Acting Akal Takhat Jathedar Prof Manjit Singh called various Akali faction leaders to Amritsar about two months ago to pave the way for Akali unity, These efforts had the blessing of S.G.P.C, chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Badal dissociated himself from these efforts as he viewed then) as harmful to his interests, Ina counter move to ward off a unity meeting, Badal resigned as President of his group. He formed a five member Presidium to “run the party” but the Presidium, in a pre-planned move, suspended the group’s political activity.
Even then Prof Manjit Singh called Badal to appear before Akal Takhat to explain as to why he was not in favor of Sikh groups” unity move. Instead of presenting himself alone, Badal took more than 15000 persons along. In was a show of strength which evidently had the sanction of the Indian state. The Indian government has not allowed any unwanted assembly inside the Golden Temple complex since 1984. But Badal was free to take 15000 of his supporters inside to confront the Akal Takhat jathedar.
With the help of an obliging and sympathetic media, Badal conducted an operation aimed at nullifying the Jathedar’s unity initiative. He snatched the micro-phone from the Jathedar to arrogantly amerce in the presence of Prof Manjit Singh that the latter had agreed to let him Operate his group separately, Prof Manjit Singh had to explain that he and other Jathedars had not permitted Badal to retain his group’s entity. It is perhaps for the first time that a well-known Sikh group leader had tried to browbeat the Jathedar of Akal Takhat.
Subsequently, Badal staged a come-back as President of his group and set up a candidate to contest the Assembly by-elections at Nakodar and Ajnala, The Badal group lost the first but won the second seat. The Congress (I) has lost Agnala but the Indian state has gained.
That is a repetition of the Indian state’s calculation implied in the signing of the Rajiv-Longowal accord was meticulously planned to be an unequal and wholly anit-Sikh accord, in lien of political power. That sort of arrangement, with or without a formal accord, may well the offing now.
Badal is playing the kind of role Balwant Singh had played in 1985, The key aim now, as nine years ago, was to divert Sikhs” attention from the issue of an independent Sikh state. Secondly, India wants Sikhs to be economically weakened by transferring the remaining water resources to the neighboring Hindu states. Badal is only too willing to oblige the Indian state on both these counts. Sikhs in Punjab are aware of the Indian designs there is lack of clarity on the key issues among faction leaders. The unity efforts made by Prof Manjit were well intended. But the whole exercise turned to be immature and short-sighted.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) is viewed by most Sikhs as a chip of the same old block. No wonder it has failed to inspire confidence of the masses. Several functionaries have disowned Simranjit Singh Mann. Others have joined Badal. There appears to be a process of polarization, Pro-Indian Sikh groups are fast joining the Badal faction while others are distancing from not only the Badal group but also the S.A.D. (Amritsar). It seems eventually two or more groups will emerge; one pro-India and others anti-India. Delhi is in the process of assessing whether the Badal function is in a position to capture S.G.P.C. if elections are held now. That consideration will govern whether the S.G.P.C. poll is to be held or not in the foreseeable future. In any case, Badal has emerged as India’s best bet in Punjab, just as Barnala and Balwant Singh played that role for India in 1985-86.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 24, 1994
