What is the political situation in Punjab like on eve of Vaisakhi2 The results of recent State Assembly elections have clearly underlined to facts: the ruling Congress is collapsing as a national force, the resultant void is sought to be filled in by two mutually opposing powers: the RIP the one hand and a coalition of parties following the middle course in India religio-caste setup, on the other hand. As such, two important states have been captured by the BJP. These are Maharashtra and Gujarat, Three other states, Kamatka, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar have gone in favor of the Janda Dal and the Telegu Desam parties and their supporters. Orissa is the State of some consequence which has been captured by the Congress that does not amount to much. The BJP leadership at their conclave held in Goa last week gave a call for a march towards Delhi. “On the other hand the CPYMY’s session at Chandigarh indicated that the party’s real boss Jyoti Basu, is getting ready to take over as the future prime minister who will possibly head a non-BJP coalition consisting of the Janata Daland its allies and sections of Congress(1) The re-election of Harkishon Singh Surjeet as general Secretary is a painter to the fact that the CPM boss is keeping his option to work with Congress(l) open through Surjeet.

The emergence of the third option to the Indian voter is casting its shadow on Punjab also where the public sentiment appears to be against both Congress and the traditional Akalis. The shrewd Poharti Kisan Union leadership is trying to cobble together various groups that could constitute the third option, in the state.

In the Indian scheme of things for Punjab, Badal occupies an important position, Hocnjoys top most security cover to indicate that India has a vast stake in his reemergence. Moreover, Badal has personal interests in Haryana and Rajasthan and he could be relied upon to be an ally of India Moreover, the Indian authorities interest in bringing back the old style of Akali politics converges with that of Badal. One curious aspect of Sikh polity is that it blunders along to finally reach the correct destination, almost always. The Indian scheme was thus sought to be negative through the Akal Takht sponsored unity moves. The unity drive was aimed at sabotaging the re-emergence of Badal. India’s endeavors is to somehow reactivate the pro-India politics in Punjab. It evidently enlisted the support of opportunist Sikh leaders like Gureharan Singh Tohra who lent a helping hand to the unity move by robbing the united Dal of any commitment to pro-Sikh polities. That is why Tohra declared that the Amritsar resolution would not be allowed to stand in the way of Akali unity In other words, it was for Tohra a mere home-coming. It was not a panthic unity objective of Akal it was the objective of the Akal Takht Jathedar, Prof. Manjit Singh.

It was at this stage that a corrective came by way of a declaration by the B.K.U. chief, Ajmer Singh Lakhowal that his organization would fight elections in the future, Lakhowal’s statement came as a shock to the top Akali leadership. It has to be notices that Lakhowal and his colleagues suffered much more at the hands of Punjab police in the past few years than Ieaders like Badal. That brought the B.K.U. top brass closer to militant families. Secondly, the B.K.U. has made a big issue of the water problem. Thus the B.K.U.anti-police stance on the one hand and its clear stand on the water issue have contributed to jolt tho akali leaders incredibly. There is every likelihood of the B K.U. enlisting the support of radical Sikhs as well as Dalits to present a formidable third front in Punjab.

In any event, it is evident that Punjab is unwilling to accept the stereotyped Akali politics which is only the other side of the Congress coin. That much change has been brought about by the past decade of turmoil. It is no longer easy for India to resume a pro-India agenda in Punjab with or without Akali support. The writing on the wall is clear even to the opportunistic leaders like Tohra who have now suddenly started asking Badal whether he regards India as a one-nation state or a multi-national one. The question has been put by Tohra in the context of Akali unity issues. The change has been brought about by the possibility of the emergence of the third force headed by the B.KU.

to the unity that is why Tome way of Ak.

Article extracted from this publication >> April 14, 1995