Parkash Singh Badal on behalf of his Akali Dal is sued an appeal to voters of Jammu and Kashmir to return candidates of the BJP in the election to the State Assembly. Badal’s main argument in favor of the BJP is that his party had reached an electoral agreement with the BJP after considering the situation in the country. “The BJP alone is capable of finding solutions to the country’ sills,” he observed. The Akali leader also said that the BJP had introduced Punjabi in Delhi and Haryana as the second language while that party’s government initiated action against the guilty of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Besides, the BJP has a capable leader like Atal Behari Vajpayee who is fully qualified to be India’s prime minister. The points mentioned by Badal are not only irrelevant and illogical but are also absurd in the context of Kashmir elections. The Punjabi language or the anti-Sikh riot trials are nonissues in Kashmir. Badal’s assertion that the BJP alone is capable of finding solutions to India’s problems will convince no one. The whole world knows how the BJP and its parent the R.S.S. massacred thousands of Muslims in make believe riots during the past 50 years in the country. Its government in U.P. engineered the destruction of Babri masjid four years ago and the party’s chief minister at the time was found guilty and had been convicted by courts for his role in the communal adventure. The party’s election manifesto blatantly opposes the constitutional rights given to minorities regarding religion, education and personal matters. In regards to Kashmir, the party’s policy is to do away with article 370 of India’s constitution which respects in certain ways the identity of the people of Kashmir. Almost all political parties in Kashmir, barring the BJP, are promising greater autonomy for Kashmir. Even the Congress (I) is in favor of India respecting Kashmir’s identity. No party wants to do away with article 370. The National conference of Dr. Farooq Abdullah seeks restoration of Kashmir s pre 1953 status. A sizeable section of Kashmir’s population is in favor of azadi (freedom) from India. This section may not participate in elections at all. Thus, the BJP is ploughing a lonely furrow. The party’s policy, in nutshell, is to find the “final solution” by Hitlerite methods of extermination rather than peaceful talks with the people. By supporting the BJP’s fascist policy in Kashmir, Badal has done an irreparable damage to the interests of the tiny Sikh minority living in the valley. In general, the Dal has effectively buried its own Anandpur Sahib resolution or even its substitute resolutions seeking more political and financial powers for States, including Punjab, when it disfavors even article 370 for Kashmir.
The Akali Dal (B) leader does not speak for Sikhs who themselves constitute a minority in India and who rightly have sympathy for all other minorities and regions and their aspirations and struggles. The Sikhs are also in favor of peaceful negotiated solutions to all problems rather than BJP’s fascist military solutions, so unabashedly articulated by the R.S.S. and other members of the Sangh Parivar. Badal has taken a completely perverse and anti-Sikh stand and, in the process, has only exposed himself as a mere self-seeker interested in ascending to power with BJP’ s support in Punjab. Badal’s adversaries even impute personal motives to his friendship with BJP. He is alleged to have sought its help to regain 100 crore worth of land near Delhi from the BJP supported Bansi Dal government of Haryana. The land was taken by the state government on grounds of violation of the rules by allotment and the Badal family lost a case on the issue in the Punjab and Haryana high court. However, we still wish to believe that the charge against Badal is wrong and that the present Sikh leadership in Punjab has not degenerated beyond redemption. But Badal’s Kashmir policy is certainly a big disappointment, almost a stab in the back of Sikhs. Any other party could have been supported there. Even the Congress (I), which has launched a massive military aggression on the people of Kashmir for years, is less hated by the population than the BJP.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 18, 1996
