SGPC Row: Dialogue, Consensus and Court intervention needed

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Better sense and wisdom finally prevailed, though it’s temporary, in the standoff between the rival factions of Sikh leaders in Punjab and Haryana over the controversial bifurcation of management of gurdwaras in the two States. The intervention of the Akal Takht has brought in a temporary truce even though no one for sure knows how the events will unfold if both the warring parties insist on holding on to their turf.

The needless controversy started after Haryana thought that it could play the Sikh card to woo the 7-8 per cent Sikh population in the State ahead of the Assembly polls, barely three months away. Shattered by the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls where it was practically wiped away from the State and fearing a repetition in Assembly polls, Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government came down to crass opportunism and did not hesitate even for a moment when it dumped its secular credentials.

The series of events starting from a political meeting in Kaithal on July 6, session of the Haryana Assembly on July 11 where the controversial Bill carving out separate Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) was passed to the hurry which the Governor Jagannath Pahadia showed in giving his assent on July 14, clearly suggested that it was a political game rather than a well thought out administrative move for welfare of the Sikh community in Haryana. Then it took only a few hours to publish a gazette notification, something quite unusual as far as making laws are concerned. I am sure, never in the 48-year-old history of Haryana, such hurry had been shown in passing any Bill and making it a law.

Ironically, Congress Government in Haryana has been citing the “will of the Sikhs” in the State as a reason for the undue hurry in which the entire legislative drama was enacted. Come on, people are wiser to accept such a logic. Less than two years ago when SGPC (the mini-parliament of Sikh religious affairs) elections for 11 seats of Haryana was held, those favouring a separate panel for management of gurdwara, including the newly appointed ad-hoc president of HSGMC, Jagdish Singh Jhinda, lost the polls. There was an overwhelming support to keep the management of Gurdwaras under SGPPC as the Shiromani Akali Dal had swept the polls. The will of Haryana Sikhs was clear. They wanted their gurdwaras to function under the control of Amritsar-based SGPC.

The entire episode exposed the politics of Congress which Punjab’s Shiromani Akali Dal dubbed as divide and rule. Congress’ avowed politics is to keep away from religious politics lest it affects its secular-Left ideology. But this is only theoretical and in practice, the grand old party interferes in religious affairs through parties which it supports directly or indirectly.

In Haryana, Congress extended support to the factions of Jhinda and Didar Singh Nalwi and helped all those who were and are opposed to the Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal. In Delhi, where there is a separate Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Congress always supported the Sarna brothers — Paramjit Singh Sarna and Harvinder Singh Sarna, who ran the show through their Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi). The Sarna brothers got continuous support from the Congress all through only because they were opposed to the Badal led party in Punjab. In fact, many considered the SAD (Delhi) as a frontal organisation of the Congress as the Sarna brothers took all policy decision only after getting the nod of the party.

So the entire premise that Congress has a “hands off” approach to parties based on religion and drawing strength from religious institutions is based on a false premise. In the SGPC elections of 2012, the Congress of course did not contest but indirectly supported the group which was opposed to Punjab’s ruling party. The Sarna brothers, particularly Paramjit Singh Sarna, played a crucial role in the entire exercise. No wonder, Sarna was present in the meeting in Kurukshetra in Haryana where Jhinda was elected President of the ad-hoc body of Haryana SGPC.

When the Akal Takht Jathedar Gurbachan Singh advised both Punjab and Haryana leaders to cancel their conventions, there was a de-escalation of tension to a great extent. The truce may be temporary but a way has been shown. A presidential reference and the courts can only find a solution to the vexed issue beside mutual dialogue. The Akal Takht Jathedar, who commands wide respect in the community across the globe, has indicated that the Akal Takht will call a meeting of Sikh high priests and senior Sikh leaders to resolve the issue over the creation of the HSGPC in Haryana. The sooner it’s done, the better it is for all stakeholders.

Another build up is happening in around 50 Gurdwaras of Haryana and tension brewing which could escalate to violence if immediate steps are not taken. In all the prominent Gurdwaras of Haryana, SGPC (Amritsar) has its control and it is backed by the ruling SAD in Punjab. Armed Nihangs and other Sikh volunteers, sent by the SGPC from Amritsar, have complete control on the religious institutions as of now. The Jhinda led ad-hoc committee might have been empowered by law to take control of the gurdwaras but in practice, it is simply impossible at this juncture unless it takes help from the security forces and police. But taking help of police in taking control of gurdwaras could lead to a crisis of unparalleled magnitude, something which should be avoided at all costs. Again, I fail to understand why the Government of Haryana was in a tearing hurry to form an Ad-hoc committee and appoint Jhinda as president and Nalwi as vice president when it knows that attempt to take control of the Gurdwaras in Haryana at this juncture could be a flashpoint.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has hinted at stepping down, repeatedly warned of an agitation over the issue and said that this could disturb peace in the region. He has met all concerned, including the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, to impress upon them the necessity of rolling back the bifurcation of SGPC. He termed it a constitutional crisis and a “brazen interference in Sikh religious affairs”. The stand of Badal shows how strong he and his supporters feel at this point and the need to assuage their sentiments.

Haryana claims that it is well within its rights to make a law for its State. Absolutely fine. But when such right and law affects broader peace of the region, affects two States, inflames communal passions and is provocative in nature, then it has to be exercised with due caution. There is right to free speech in the Constitution but it does not mean that it is unrestricted and you can speak anything against anyone. One has to exercise due caution. This is where Haryana failed. The law it made was a fit case for reference to Parliament, Home Ministry and the President as due caution was not taken. People would expect the entire process to be reversed now. If it goes through the due process of law once again after crossing the litmus test of due caution, consensus and dialogue, no one would have any objection.  (July 28, 2014) 

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/sgpc-row-dialogue-consensus-and-court-intervention-needed.html

Haryana’s blunder triggers religions passions

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Worried at its slipping political base in Haryana ahead of the Assembly polls, a decimated and weakened Congress, licking its wounds after the humiliation in the Lok Sabha polls, has played one of the worst kinds of divisive politics in recent memory. Bringing a law for carving out a separate panel for gurdwaras in the State on the eve of Assembly polls is hardly a pressing issue of public importance and smacks of a divisive communal agenda.

Unmindful of the fact that Punjab is a border State and had to fight a long and bitter battle against Pakistan sponsored terrorism not long ago, the Congress Government in Haryana did not even bat an eyelid when it brought a Bill to carve out a separate panel to manage the gurdwaras in Haryana. No one for sure knows what business Haryana has to venture into the religious domain, realising well that there would be a fierce opposition from neighbouring Punjab and a communal frenzy could be generated due to its folly.

This is exactly what has happened and more is expected to follow. Intelligence inputs say that the issue has the potential to create trouble in Punjab as well as Haryana and a serious law and order situation could be staring the Government in the face.

Just imagine, for 10 long years, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government was in deep slumber and when Assembly elections are weeks away, it brought out its election manifesto from the dustbin and did the unthinkable. In a tearing hurry, a political conclave was called at Kaithal and a decision taken to pass the Bill. Assembly session is convened, all Opposition is bulldozed and the Bill having wide ranging regional ramifications and communal overtones is passed by the Congress Government unmindful of the fact that it had lost political legitimacy after the defeat in Lok Sabha polls in the State where it could win only one of the 10 seats.

As it was a well thought out political move, the Hooda Government did not think twice before sending it to the Governor Jagannath Pahadia who immediately put his signatures on the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras (Management) Bill, 2014. Ironically, the Congress appointed Governor is to demit his office in just 10 days but as a loyal foot soldier of the party he hails from, he merely used his pen to sign on the dotted lines. Where was his discretion when he knew for sure that a storm was brewing in Punjab and the Sikh community against the bifurcation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee? Also, didn’t the Haryana Chief Minister and Governor know that it was an issue on which wide ranging consultation from all stakeholders, including the Centre and the Punjab Government, was required?

But then, why would the Government bother about such niceties when the entire motive was to get the Sikh votes in Haryana by all means — fair or foul. Having lost its base in all sections of society in the run up to the polls, the Congress perhaps thought that as a last ditch attempt; there was no harm in wooing the Sikhs. It knew well that that there would be fierce protest all round but vote bank politics was preferred over wisdom and sagacity.

The move seems to have the support of the party high command as even the Congress leaders in Punjab are parroting the lines of their Haryana counterparts, not realising that this is further polarising the ground situation in the state. The party which claims to be of left-secular credential has been caught playing the communal card — the Sikh card.

The entire premise of Central leadership and Haryana Congress that the Sikhs of Haryana wanted separate management of gurdwaras is based on a false premise. In the SGPC elections held almost two years ago, the SAD won a majority of seats in Haryana defeating the faction which wanted separation of the gurdwaras.

Hooda might have thought that the issue would help him reap rich political dividends in Haryana and help him make a dent in the sizeable 7-8 per cent Sikh votes. But it boomeranged. Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs ex-communicated three Sikh leaders of Haryana, considered the brain behind the move. This included State Finance Minister Harmohinder Singh Chattha. Now the common Sikhs in Haryana perceive the Bill as “anti-Sikh” as their highest temporal seat excommunicated the three leaders involved in the exercise. So, Hooda wanted to win over the Sikhs but now will lose whatever little votes he would have got from the community otherwise. On the issue, he was too clever by half. You simply cannot have your cake and eat it too.

Contrarily, the political situation in Punjab is entirely different from that of Haryana. There are no elections in Punjab, Assembly elections are almost three years away so the reaction was not political but guided by emotional and religious considerations. It touched the raw nerve of the religio-political outfit which the Shiromani Akali Dal is. Not surprisingly, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal apparently wept in a party meeting as he did not want to be seen as a leader presiding over the bifurcation of a religious body at the fag end of his long political career.

Badal met almost everyone whom he thought could help him overcome this crisis, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Home Ministry shot off a letter to the Haryana Chief Secretary and the Governor’s office seeking withdrawal of the Governor’s assent. Using specious arguments, Haryana has tried to ward off the issue as of now. “The court would see whether it is legal or not and deliver its verdict or the assembly can amend it. As the Governor has already given his assent to the Bill, he cannot withdraw it after it has become a law,” Haryana Chief Secretary

SC Chaudhary said, ridiculing the letter received from the union Home Ministry, which he termed as “amusing and funny”. Badal said Haryana’s decision had created a constitutional crisis and was “brazen interference in Sikh religious affairs… I am shocked by the brazenness shown by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in confronting not only the Constitution of India but the entire Khalsa Panth,” he said.

Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab has now decided to hold what it called a “massive” Panthic conference of Sikhs from all over the world at Amritsar on July 27 to chalk out a strategy following the carving out of a separate body to manage the gurdwaras in Haryana. The Core Committee of SAD called it “the assault on Sikh religion, religious institutions and the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 by the Congress Government in Haryana headed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at the behest of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi.”

In what could be the indication of tough times ahead due to a deliberately created crisis, the Akali Dal said, “The Khalsa Panth will never tolerate interference in its religious affairs. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is on a disastrous course of confrontation with the Khalsa Panth. He thinks he can repeat the blunder of the British Government and hand over the management of sacred shrines to his favourite Mahants and Masands.”

Here, I may also point out that Haryana may be well within its right to enact a law it wants for its State and even in this case, it was entitled to make a law. But the issue is not the competence of Haryana Vidhan Sabha to make a law or an assault on the federal structure of the Constitution as Parliamentary Affairs Minister of the State Randeep Singh Surjewala would like to believe, but the timing of the law and motive. Also when two States are involved, it was a deliberate act of provocation as not even a single meeting between the two Chief Ministers of Haryana and Punjab took place on the issue though they live a kilometre apart in the joint capital of the two States, Chandigarh.

It was time wisdom prevailed on both sides and the courts intervened. Let the tempers cool down, let there be a rethink, let some time pass for the people to judge the issue at hand. Democracy is all about consultations, evolving a consensus, sitting across the table and discussion. If both the states cannot do it, leave it for the courts or the Parliament. But make sure not to surcharge the atmosphere and inflame communal passions. (July 21, 2014)  

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2014-07-20-59048.html

Punjab’s battle against Narco-terrorism

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

Punjab is presently in the middle of a big battle against a scourge which has wide ranging implications for the future — drug and substance abuse. The battle which the Punjab Government had initiated early this year became necessary as it reached such an alarming proportion that an entire generation got affected with many in the younger lot, not knowing what the future had in store for them.

An entire generation bore the brunt of terrorism in the 1980s and the early 1990s. Thousands lost their lives. Even as the Punjabis overcame their grief and fought terror head on, the deadly drug menace gripped the State, threatening the generation which followed that of the terror victims. People living in the border areas of the State bore the brunt of terrorism, now they are face to face with the narco terror, slowly but surely killing people.

I am not comparing the two situations. But the plight of an average Punjabi mother or wife living in the rural areas of the border districts is the same. Mothers lost their sons and wives lost their husbands during the height of terrorism in the entire 1980s and first half of the 1990s. Now, mothers are losing their sons and wives their husbands to drugs. Earlier, the cult of violence was visible with gun toting men moving around, now drug abuse too is visible with the youth dying a slow, meaningless and painful death.

Drug abuse is no longer a secret in Punjab. Everybody in the State knows someone who has either died of it or is a drug addict. Every person in the State knows someone who is into substance abuse and has done irreparable damage to himself. There are families where all the male members are addict and they work only to get their quota of the intoxicant, not to take care of their families.

In border districts and cities like Amritsar, petty crime like chain or bag snatchings, waylaying the pedestrians and robbing them are committed only to get some money to get the quota of drugs. These drug addicts and couriers are also in the bigger crime and it has sort of become a part of the parallel economy in these areas. An Inspector General, earlier posted in the Border Zone, helplessly told me that the problem had reached a magnitude where only a war like intensive effort could help neutralise it and for that too it will take several years if started right now.

“We had cut the supply line of drugs. We tried surveillance and enforcement, resulting in the smugglers getting arrested and the addicts starved for drugs. Village elders pleaded that people will die if they do not get their quota. I saw people suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms which even led to deaths,” said the police official. So no one wants the supply lines cut. “If people take drugs, they will die in say 3-5 years. If it is stopped forthwith, some of them could die in a month,” he said, pointing to the need of setting up rehabilitation centres on a war footing and why the village elders do not want the supply lines cut without any plan to rehabilitate the addicts. Though these centres are there but a lot more need to be built up on a war footing as supply lines are drying up once again.

Due to the large-scale recovery in recent months, the smugglers are lying low. But when the demand is more, they become innovative and use desperate methods to make drugs available as the prices shoot up, an enforcement official said. “The entire border belt from Ferozepur to Pathankot has witnessed hectic activity on the part of the smugglers recently. They are becoming innovative from throwing the drugs from Pakistan to their Indian couriers waiting near the fenced border, passing the drugs through hollow pipes across the barbed electric fence and also using the shallow water in the rivers to cross the border and deliver the drugs,” he said.

In fact in 2014, not a single day passed when the Punjab Police or the BSF did not recover a huge quantity of poppy, opium, synthetic drugs and what not. The amount of drugs floating in Punjab is mind boggling so much so that police officials say that it was futile guessing it. The source of these drugs could be smuggling from Afghanistan via Pakistan, the inaccessible hills areas of Himachal Pradesh, some quantity from Nepal and also pilferage from the State controlled poppy farms in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

Leave alone the known intoxicants and drugs, Correction Fluid, used to rectify typing mistakes, is used as a drug by many in Punjab. Pain killers and tablets to mitigate stomach ache is taken to get a high. A politician from the Doaba belt told me that mothers in the area pleaded with him to get chemist shops closed in the area as they were selling cough syrups, pain killers etc to the addicts and such shops were of no use to the community.

In fact a Punjab Government survey sometime ago had revealed that 66 per cent of the school-going students in the State consume gutkha or tobacco; every third male and every tenth female student has taken drugs on one pretext or the other and seven out of 10 college-going students abuse one or the other drug. An affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court admitted that the vibrancy of Punjab is virtually a myth and many even sell their blood to procure their daily dose of deadly drugs, even beg on the streets for money to continue their addiction. It used the word ‘drug hurricane’ to describe the situation which has gripped the State. Multiple drug dependence is the latest bane in which the addicts get into several drugs at a time or simultaneously.

It is not surprising that Punjab has lost its sporting talent and no new sportspersons are coming on the national stage from the State. Instead, Haryana has marched ahead and most of the sportspersons from the northern region are not from Punjab as was the case a few years ago. I am sure the policy makers, politicians running the State and those in the Opposition, and the bureaucrats know much more than I do on the prevalence of drug abuse in the State.

It is only now that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has used his administrative experience to counter the drug menace and has sought help from all possible quarters to counter it. Better late than never. It is not only important to break the backbone of the drug cartel, arrest the big fish under the stringent NDPS act but also start a chain of temporary de-addiction centres. Weaning away the youth from drugs is a big task and for this the State Government will also have to look at creation of employment opportunities, creating infrastructure for recreational activities and sports, involving the society at large and launching a massive multi-pronged awareness drive. It is not easy but a beginning has been made and it was time, this was given the required momentum. (July 14, 2014) 

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/2014-07-13-58239.html 

Lifeline Railways: The way forward

  

VIEWPOINT

AMITABH SHUKLA

I sometimes wonder about the hype and hoopla associated with the Railway Budget every year and fail to understand why do you still need a separate Railway Budget when this could easily be a part of the general budget.

This year, the issue becomes all the more important as Railway fares and freight rates were hiked a fortnight before the Budget, which could reduce it to a meaningless paper work and jugglery with the figures like every year. So the challenge before the new government is to come out with a policy document which has a Vision for the next decade or so rather than merely doling out statistics.  

Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda would present his first Railway Budget in Parliament on July 8 but the major part of it, that is increase in passenger fare and freight rates has already been done. So going by the past trends of other railway ministers in the UPA, NDA and earlier the Congress, Gowda would announce some new trains, extension of existing trains, electrification of a few routes, introduction of Bullet trains a few years from now, increased focus on safety, unmanned railway crossings etc. But if he does merely that, it would be a travesty of the whole exercise and people would question the very logic of having a separate rail budget.

A new government under Narendra Modi has taken over and obviously there is a huge expectation from it. In fact, the expectation is so much that if the Railway Budget and then the general Budget two days later on July 10 becomes a routine exercise and does not drastically break from the past practices, the people would feel let down.

Though almost everything which the Railway Budget would carry on July 8 must have been put in black and white and placed in the briefcase which Gowda would open in the Lok Sabha after flashing it to the waiting camera persons outside the imposing building of the Parliament House, still there is a wish list. As the government did not wait for the railway budget to announce a hike, it can explore the options throughout the year.

The first and foremost priority for the railways is to bridge the massive supply-demand gap in passenger accommodation in the profitable long distance trains and routes. If a person wants to go to Kolkata, Guwahati, Patna, Hyderabad or any other city from New Delhi on a short notice, he is unlikely to get a reserved accommodation in any train. This is true even for the off-peak season. If the passenger wants to book a ticket for the peak seasons of April-June and October-December, then even purchasing a ticket two months in advance cannot guarantee you a reserved accommodation in several trains.

The shortage is so acute that passengers feel frustrated and simply do not know what to do. In several sectors, the alternative is the expensive air travel but even this facility is not available to an overwhelming majority of the people as only train connectivity is available to their home towns in smaller cities and towns.

When tickets are bought and sold through the computer, the railways must be having accurate figures about demand in specific sectors, routes and trains and specific months and days when there is massive demand. I simply fail to understand why the organisation doesn’t introduce more trains in those specific routes in specific time period after creating a database of records of the last five years. How would a person go to a place in emergency if he doesn’t get a reserved berth? Tatkal system and special trains are merely eyewash. You simply cannot get a Tatkal ticket come what may if you cannot get a normal ticket two months in advance.  Railways should first study the problem sector wise, route wise and train wise in detail and work out a solution how to bridge this massive supply-demand gap.

The Railways remain the lifeline of the nation and would remain so till the next half a century given the way our roads and air traffic is expanding and shaping up. In the last ten years of the rule UPA, roads remained the most neglected area and all the good work done by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime was lost. That is the reason why the responsibility on the railways is bigger as the infrastructural engine for growth.

Another area where the new Government needs to look into seriously is outsourcing the Railway stations or simply selling them to the private sector, the way bigger airports of the country have already been done. Of course, whoever gets into this would use the massive railway real estate in and around the stations for building commercial entities. But then, that is perhaps the only way out if you want to make the railway stations look like airports. It could be started as a pilot project at a small railway station somewhere and in a phased manner introduced in other stations.

During the inauguration of Udhampur-Katra rail line project in Jammu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicated of a greater participation of the private sector when he called for railways to have better facilities than airports. “We want the railway stations to have better facilities than airports. This is our dream and it is not a difficult thing to do and this is economically viable too,” Modi said, adding, “Private parties would also be ready to invest because this is a good project economically and will benefit everyone. This would be a win-win situation project and we want to move ahead in this direction in the coming days.” The new government has shown willingness to increase private investment in the Railways and the railway budget should list out the steps clearly and unambiguously, drawing a roadmap for the next five years to a decade.

Coming on to the expansion of railway network and doubling of tracks to increase passenger and freight volume, the government could consider converting Railways into a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU). A typical government department, which Railways is at present, may find it difficult to acquire land for laying new railway lines, building new stations and charting a new course correction. If converted into a PSU, some of the handicaps which the railways face at present would be gone. There would be a new work culture like that of the Delhi Metro or the Konkan Railways. In fact, some of the railway work has already been corporatized through PSUs and all of them are working rather effectively. There are presently 11 PSUs under Ministry of Railways and all are not only profit making but also have a work culture similar to the private sector. Obviously, there is a case here in converting the entire ministry into a PSU to take on the new challenges effectively.

There is much hype about the proposed Bullet trains. As this would be extremely a costly affair and severely curtail other requirements of the Railways, getting the private sector into this could perhaps yield better dividends. Take,  for example, the Delhi-Chandigarh route for the bullet train. The cost of this could be so prohibitive given the sky rocketing prices of land and real estate in the region that its feasibility itself would be questioned. For such short distances, it would be better if the speed of the train is increased. At present, the Shatabdi Express takes 3.20 hours to cover the distance of 255 km. If the speed is increased and it takes 2 hours, there could be a situation where you save the money involved in constructing the tracks for Bullet trains and instead use it for up-gradation of other infrastructure. There are indications that the Modi government would look for constructing a “diamond quadrilateral” of high speed trains and ensuring quality facilities for passengers on these sectors.

Thinking out of the box is the need of the hour. As the lifeline of the country, Railways are crucial for economic growth and the new government has to break from the past and make the Railway Budget a Vision document rather than a press release on new trains, change in timings of trains and a few facilities here and there. If the latter remains the case, it is better to do away with the Railway Budget altogether. (July 7, 2014) 

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/lifeline-railways-the-way-forward.html