CHANDIGARU: The Akali Dal (Badal) is learned to be determined against making any compromises on the political agenda submitted by it to the nine-member unity committee meeting, despite the bait thrown in by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president. Ourcharan Singh Tohra to Parkash Singh Badal.
Tohra is learned to have offered unchallenged leadership of the united party to Badal for two years subject to the condition that he accepts the concept of India as a multinational state. A senior Amritsar faction leader confided that there was no objection to Badal being the president of the united outfit.
The Amritsar faction leaders are learned to have conveyed to Badal that this was the only way to silence the detained leader, Simranjit Singh Mann, who has been advocating the controversial Amritsar Declaration as the political agenda.
However, the Badal faction leaders maintain that this concept could be given different interpretation including that of Sikhs as a separate nation as being advocated by the radicals. This could put Badal in an embarrassing position later and hence, could not be acceptable.
The policy program submitted by the Badal faction stresses that the fundamental character of the Indian civilization is its pluralistic nature reflected in the composite quality and structure of the society enriched by diversity of languages, cultures and religions and thus, is the bedrock of national unity of the country.
The Badal faction views with concern the homogenizing challenges to this characteristic of the society and says the contradiction between the rising Unitarian trends and forces and the pluralist tendencies is becoming acute and critical day by day. For overcoming this situation, the draft states that it is essential to federalize the national polity. This would ensure national unity and integrity on an abiding basis while protecting the rights and identities of the minorities in a plural dispensation.
The draft proposes that the Preamble to the Constitution should be amended to incorporate the expression “federal” and the Center-state relations be redrawn accordingly. The Center should keep defence, foreign affairs, communication and currency in the Union List and all remaining subjects be transferred to the State List. The Article 356 and 365 empowering the Center to dismiss state governments should be removed. The Governor should be ap pointed with the concurrence of the incumbent chief minister of the state concerned.
The draft has been prepared by Capt Kanwaljit Singh and Dr. Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia in consultation with some others, including Dr. Maheep Singh. The major point of discord between the two factions is the character of Indian state. While describing the character of the Indian state as multi-national, the Amritsar faction draft is mainly the 1978 resolution passed at the Ludhiana conference.
The Badal faction is learned to be finalizing its strategy in case the unity talks fail.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 14, 1995
