Chapter 19

DISCORD AMONG THE AKALI LEADERS

Besides the extremists, the Centre also tried to establish contacts with the moderate section of the Akali leadership. Akali Dal President Sant Harchand Singh Longowal received a letter from Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on 17 July 1985 inviting him for talks on 23 July in Delhi. Although on 16 May 1985 (as mentioned in Chapter 18), Badal, Tohra and Longowal had taken a vow to sink or swim together, the vow lost its sanctity on the issue of holding talks with the prime minister.

Negotiations held in early June 1985 for a settlement had remained stalled for four days as Arjun Singh (a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh belonging to the Congress and the recently appointed governor of Punjab) felt that the PM had bypassed him; in fact, he looked dejected. He even thought of resigning. What had happened was that Swaran Singh (a former Union minister belonging to the Congress) had sounded out Badal and had then told Rajiv Gandhi that talks could be started. The PM responded by informing him that talks were already going on with what he called ‘the Badal group’. Arjun Singh, after abortively trying to open negotiations with Badal, had approached Sant Longowal. The governor was provided with the clarification that when the PM said ‘the Badal group’, he had included Longowal as well. (It took four days to clear the confusion.)

On receiving the PM’s letter inviting him for talks, Longowal conferred with Badal and Tohra. Both refused to accompany him to Delhi. Surjit Singh Barnala (who took over as chief minister of Punjab on 29 September 1985 after the Akali Dal secured a majority in the Assembly elections) and Balwant Singh were the two senior Akali leaders who agreed to go to Delhi for talks with Rajiv Gandhi.

In politics, it is almost axiomatic that personal ambitions and partisan interests often create hurdles when it comes to solving complex problems. This is precisely what happened during the period preceding the finalization of the Rajiv—Longowal Accord (also known as the Punjab Accord) on 24 July 1985 in Delhi.

As the Centre initiated the process for resolving the various problems faced by Punjab, which could lead to the formation of the first elected government in that state post-Operation Bluestar, the Akali leaders started squabbling amongst themselves in a bid to grab power in the event of their party winning the Assembly elections (which were expected to be held after the end of president’s rule in the state; they were held in late September 1985).

It is against such a backdrop that the developments that preceded and followed the signing of the Punjab Accord and the overt and covert roles that different Akali leaders played during the negotiations need a closer scrutiny. Such a scrutiny would show that the views of the top Akali leaders who, before Operation Bluestar, had started toeing Bhindranwale’s separatist line, underwent a radical change after the army operation. They started adopting a moderate approach to deal with the uncertainties faced by Punjab.