NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry is baffled over the entry of Mr. Devi Lal, Haryana Chief Minister and Chairman of the Janata Dal Parliamentary Board, into the Punjab imbroglio following his meeting with detained Unified Akali Dal leader Prakash Singh Badal in Coimbatore jail some time back ostensibly to bring the rival Akali Dals together.

Punjab watchers in the Home Ministry and elsewhere in the Government feel that the purpose of the meeting between Mr. Devi Lal and Mr. Badal was not unity alone, but had something to do “beyond unity” Mr. Devi Lal the watchers feel, has taken the initiative to draw political mileage for himself and the Janata Dal rather than bring various Akali Dal factions together in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting in Coimbatore took place without the permission of the Ministry or the Punjab Government. The Tamil Nadu Government has been allowing a number of people to meet Mr Badal in jail.

The meeting in fact, has put the political solution to the Punjab problem in cold storage once again, at least until the next general election, because the Government was in the midst of restoring the political process in the State. In fact, at one stage it had almost decided to release the detained Akali Dal leaders to start this process, but the Devi Lal-Badal meeting has left the Government guessing.

Mr. Devi Lal reportedly impressed upon Mr. Badal that fall a solution was to be found, it should be under the leadership of Mr. V.P Singh and not under Rajiv Gandhi, By creating an impression that he alone could bring the Akali Dal factions together and find a solution to the Punjab problem, Mr. Devi Lal had already set the ball in motion for the benefit of his party and earned “goodwill.”

According to informed sources, the Cabinet panel on Punjab, which met here recently, discussed this development at length and felt that Mr. Devi Lal and Mr. Badal, would now see that political solution, was delayed until the next general election. The Government had already made up its mind to hold the Panchayat elections in Punjab to initiate political process and the Cabinet Committee gave final touches to this move.

The Governor, Mr. SS. Ray is understood to have pleaded that the Panchayat elections could be held only in March or April. His assessment is that the grassroots support to militants has been cut to a large extent now. Therefore, the elections would help in gauging the mood of the people in the rural areas. It was also suggested that these elections could be held in districts other than Amritsar and Gurdaspur where militants are still a force. There are more than 12,000 villages in Punjab and of them nearly 10,000 villages fall in these two districts.

The Cabinet Committee headed by Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao, External Affairs Minister, has suggested several measures to revive political process in the State. There is a feeling that in order to draw political mileage, Mr. Devi Lal and Mr. Badal would like to delay the normalization process in Punjab. The DMK Government in Tamil Nadu is allowing Mr. Badal to conduct political activities inside the jail. Mr. Badal may be therefore, shifted to Rajasthan.

The committee had been meeting at regular intervals and its members had been holding discussions with important people connected with the State. The committee would be meeting Opposition parties in Punjab to listen to their views shortly, perhaps sometime later this month. The Congress (I) in Punjab would not be invited to attend this meeting, according to these sources.

Article extracted from this publication >>  March 3, 1989