then, considering what was Congress then is BJP now. If voters reject the party at the Centre in a state then the path to the next election starts with denial of funds, expanding into defections and a final grab for power with a friendly governor.

Bhagwant Mann has begun by doing what most new chief ministers do – meet the Prime Minister and demand a financial package to run the state. Mann did it this week during a meeting with Narendra Modi in New Delhi. But he and his government will have to go beyond it, and soon. They will have to keep pages of history from the first AGP government in Assam closer to their chest than they may think it necessary.

Punjab: Bhagwant Mann Meets Governor, Stakes Claim to Form Government

Bhagwant Mann told reporters outside the Raj Bhawan that he handed over a letter of support of his party MLAs to the governor who accepted it.

Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister-designate Bhagwant Mann on Saturday staked claim to form government in the state after meeting Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

After the meeting, Mann told reporters outside the Raj Bhawan that he handed over a letter of support of his party MLAs to the governor who accepted it.

“We staked claim to form the government and the governor sahib approved it,” said Mann.

The 48-year-old Mann was elected the AAP Legislature Party leader at a meeting of the party MLAs in Mohali on Friday.

Mann said the swearing-in ceremony will be held at 12:30 pm on March 16 at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, in Nawanshahr district.

Also read: In Punjab, Congress Proved Its Own Enemy and Paved Way for AAP’s Rise

“We invite the people of Punjab (for the ceremony). Every Punjabi will take oath on that day…we will vow to sacrifice everything for the progress of Punjab, he said. “We will pay tributes to Bhagat Singh.”

Replying to a question on the cabinet formation, Mann said, “The cabinet will be good. Historic decisions will be taken.”

Mann has also invited AAP national convener and Delhi  chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for the swearing-in ceremony.

On Sunday, the two leaders will pay obeisance at the Golden Temple, Durgiana Mandir and Sri Ram Tirath Mandir.

They will take part in a road show in Amritsar to celebrate the AAP’s stupendous victory in the polls and thank the voters.

AAP romped home by winning 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.

It decimated the Congress and the SAD-BSP combine and its candidates defeated several stalwarts, including the outgoing chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and former chief minister Amarinder Singh.

(PTI)

Punjab: At 94, Parkash Singh Badal Is Contesting Again to Boost SAD’s Poll Prospects

By fielding Parkash again, it appears that SAD is still banking upon his legacy to overcome electoral losses of the 2017 polls.

Chandigarh: Parkash Singh Badal, patron of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), was first elected sarpanch of Badal village, then in Bathinda district, when India became free in 1947.

The word ‘Badal’ would later come to be etched permanently in the history of Punjabi politics, with Parkash, then 29 years old, never looking back.

One of the few surviving politicians of that era, Badal, now 94, is in the electoral fray for a record 13th time from Lambi constituency in Muktsar district, which he has been winning since 1997.

Due to his age, it was uncertain whether Parkash would fight these elections; he had been saying for some time that his mind was not made up. He was not in action during the 2019 parliamentary polls. In fact his son and successor, Sukhbir Singh Badal, has already been declared party’s chief ministerial face for the 2022 polls.

By fielding Parkash again , it appears that SAD is still banking upon his legacy to overcome electoral losses of the 2017 polls, when the party was reduced to mere 15 seats in the 117-member state assembly, the lowest ever tally for the over-100-year-old party of Punjab.

Senior journalist Jagtar Singh told The Wire that Parkash had himself conveyed a few times in the recent past that his inning in politics were over. The plausible reason why he has been brought back is to push the party’s poll campaign.

Jagtar said the party is in a do-or-die situation after a massive defeat in the 2017 elections. Every seat is crucial in the ongoing polls. “With senior Badal in the fray, the party feels that the whole cadre will feel motivated and charged,” he said.

In politics for the last 75 years, Parkash has been unassailable barring one election in 1967 – when too he lost by just 57 votes.

Badal first entered the Punjab assembly in 1957 from the Malout constituency (another city in Muktsar district) on a Congress ticket. Later, he became part of the Akali Dal and became a pivotal figure in anti-Congress politics in Punjab.

Also read: Fight For Punjab’s Moga Seat Heats Up As Sonu Sood Campaigns for Sister Malvika

He went on to become chief minister five times after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, a record that he still holds apart from winning assembly elections again for a record 11 times. After Malout, Badal shifted his base to the nearby Gidderbaha constituency, which he won five out of six times between 1967 and 1985.

The state polls after 1985 were held in 1992, which the Akali Dal had boycotted in protest against the Congress government at the Centre for not fulfilling longstanding demands made by Sikhs.

Badal shifted to Lambi in the 1997 assembly polls – and has not lost from here since. Lambi is a small rural constituency of 71 villages. Badal village falls in the same constituency. Although Parkash was born in 1927 in the village Abul Khurana near Malout, Badal became his permanent home.

He has a big mansion in the village. It is from here he that has now been managing his election and meeting party supporters.

Parkash was recently diagnosed with COVID-19. He has recovered now and is in stable health.

According to media reports, after SAD announced his candidature on Wednesday, party workers inaugurated a poll office at Lambi village and organised a Sukhmani Sahib path to pray for his victory.

Less feisty contest

In 2017, when Amarinder Singh of the Congress confronted Parkash in Lambi, it was projected as the mother of all battles. Later, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also fielded Jarnail Singh, the former journalist-turned-politician who gained popularity for hurling a shoe at then Union home minister P. Chidambaram in 2009 over Congress leaders being given a clean chit in the 1984 pogrom.

Despite a feisty contest, Badal proved his mettle. He defeated Amarinder, who later became the Punjab chief minister, with over 24,000 votes.

This time there is no heavy weight in the poll fray against Parkash. AAP has fielded former Congress leader Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, while Congress’s nominee, Jagpal Singh Abul Khurana, is a newcomer. The BJP-Punjab Lok Congress has made Rakesh Dhingra its candidate from Lambi, another a newcomer.

Khuddian told The Wire that Punjab will deliver a political change this time. Badal has remained the chief minister for five terms but he could not give good schools to the people of his own constituency, forget about the whole of the state, the AAP candidate alleged. “Where are the affordable and quality health services here or elsewhere? Badal was recently diagnosed with COVID-19 and he received his treatment at a private hospital in Ludhiana. Why is there no big medical institute anywhere in Punjab like PGI in Chandigarh?”

He said unemployment in Punjab is at an all-time high, but did Parkash ever focus on generating employment? People have now realised that traditional parties have just used them for their vote bank. They are looking for a change this time from old politicians and old political parties, he added.

“AAP will improve education and health services once our party forms the government in Punjab, ” said Khuddian.

Also read: In Punjab Elections, the Sidhu Versus Majithia Clash Promises to Be Intense

On the other hand, Parkash has already made one around the constituency, holding public meetings in all 71 villages.

Local SAD leader Ranjodh Dhaliwal told The Wire that the AAP candidate is spreading lies. “Badals have made a huge contribution to developing civic infrastructure, not only in Lambi but the whole of Punjab. The AAP candidate is a turncoat who came from Congress, which ran a completely hollow government in the last five years.”

Dhaliwal said many senior leaders will also come here to campaign for Parkash. Abhay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal is expected on February 2. The Chautala family has had close personal ties with the Badals.

Apart from the Akali Dal cadre, Harsimrat Badal has also been visiting villages in Lambi on a regular basis to campaign for her father-in-law. Her son, Anantbir Singh Badal, has also been seen at many social functions since the first week of January.

In a meeting last month in Lambi, Harsimrat told the crowds, “When SAD-BSP comes to power, Sukhbir Badal will be your CM but Badal Sahab will be your ‘super CM’. He keeps on saying that now health does not allow him, age factor is also there. But you all convince him, you can make him win elections even if he sits at home. He has served this area as a sewadar for decades.”

After 26 Years, SAD’s Politics Returns to Its Old Haunt. But Not Everyone Is Happy

Speeches by SAD leaders in a recent meeting signified that the party was ready to return to its Sikh ‘Panth’ agenda. Many feel this reeks of convenience.

Jalandhar: On January 2, a ‘Panthic Rosh Diwas’ was held at the Diwan Hall of the Gurdwara Manji Sahib in the Golden Temple complex of Amritsar.

In it, Shiromani Akali Dal patron and five-time chief minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal said, “Devious conspiracies are at work to weaken the ‘Khalsa Panth’ and dilute its separate and unique religious identity.”

He added, “Our sacred Gurdhams [religious places] and their unique religious ideology are being targeted. The ‘kaum’ [an Urdu-Punjabi word which means nation, nationality and community] will have to guard against attempts by powerful agencies to create dissensions, disunity and mutual distrust within the community by using the age-old tactics of Trojan horses.”

The ex-CM warned against dangerous conspiracies to install government stooges as “neo-masands” in Gurdhams, hinting at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s recent move to take control of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee through Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

‘Masand’ denotes preachers who used to propagate the Sikh religion. They were appointed by 10th Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, but carry a negative connotation because of their corrupt practices in running gurdwaras. Calling one a “masand” is ascribing him with greed and immorality.

After 26 years, the 100-year-old party, which came into being on December 14, 1920, after facing political, religious and existential challenges is back to its core ‘Panthic’ politics again. ‘Panth’ is popular expression for the Sikh religious community.

Known for morchas, agitations, its role in the freedom struggle and the ‘Punjabi Suba’ movement of 1953 for a Punjabi speaking state, SAD took a quantum leap from its Panthic ideology during the Moga Conclave of 1996.

Here, SAD and BJP forged an alliance which remained until they parted ways in September 2020 over the now repealed three farm laws.

Until it entered into this alliance, SAD could never complete a term. Afterwards, SAD was the only party to have ruled Punjab for two consecutive terms – from 2007 to 2017.

Political observers and those who remained at the helm of affairs in SAD, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) and the Akal Takth viewed the ‘Panthic Rosh Diwas’ as a step towards regaining the party’s lost political ground.

The Panthic Rosh Diwas programme by SAD. Photo: By arrangement

Chandigarh-based senior journalist and author Jagtar Singh said that with elections in mind, SAD was trying to revive the Panthic narrative but subject to its own convenience. “SAD abandoned the Panthic agenda during the Moga conclave and replaced it with Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat. Next year, SAD-BJP came to power and Parkash Singh Badal became the chief minister,” he said.

Jagtar Singh said that though the SAD leadership led by Badal has held Panthic gatherings but the fact is that they carry the baggage of the 2015 Bargari sacrilege and the Behbal Kalan police firing which killed two Sikh youth.

Also read: Punjab: Kin of 2015 Behbal Kalan Firing Victims Accuse Congress of Neglecting Sacrilege Cases

“The Akali leadership wants to use the sacrilege incident of December 15, 2021, at the sanctum sanctorum of Golden Temple to create a narrative that the Panth is under attack. But in fact they should apologise for the 2015 Bargari sacrilege, which happened during their tenure. If the Panth was not under attack during their SAD-BJP rule, how come it is under attack now?” he asked.

Parkash Singh Badal’s address

In his address Parkash Singh Badal warned against the conspiracy to set fire to Punjab through communal polarisation. “The hard-earned atmosphere of peace and communal harmony is being put to torch by powers that be. They will finally set the flames on Punjabis themselves in a repeat of 1980s and 90s simply to further vested petty political interests,” he said, demanding a probe into the recent sacrilege incidents by a sitting judge of the high court.

Reacting to Badal’s address, former Jathedar of Akal Takth Bhai Ranjit Singh said, “Parkash Singh Badal is worried that his political ground is gone. He is simply concerned about himself and the political future of his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. Badal played dirty tricks with the Panth and is now using the Akal Takth Jathedar to garner Sikh votes.”

Ranjit Singh wondered what the point of holding ‘Panthic Rosh Diwas’ over the sacrilege incident at Golden Temple was at all. “Where was he seven years ago when sacrilege incidents took place? His agenda is to use Akal Takth, its platform and the SGPC to win assembly elections. Badal usually remembers the Panth when he is out of power,” he said.

Also read: Amritsar Lynching: Politicians Condemn Alleged Sacrilege But Remain Mum on Killing

Notably, Ranjit Singh was removed from the post of Akal Takth Jathedar in 1996 following a dispute between then SAD president Parkash Singh Badal and SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra.

Even Bibi Kiranjot Kaur, the granddaughter of Master Tara Singh, who was one of the founding members of  SGPC said that this was a convenient turn for SAD.

“It is not that SAD is returning to the Panthic agenda, they were always a Panthic party with Amritdhari Sikhs as its members. Right from 1920, Akalis started as ‘Gurdwara Sewa Dal’ as a religious front, which later became political. There is no harm in Panthic ideology but over the years Akalis slipped from its core values of standing for Sikh issues, injustice and religious values. Who does not know how SAD shielded IPS officers like Izhar Alam and Sumedh Singh Saini, who were accused of killing youth in fake encounters? While Saini was made DGP Punjab, Alam led ‘Alam Sena’ and killed several youths during militancy in Punjab. Perhaps, Akalis are now remembering the Panthic ideology to reclaim lost political ground.”

Notably, in November 2020, Akal Takth Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh had also given a call to SAD to start a journey from ‘Punjab to Panth’.

Anandpur Sahib Resolution

The Anandpur Sahib Resolution was adopted by SAD’s working committee at Sri Anandpur Sahib on October 17, 1973 and passed on August 28, 1977.

Based on religious and political aims, the resolution mentioned that the Union government’s authority should be confined to defence, foreign affairs, communications, railways and currency.

It also advocated for a strong federal structure with more power to all states, transferring Chandigarh to Punjab and Punjabi speaking areas of neighbouring states – a demand, which Sukhbir Badal is seen making these days in political rallies.

BBC Punjabi journalist Pal Singh Nauli, who has been closely following SAD’s politics said, “While BJP remained committed to core ideology of Hindu Rashtra but Akalis abandoned Anandpur Sahib Resolution reflecting its shift from panthic ideology. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution also spoke about Sikh religion, Panth and way of life, which they abandoned at Moga Conclave of 1996. When SAD-BJP came to power from 1997 to 2002, Punjab went neck deep into corruption. Five years later, when SAD regained power in 2007, Badal’s second generation took over the reins of the party.”

Also read: SAD Walking Out of NDA is a Natural Outcome of BJP’s Anti-Minority Campaign

He pointed out that when Sukhbir Badal became the president of SAD in 2008, he shifted party office to Chandigarh, which neither appealed to Sikhs nor to Punjab. Interestingly, when SAD celebrated its 99th foundation day, Sukhbir had stated that they would make a party office in Amritsar but that never happened.

Nauli said that Akalis reduced Panthic issues to their visits to Harmandir Sahib Amritsar, which holds a sacred place in Sikhism. “The Panthic agenda of SAD witnessed a setback in 1999, when Parkash Singh Badal started the ‘envelope culture’ of appointing SGPC chief through an envelope,” Nauli added.

This started after the demise of Gurcharan Singh Tohra in 2004, Nauli said, which in turn reflected SAD’s control over SGPC. “Repeated interference of Badals in the functioning of SGPC to reap political dividends dented Sikh issues to such an extent that many hardcore Sikhs started drifting away from them,” he said.

Further, he said, that there was a time, when only ‘Amritdhari’ Sikhs who do not smoke, drink alcohol or consume non-vegetarian food were allowed to become SAD members but that is not the case anymore. “Parkash Singh Badal’s differences with ex-SGPC presidents Gurcharan Singh Tohra and Jagdev Singh Talwandi, his silence over extra judicial killings of Sikh youth including 1986 Saka Nakodar and 2015 Bargari sacrilege are just some of the incidents which kept pushing Akalis into deep crisis,” he added.

Golden Temple in Amritsar. Photo: By Ken Wieland/Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0

Dharam Yudh Morcha

After negotiations with the Union government on Anandpur Sahib Resolution failed, SAD led by the then president Harchand Singh Longowal launched Dharam Yudh Morcha on August 4, 1982 in alliance with Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, the head of Damdami Taksal (a Sikh seminary).

The main aims of Dharam Yudh Morcha was prevention of digging of Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, retention of Punjab’s River waters, which was being shared with non-riparian states Haryana and Rajasthan and the economic growth of Punjab.

Before these could be fulfilled, Punjab slipped into militancy backed by Pakistan. This was the time when Sikh hardliner groups started demanding a separate sovereign state and SAD was splintered into various factions.

The failure of the centre to address the social, political and economic problems of Sikhs led to Operation Blue Star in 1984, the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards and the anti-Sikh pogrom that jolted the nation.

In March 1985, Akalis again held a conference at Sri Anandpur Sahib asking centre to accede to its demands, which resulted in Rajiv-Longowal Accord on July 24, 1985.

SAD led by Surjit Singh Barnala government in 1985 could not pull along and Punjab came under President’s Rule for five years from 1987. Around mid-90s, militancy was at its peak, hardliners were either killed or marginalised. By this time, Akalis led by Parkash Singh Badal had pulled moderates into its fold.

Sukhbir Singh Badal’s address

A part of Sukhbir Badal’s address during ‘Panthic Rosh Diwas’ went viral on social media, where he invoked the Babri Masjid demolition and said, “Ever since BJP demolished Babri Masjid, Muslims never voted for them. But look at yourself, Sikhs are still voting for the Congress whereas they stormed the Akal Takth with tanks and ammunition. When Akal Takth was attacked, Giani Zail Singh was the President of India and Buta Singh was the Union home minister but did they resign? They didn’t. But we resigned when the farm laws were brought. Sikhs are joining BJP these days. Also look at farmers’ union leader Balbir Singh Rajewal, ever since farm laws have been repealed, he did not utter a single word against the BJP.”

Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal during the Panthic Rosh Diwas. Photo: By arrangement

Commenting on Sukhbir’s statement, Pal Singh Nauli said that Sukhbir Badal should first answer why they joined hands with BJP, which demolished the Babri Masjid.

“They also remained silent on the Babri Masjid judgment, the reading down of Article 370, the Citizenship Amendment Act, the now repealed farm laws. This shows how Akalis supported attack on the federal structure of the country whereas they had been demanding more power to states under Anandpur Sahib Resolution.”

Jagtar Singh added, “Sikhs had purportedly ‘avenged’ Operation Blue Star by killing former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. However, immediately after the killing, the narrative of the ‘Panth under attack’ was revived in November 1984.”

Also read: Families of 1986 Saka Nakodar Police Killings Are Still Waiting for Justice

Jagtar questioned the role of Akalis and said, “During the 1996 Lok Sabha Elections as SAD president Parkash Singh Badal had promised a judicial probe in the Sikh killings in its election manifesto. But in August 1997, when Badal was questioned about his promise of judicial probe, he refused stating that he does not want to open old wounds. The Akalis should have exposed the Congress and taken action against it but that was not the case.”

“SAD also failed to take action against guilty police officials responsible for human rights violations and extra judicial killings of innocent youth during militancy in Punjab,” he added.

Political Storm in Punjab as SAD Leader Named in Drugs Case Ahead of Assembly Polls

The opposition party accused the Congress government of “political vendetta” after Bikram Singh Majithia was on Monday named in a drugs case.

Jalandhar: Barely weeks before the enforcement of the model code of conduct, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia was on Monday named in a drugs case, with the opposition party accusing the Congress of “political vendetta”.

A first information report (FIR) was lodged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against Majithia by the Punjab Bureau of Investigation in Mohali on the evening of December 20.

According to The Tribune, the FIR accuses Majihtia of “knowingly allowing drug smuggling through use of his property or conveyance, financing the distribution or sale of drugs and hatching a criminal conspiracy for smuggling”.

Wrestler-turned-cop and alleged drug lord Jagdish Bhola accused Majithia of involvement in the drug trade in January 2014. This allowed the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to mount attacks on the SAD-BJP government. As the next election is on the horizon, the drug racket remains a key political issue.

During Amarinder Singh’s tenure as chief minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu, MLA Pargat Singh, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and others had been demanding the arrest of the “big fish” involved in the drug trade.

Amarinder’s unceremonious exit from the post of CM in September this year was attributed to his failure to act against the drug mafia and address the cases of sacrilege. Even after Charanjit Singh Channi took over as chief minister, Sidhu – as Punjab Congress president – has continued to pressure the government.

Notably, on November 18, Bikram Majithia had moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, pleading that he be made party to the Jagdish Bhola drug racket case. Majithia said he was being targeted by political opponents and his image was getting tarnished.

History of the multi-crore drugs case

The drugs case dates back to 2012, when the Punjab police busted a drug racket in Fatehgarh Sahib district and UK-based NRI Anoop Kahlon was arrested. The police seized 26 kilograms of synthetic drugs from his house in Zirakpur in Mohali.

In 2013, boxer-turned-cop Ram Singh was arrested. During the investigation, he named Jagdish Bhola, after which he was dismissed from his job in 2013. Bhola was arrested for smuggling pseudoephedrine, a synthetic drug, from India to various countries including the UK, Canada, New Zealand and others in the multi-crore drugs case.

Later that year, SAD leader Maninder Singh Bittu Aulakh and businessman Jagjit Singh Chahal were also arrested.

The big twist and political storm in the drugs case came on January 9, 2014, when druglord Bhola, while being taken for hearing at a Mohali court, accused then Punjab revenue minister Bikram Singh Majithia of involvement in the racket.

With this, the opposition Congress and AAP started attacking the SAD and BJP.

The government, however, gave a clean chit to Majithia. But another senior Akali leader – Sarwan Singh Phillaur, whose name had also appeared in the racket – was forced to quit the party.

In June 2014, the Patiala police arrested the businessman Chuni Lal Gaba hailing from the Goraya town in Jalandhar. After Gaba’s arrest, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also started probing money laundering linked to drugs. The ED officials summoned SAD, BJP, Congress leaders and the heads of various bodies.

By the end of 2014, the SAD-BJP government had come under acute pressure and on December 26, 2014, Majithia appeared before the ED in Jalandhar.

The drug racket emerged as a major poll issue in 2017. Both the Congress and AAP accused the SAD-BJP of pushing Punjab’s youth towards drugs, ruining lives and livelihood. The Congress won the elections with a clear majority.

Amarinder Singh formed a Special Task Force (STF) to probe the drugs mafia in March 2017.

A year later, the Punjab government handed over its report to the high court in a sealed envelope.

In February 2019, Jagdish Bhola and 19 others were sentenced to jail.

And on December 21, 2021, an FIR was lodged against Bikram Singh Majithia.

Representative image of Punjab police. Photo: PTI

Sidhu hails move, Badals say ‘political vendetta’

Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu hailed the FIR against Majithia. He said that after “credible officers” have been placed in positions of power and influence, “the first step has been taken”. For five-and-a-half years, the “corrupt system” run by the Badal family and Amarinder Singh did not take action against the SAD MLA, he claimed.

Meanwhile, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal told mediapersons at Muktsar the chief minister’s duty is “not to be revengeful but to serve the people”. He said SAD was expected that Majithia would be named in the FIR. “They have changed three DGPs just to arrest Badals and Majithia, weaken the SAD and Punjab. Leave me, they had even registered a case against my wife… We will fight the battle,” he said.

Earlier, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal had at various political rallies claimed that Channi was forcing senior police officers to register false cases against his party leaders, including him and Majithia. Sukhbir, who was at Amritsar on Tuesday morning, said, “The FIR against Majithia was nothing but a panic reaction by the Congress to gain votes. We will fight a legal battle against it.”

AAP leader Harpal Singh Cheema said that the STF report is lying with the Punjab government for more than four years. “There was no stay by the Punjab and Haryana high court on the STF report. But not taking action on the report and keeping mum on the drug issue indicates that the Congress government was trying to save the big drug lords in this case,” Cheema, the leader of opposition in the assembly said.

He accused Amarinder Singh of siding with drug lords, adding that taking action against an opposition leader days before the enforcement of the model code of conduct is simply “political drama”. By now, trials should have been completed, the APP leader said.

Ousted SAD leader Sarwan Singh Phillaur’s son Damanvir Singh, who also faced an ED investigation, said, “Der aye durust aye. Law should be the same for all. The police have merely registered an FIR against Bikram Singh Majithia.” He said Majithia should join the police probe.

SAD Chief Sukhbir Badal to Contest Punjab Assembly Polls From Jalalabad

The Jalalabad assembly segment in Fazilka was earlier represented by Badal, but after his election to the Lok Sabha from Ferozepur in 2019, he quit the seat.

Chandigarh: Seeking to galvanise support for his party ahead of next year’s assembly polls in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday said he will contest the elections from Jalalabad.

The Jalalabad assembly segment in Fazilka was earlier represented by Sukhbir Badal, but after his election to the Lok Sabha from Ferozepur in 2019, he quit the seat which was wrested by the ruling Congress in the by-polls later that year.

Addressing a rally, Punjab Mangda Jawab [Punjab seeks answers], in Jalalabad, Badal hit out at the Congress, alleging that it “looted” the state and reminded people of the development works that were undertaken in the state when Parkash Singh Badal was the chief minister.

“People of Jalalabad, whom do you want to contest from here, raise your hands and tell,” he asked the gathering. On being told that they wanted him to contest next year’s assembly polls from the seat, Sukhbir said, “I am announcing the name of the first candidate of SAD – from Jalalabad, it will be Sukhbir Singh Badal.”

Also read: Punjab Assembly Speaker Revokes Suspension of 10 SAD MLAs Over Farm Law Ruckus

He told the gathering that they will have to fight this battle while he will be fighting the battle of Punjab.

Earlier in his address, he said, “Poor, farmers, traders and other sections were given facilities during the SAD government as the SAD is the Punjab’s party and knows their pain and sufferings. The Congress party is not a party of Punjabis. It gets orders from the high command in Delhi. AAP [Aam Aadmi Party] is also not a Punjabi party as Arvind Kejriwal gives orders from Delhi. But we [SAD] have to live and die here,” Badal said.

He announced that if the SAD comes to power, it will halve the power tariffs for domestic consumers and “scrap” farm laws besides announcing the MSP for vegetables, fruits and milk.

Narendra Modi’s BJP Has No Need For an NDA

The NDA today sustains itself only on terms dictated by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo.

With the possible exception of L.K.Advani, Sardar Parkash Singh Badal is perhaps the most venerable political leader in the very crowded non-Congress crowd. Alarm bells should have rung when Badal saheb announced his decision to return his Padma Vibhushan Award in protest over the three controversial farm laws. But the potentates atop the Raisina Hills seem to have turned off their hearing aids.

No wonder, Sukhbir Badal felt constrained to raise his voice; he mocked the singers of the “tukde-tukde gang” national hymn for painting the protesting farmers in the “Khalistani” colours. The president of the Akali Dal blasphemously points out that after demonising the Muslims, the “tukde-tukde” singers were now questioning the patriotism of the Sikhs, simply because they have strong doubts about the so-called ‘Ambani-Adani Acts’.

As the year comes to a close, two of the oldest partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) stand separated from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Akali Dal’s disenchantment with Narendra Modi’s BJP is even more significant than that of the Shiv Sena. Uddhav Thackarey walked out of the NDA in Maharashtra over what he thought was the BJP’s bad faith; the Badals feel that Modi’s BJP was striking at the very core of their constituency, the Jat peasantries.

The Akali Dal-the BJP political entente was hugely significant in the context of the rupture between the Indian state and the Sikh community after the Operation Blue Star. The BJP leadership’s unwillingness to satisfy and accommodate the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal represents a qualitatively different – and, perhaps, an inevitable – turn in the life of the NDA.

As a political contraption, the NDA was anchored in a wise understanding: the principal task of statecraft in this vast land of baffling diversities will always be to generate and sustain political harmony, and, even if there was to be some kind of ordered conformity, prudence demanded that it must be dressed up as a respectful partnership between the Imperial New Delhi and those on the periphery and the margin.

This was nothing particularly insightful to this working stratagem; it was simply an unsentimental reiteration of the painful lessons learnt by the Congress party as it struggled to steer the disorderly post-independent polity towards stability and consolidation of the new Indian state. The Congress party refashioned itself as an efficacious political instrument of the Indian state; consequently, when the Congress began faltering, other experiments had to be conducted in producing pan-India sentiments of togetherness and cohesion. The first edition, the United Front, did not last long; there was a vacuum which needed to be filled – and the NDA had to be invented in 1998.

Also read: Interview | ‘Will Have to Think If We Want to Remain in NDA’: RLP Chief on Farmers’ Protest

And, as Advani recalls in his memoirs, My Country, My Life, the then BJP leadership – Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Advani, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Murli Manohar Joshi, Jaswant Singh – had to take a “major strategic decision” before the NDA could come about. The BJP had to agree not to insist on three contentious commitments it had made in its 1998 manifesto: the construction of a temple in Ayodhya; enactment of a uniform civil code; and repeal of Article 370. It was an arrangement dyed in the colours of inclusiveness and accommodation. It was a wise as well as an expedient partnership because the BJP, as the principal anchor, simply did not have the numbers in the parliament to corral regional parties and players at gunpoint.

In 1998, the BJP leadership – and, its guardians in Nagpur – knew that the saffron party needed to ride over a steep hill of political untouchability. Compromise and concession became operating axioms. The convenorship of the NDA was conceded to the remarkably unfussy but tactically useful George Fernandes; and it was readily conceded that the Telugu Desam Party of Chandrababu Naidu could support a Vajpayee government from the outside.

The BJP leadership shrewdly used the NDA platform to project itself as a different – and better – breed of ‘dedicated’ men and women who would steer the Indian state more efficiently, more purposefully and more reasonably than the Congress had done all these years. The new middle classes, those children of the post-1991 ‘liberalised’, had to be reassured that the BJP in power would not rock the boat and unleash chaos of the December 1992 vintage.

In effect, this NDA bore the imprint of Vajpayee and his Nehruvian temperament. A wise Old Man of Old India. For Vajpayee and his comrades in the Jan Sangh/BJP, the pain of the Partition was still raw, and the travails of a nascent nation-state struggling to stay afloat was not a distant memory; all that has changed. Today, the BJP is in the thrall of a new leadership that is untouched and uninformed by the Old India. It has a majority of its own in the Lok Sabha and is on the verge of securing a majority in the Rajya Sabha. It no longer needs demanding and difficult allies.

Also read: How the BJP Tried to Manipulate Public Opinion on Social Media in Favour of the CAA

The BJP may still find the NDA to be a useful device, if only to keep the stray groups and parties from teaming up with the other side. But the NDA today sustains itself only on terms dictated by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo. The concept of a political arrangement like the NDA carries with it a suggestion of federalism, partnership, accommodation and validity of regional aspirations and ambitions. This is against the very grain of the new overlords atop the Raisina Hill.

The BJP, under Modi, is in the thrall of a muscular nationalism – with it a pronounced accent on extracting conformity, demanding obedience, insisting on submission on the pain of intimidation and coercion. This shift towards ‘nationalist’ overdose suits the National Security State, which even otherwise demands centralisation and has indeed become very adept at rigging the political discourse in favour of ‘nationalist’ themes and slogans.

In ideological terms, the concept of an NDA is in conflict with the visions of a glorious Hindu India. This vision of a kind of ‘Hindufication’ denies, ipso facto, authenticity of  ‘local’ sentiment and regional ambitions. In political terms, the BJP has deeply internalised – notwithstanding those self-proclaimed moral guardians in Nagpur – a personality overload.

This overload has produced its own inevitable unreasonableness. An imperial arrogance has worked its charm over the political crowd. Every nook and corner of India must submit itself to the whims and fancies of the imperial throne. Who needs a cumbersome NDA?

Harish Khare is a journalist who lives and works in Delhi.

Farm Laws: Ex Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal, MP Sukhdev Dhindsa Return Padma Awards

“I have truly begun to wonder why has the Government become so heartless, so cynical and so ungrateful towards the farmers,” Parkash Singh Badal said in a letter to the president.

New Delhi: Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has written to President Ram Nath Kovind saying that he wishes to return his Padma Vibhushan award, to protest against the Centre’s new farm laws and in solidarity with farmers who are have been consistently protesting against them. Badal, now 92 years old, had received the country’s second-highest civilian honour in 2015.

Earlier, Badal’s party, the Shiromani Akali Dal, had pulled out of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance to protest against the farm laws.

“I write this letter to return the Padma Vibhushan award in protest against the betrayal of the farmers by the Government of India and against the shocking indifference and contempt with which the Govt is treating the ongoing peaceful and democratic agitation against the Farm Acts,” his letter says.

Badal continues:

“When the Government of India had brought the Ordnances, assurances were given to us that the farmers’ apprehensions on these Ordinances would be addressed to their satisfaction when these would be converted into Bills and subsequently into Acts. Accordingly, I even appealed to the farmers to trust the Government’s word. But I was shocked when the Government simply went back on its word.

That was the most painful and embarrassing moment in my long political career. I just cannot put into words the emotional stress which I have been going through since then. I have truly begun to wonder why has the Government become so heartless, so cynical and so ungrateful towards the farmers.”

Badal goes on to talk about how much India owes its farmers, and how they worked to turn India into a food-exporting country in a short amount of time when the need arose. “Today however, the same farmer finds himself forced to wage bitter struggles just to secure his fundamental right to live. The three Acts fell as bolts from the blue on the already beleaguered peasantry of the country.”

Also read: Farm Protests Reflect India’s Worst Failing: A Broken Farmer-State Contract

The former chief minister also talks about how poor farmers have already been struggling in India, even before the new laws, and yet governments are made fun of when they waive farm loans. “Isn’t it amazing and unjust that lakhs of crores of corporate loans are waived off with just a single thoughtless stroke of the government pen. But no one has ever thought of even subsidising the farm debts…,” he continues.

His Padma Vibhushan award, Badal says, was only possible because the people – largely farmers – had appreciated his commitment to them. “Accordingly, I have decided to return this honour of Padam Vibhushan in protest against the government’s betrayal of farmers on the three Acts against which the farmers of my state and country and agitating on the street in this cold winter.”

The former chief minister also brought up rumours and allegations, including by Bharatiya Janata Party, that the protesting farmers are ‘anti-national’ or ‘Khalistani’. “I am deeply pained by the communal insinuations being thrown at the peacefully and democratically protesting farmers. I can assure you that they have secular ethos running in their blood and are the best guarantee for safeguarding the country’s secular, democratic values and character which faces serious challenges from some other quarters.”

Also read: Farmers’ Protest: Despite Rightwing Propaganda, ‘Khalistani’ Angle Finds Little Traction

In addition to Badal, another Punjab leader, Shiromani Akali Dal (Democratic) chief and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Dhindsa, has returned his Padma Bhushan award and said it is useless if the farm laws are enacted. He was given the award in January 2019.

“I have returned my Padma Bhushan in protest as farmers have been staging dharnas for the past two months but the Central government is not ready to listen to them. When the BJP government is ignoring our elderly people, who have shifted their protest to Delhi borders, the award is worthless to me,” Dhindsa told Hindustan Times.

Separately, in support of farmers’ agitation, Sahitya Akademi award winners from Punjab – renowned poet Mohanjit, story writer Jaswinder Singh and playwright Swaraj Bir Singh, who is also editor-in-chief of Punjabi Tribune  – returned their awards. 

Farmers have been protesting at the outskirts of Delhi for seven days now, and talks with the Central government have failed so far. The government has not allowed the farmers to enter Delhi.

According to NDTV, a group of top sportspersons and coaches from Punjab have also said they will return their awards and march to Delhi on December 5.

Read the full text of Badal’s letter below.

Parkash Singh Badal letter to the president by The Wire on Scribd

Note: This article was updated to note that Sukhdev Dhindsa had also returned his award.