Two alarm bells (GS Paper 2, Polity)
Introduction
- The victory of two Independents in Punjab has raised concerns. Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, incarcerated in Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), won the Lok Sabha seat of Khadoor Sahib.
- Sarabjit Singh Khalsa, the elder son of Beant Singh, the assassin of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, secured the Faridkot seat after three unsuccessful attempts.
The potential reasons for victory of these two members
- Their victories came in an election in which long-term allies, Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party, contested separately for the first time in decades.
- For years, the Akalis provided a moderating influence in the panthic space, but their credibility suffered after the incidents of sacrilege that wracked the state in 2015.
- It eroded further during the farm agitation, which also became the trigger for the SAD breaking the alliance with the BJP, leading to a vacuum that actors like Amritpal are now trying to fill.
- While Sarabjit may have benefited from the focus on Operation Bluestar due to its 40th anniversary this year and anti-incumbency against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, his win also points to Punjab’s unresolved issues.
How BJP-SAD alliance was guarantor of communal harmony in Punjab?
- The BJP-SAD alliance was seen as a guarantor of communal harmony in the border state that experienced protracted militancy in the 1980s.
- The BJP’s command over Hindu votes and SAD’s influence over panthic and Jat Sikhs vote made their alliance helpful for communal harmony of the state.
What are the unresolved issues of Punjab that has potential to create unrest?
- The SYL river water-sharing agreement, which sparked the Dharam Yudh Morcha in the 1980s, taken over by militant ideologue Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, justice for victims of the 1984 killings, remission for Sikh political prisoners who have been in jail for over three decades, and the continuing menace of drugs are issues that continue to fester and provide fodder to forces inimical to peace in the state.
- Amritpal, with his diatribe against drugs and an “unjust Indian state,” is also capitalising on these issues, although many state leaders are openly suspicious about his antecedents.
- Both the Akalis and the Congress have called him a “plant” to destabilise the state.
What could be the impact of these two unconventional victories in Punjab?
- The impact of these two poll wins will depend on how they are handled by both the Centre and the state government.
- All political parties with a stake in the state should learn from mistakes of the recent past.
- It would be a grave error to use these victories to polarise the state for electoral gain.
- What Punjab needs most is unity and resolve to address longstanding grievances.
- The border state with a bleeding economy in the throes of an agrarian crisis can ill afford another upheaval.
- While focusing on these two wins, and what they could mean, however, it is important to note that the polls also saw the defeat of one of the original hardliners, Simranjit Singh Mann, the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief, who won his first election while in jail in 1989.
Conclusion
- Election victories of hardliners from Khadoor Sahib and Faridkot point to need for vigilance by mainstream parties in Punjab.
- Political parties must introspect the reason for their inability to fulfil the aspirations of people of Punjab.
