No one knows who is speaking the truth. But the fact is that Punjab was in a political turmoil for almost 20 hours after the High Court hearing on the voting rights of the Sehejdhari Sikhs and before the statement of Home Minister P Chidambaram in the Lok Sabha.
There is so much of trust deficit between the Centre and the Akali Dal-led state government that even after Chidambaram categorically denied that Sehejdhari Sikhs will get voting rights, SAD and its affiliates still made a lot of hue and cry. To derive maximum political mileage out of the faux pass, they only changed their target to the state unit of the Congress from the central government.
Not only the political leadership of the Akalis but all religious leaders, including the Sant Samaj, the Amritsar-based Sikh clergy, SGPC leadership and various factions of hard-line groups took an intransigent position vis-à-vis the central government, reviving the memories of the nightmare with which Punjab went through a few years ago.
The controversy came close on the heels of the Centre rejecting a separate Marriage Act and its separate registration for the Sikhs. A seemingly inconsequential issue for the central government suddenly became an issue for the poll bound Punjab with various factions and parties coming out to demand a separate act.
Officials, closely watching the Punjab developments at the Centre, say that the demand for a separate Marriage Act for the Sikhs is clearly secessionist, the first step for giving a fillip to bigger demands in the future and the Centre has acted in the right spirit and the move is in the right direction. They, however, caution that the reckless manner in which the Sehejdhari voting right issue was handled was dangerous. They point out that religious issues in the state need to be handled more carefully and in an extremely sensitive manner.
“What prevented the Centre from announcing on Thursday evening itself that the lawyer concerned (Harbhagwan Singh) was not appearing on behalf of the Centre. The lawyer made a dramatic declaration at 4 pm. Why didn’t a responsible minister in New Delhi
Was the Centre testing the political waters in Punjab before taking a final call on the contentious issue? Was it a trial balloon? This question is being debated and discussed not only amongst the officials but also the political leadership of the state parties. Those who see a conspiracy theory behind the entire move point out that the state unit of the Congress, headed by Captain Amarinder Singh, failed to take a stand on the developments in the High Court and the statement of the “Centre’s counsel” for 24 hours. And when they finally made a statement, it was in favour of restoring the voting rights of the Sehejdhari Sikhs. Also, the conspiracy theorists hold that the counsel who made the statement is close to Congress leadership and had been a top law officer when the party was in power in Punjab .
We are not debating the conspiracy theories and merits or demerits of voting rights of the Sehejdhari Sikhs and whether any such categorisation exists as the SGPC leadership would like us to believe. Let the political and religious leadership take a call on that and arrive at a consensus. But the fact that political parties – be it the Congress or the Akali Dal and even the smaller factions - have the tendency to fish in troubled waters is the problem area, particularly for a sensitive state like Punjab which has just now recovered from very turbulent times. If the Centre does not recognise this, then clearly it is living in a fool’s paradise. If that remains the case, then it hasn’t learnt the bitter lessons of the late 1970s, the entire 1980s and early 1990s.
It is for the first time in recent memory that two crucial elections in Punjab are being held almost simultaneously, leading to an unprecedented rise in the political temperature. While the SGPC elections will be held on September 18, the do or die Assembly polls are scheduled for early February. Already the atmosphere is surcharged with the SAD and Congress trading charges on a daily basis and calling each other all sorts of names. There is no scope for any miscalculated move or floating a trial balloon at this juncture.
Had it been normal days when both the main parties – Congress and the SAD – were not face to face with elections, such passions would not have been raised. But when scoring brownie points is the order of the day, any miscalculation could simply backfire and boomerang. Punjab cannot afford that. There are still certain elements who can stoke fire and exploit the sentiments.
It is no secret that Congress has been trying to get some kind of a hold on SGPC from the very beginning but has remained unsuccessful. Flouting its secular credentials, the party does not contest the SGPC polls but talk to its leaders here and they admit that results of the SGPC polls would indicate which way the political wind is blowing in Punjab . If the panthic morcha, opposed to the SAD, performs well in the SGPC polls, no one would be happier than the Congress. While even the most ardent Congress supporter would not predict a panthic morcha controlled SGPC after September 22, they nevertheless want that the SAD gets real challenge in the polls of the religious body so that the margin is not beyond repair for the Assembly polls.
Be it the rejection of the Anand Marriage Act (separate Marriage Act for the Sikhs) or the controversy of the voting rights of the Sehejdhari Sikhs, the timing of both seems to be suspect. The reaction would not have been fierce had elections not been around or it was the month of March 2012 when a new government gets in the saddle. You cannot lose sight of the long term implications for short term political adventure.
(The writer is Senior Editor, The Pioneer, Chandigarh
4.09.2011
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