Chapter 28
CHANGES IN PUNJAB’S POLITICAL MAP
Change is the law of nature; it is inevitable.
The period from 1996 to 2013 witnessed important changes, some beneficial and some disturbing, in Punjab’s political map. During this period, the Akali Dal was transformed from an exclusive Sikh party into an inclusive all-communities party. The Left, which had a significant presence both inside and outside the State Assembly until the 1970s, lost its mass base. The communists failed to win a single seat in the January 2012 Assembly elections.
The first decade of the new millennium also saw the number of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs coming down from double digits to a single digit despite Punjab having the highest percentage of Dalits in the country. The fortunes of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kept on fluctuating, depending on the state of its relationship with the Akali Dal.
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The seeds of positive change in the Akali Dal were sown in 1996 when the party, till then exclusively for the Sikhs, opened its doors to non-Sikhs. This move helped the Akali Dal’s supremo, Parkash Singh Badal, to emerge from the oblivion he had been pushed into during the terrorism years and later by the Akali Dal’s boycott of the 1992 Assembly elections.
The party amended its constitution at its Moga Conference in early 1996 to permit the entry of non-Sikhs. Besides the compulsions of electoral politics, two other factors were also responsible for the decision. First, the Supreme Court had given a ruling in March 1994 that ‘a political party cannot simultaneously be a religious party’. Secondly, even after having achieved its goal of a Sikh majority ‘Punjabi Suba’ as a result of Punjab’s reorganization in November 1966, the Akali leadership was not sure it would be able to rule Punjab without the support of the state’s 45 per cent Hindu population.
The credit for pioneering the switch-over to moderate politics must go to Sant Harchand Singh Longowal, Surjit Singh Barnala and Parkash Singh Badal. Each one of them made a significant contribution despite the latter two occasionally wavering in their stand.
The Akali Dal ideologue, Captain Kanwaljit Singh (who died in a car accident near Chandigarh on 29 March 2009), had explained to me, after the decision during its 1996 Moga Conference to open the party’s membership for non-Sikhs, the implications of such a move: ‘The domination of religion and gurdwaras over Akali politics is ending. The Akali Dal is becoming a regional party with economic agenda. The era of gurdwara politics determining the Akali politics is over. The attitude of Hindus, who had got suspicious about Akali leaders’ intentions due to their demand for a Sikh majority state and also due to their role during terrorism years, has changed. They are shrewd voters. The fear of the Akalis’ intentions had, in the past, always forced them [the Hindus] to support those who they believed could provide them protection. They were convinced that the Congress being in power at the Centre would ensure their safety in the Akali-dominated Sikh majority Punjab. This had prompted them to vote for Congress in the elections. But the situation has now changed. The Hindus have seen that the Akalis have changed and that they do not have to fear [them] as they are also striving to ensure peace in Punjab. Besides, the chances of Congress coming to power in Delhi have diminished. Since the BJP is becoming a dominant party, they will support an Akali—BJP alliance.’
The BJP too, which shared (and continues to do so) the Hindu vote bank with the Congress, realized that on its own strength, it could never form a government in Punjab. The only alternative for it was to share power with the Akali Dal by forming an alliance. The attitude of the BJP’s parent organization, the Jan Sangh, was to treat the Akalis as untouchables in the 1950s. However, the BJP discarded that attitude. Compulsions of electoral politics made the BJP and the Akali Dal – the two ‘communal’ parties – ‘inseparable twins’ in Punjab. The BJP needed (and needs) the support of regional parties if it wants to form a government in New Delhi.
The first positive outcome of the change in the BJP’s thinking was the victory of the Akali—BJP alliance in the February 1997 Punjab Assembly elections, leading to the formation of a coalition government in Punjab. The change in the Akali Dal’s policy also led to its joining the national mainstream and tasting power in the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre in 1998.
Parkash Singh Badal and the BJP leaders rightly claimed that their parties forming an alliance had brought communal harmony and peace to Punjab. Their claim, however, implied the acceptance of the charge that as opponents they, besides the Congress, were also responsible for fanning the flames of communal disharmony and for the Hindu—Sikh divide, of which Punjab had been a victim for long years.
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Although the Akali Dal had opened its membership to non-Sikhs, it did not follow the spirit of the Supreme Court’s 1994 decision that ‘a political party cannot simultaneously be a religious party’. Notwithstanding Captain Kanwaljit Singh’s optimistic formulations in the wake of the Akali Dal’s permitting non-Sikhs to join its ranks, the party continued to practise its ‘religion-and-politics-are-inseparable’ doctrine. It did not stop using the religious platform of the Sikhs’ apex religious body – the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), over which it had acquired control – for attaining its political and electoral objectives.
All non-Akali parties, including the Jan Sangh and the Congress, had in the 1950s opposed the Master Tara Singh-led Akali Dal’s Punjabi Suba agitation, declaring that they were opposed to the use of religion for achieving political ends. But after some 40 years the BJP, the Jan Sangh’s reincarnation, changed its ‘fundamental philosophy’ and, like the Akali Dal, started using religion for political and electoral gains. The most glaring example of the change was reflected by L. K. Advani’s Ayodhya rath yatra (literally meaning chariot journey)1 and the consequent demolition of the Babri Masjid on 6 December 1992.
The changed strategy of using religion for political advantage helped the BJP expand its base particularly among the northern India’s Hindus and form India’s first BJP-led NDA Government in March 1998. (It needs to be pointed out that the BJP’s Atal Behari Vajpayee was sworn in as prime minister on 16 May 1996, but his government lasted for just 15 days as it could not obtain the numbers needed to win a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha.)
The BJP believed that to achieve its electoral objectives it was imperative to mix religion with politics. Hence, it no longer had any inhibitions in getting into an alliance with the Akalis in Punjab. Both parties evidently forgot – or else deliberately ignored the fact – that the use of religion for achieving political and electoral ends was one of the major factors responsible for encouraging religious extremism, which sowed the seeds of terrorism and communalism and played havoc in Punjab and in other parts of the country (in the 1980s, 1990s and later), leading to the death of thousands of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.
Even the Congress in Punjab had stopped being a secular party when, in an effort to make inroads into the Akali Dal’s Sikh support base, some of its chief ministers had started using the religious platform for promoting the party’s political and electoral aims. The party forgot that the Akalis could always outmanoeuvre the Congress in pursuing the ‘religion-and-politics-are-inseparable’ doctrine.
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Let us move on to another scourge that had spread its tentacles far and wide, namely, corruption. During the Parkash Singh Badal-led Akali—BJP coalition government (in power from February 1997 to February 2002), corruption was rampant. Corridors of the Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh were abuzz with stories about government officers visiting the CM’s house for getting lucrative postings. Non-performance and poor governance became the bane of the coalition government. These factors generated an intense anti-incumbency sentiment and the alliance lost the mid-February 2002 Assembly elections, leading to the Congress forming the next government. Captain Amarinder Singh took over as chief minister on 26 February 2002.
Amarinder Singh, the scion of the Patiala royal family, had graduated from the National Defence Academy, located at Khadakwasla (near Pune, Maharashtra), in 1962 and was subsequently commissioned into the Indian Army’s 2 Sikh Regiment in June 1963. But his duration in the army was short-lived and, in 1966, he had sought discharge to look after the family land and its vast properties. After making his debut in politics in 1969 through a lost Assembly election, he joined the Congress when Indira Gandhi was passing through her political life’s worst phase (in the late 1970s) and won the Patiala Lok Sabha seat in the January 1980 polls. He was a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi and a fond admirer of Sanjay Gandhi. He, however, resigned from the Congress in 1984 in protest against the Indian Army’s entry into the Golden Temple Complex, Amritsar (as part of the June 1984 Operation Bluestar). In August 1985 he joined the Akali Dal. Later, he changed his political affiliations and also twice formed his own political outfits. Ultimately, he rejoined the Congress and was appointed president of the Punjab Congress Committee on 4 July 1998.
As he lacked the needed experience and skills of administering the state, a coterie of his favourite officers had a free hand in exercising his powers after he took over as chief minister. His and his coterie’s style of functioning alienated many bureaucrats as also some of his well-wishers. Amarinder Singh’s friendship, which his opponents called ‘a love affair’, with the Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam raised many an eyebrow and made him a target of opposition attacks.
In a reminiscent mood a few years after the Congress’ defeat in the February 2007 Punjab Assembly elections, Amarinder Singh explained the reasons for his acquiring the image of a non-performing chief minister. In an interview with Raj Chengappa (editor-in-chief of the Chandigarh-based Tribune Group of newspapers), published on 11 January 2012, he said: ‘On taking over as chief minister in [late February] 2002 it took me two years to understand how the government and an administration are efficiently governed because I did not have enough experience of running a government. By the time I settled down well, the term of our government came to an end.’ (After the February 2007 Assembly polls, the Akali Dal’s Parkash Singh Badal again became chief minister on 1 March, but more on this topic in the next chapter.)
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Surprises are not a rare phenomenon in a reporter’s life. But there was a mega surprise in store for me during the Amarinder Singh regime. In 2005, I received a letter from the Punjab Government informing me that my name was being considered for a Padma award. I was asked to send a brief resumé of my professional achievements. Because of my relentless criticism of the functioning of the Amarinder Singh-led Congress Government in my weekly political column, I used to be treated by the chief minister’s coterie, especially by his PR outfit, as a persona non grata, although the chief minister would always hug me warmly whenever I met him.
Intrigued by the government’s letter, I made inquiries from A. S. Chatha, a retired chief secretary of Punjab (a friend of mine, who was close to Amarinder Singh) about the reasons for the government considering my name for a Padma award. He pointed out that, besides the state government, it was the Prime Minister’s Office and the Union Home Ministry that also recommended names for the Padma awards.
During my coverage of Punjab events, I used to meet T. K. A. Nair, Punjab’s home secretary (who later took over as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s principal secretary). But I had only a nodding acquaintance with Nair.
I, however, recalled a remark made in the early 1990s by Dr Manmohan Singh when he was the Union finance minister. After my retirement from the Indian Express in late 1991, Vijay Kumar Chopra, chief editor of the Punjab Kesari Group of newspapers, had asked me to cover the Economic Editors’ Conference held annually in New Delhi, which I did. During the coffee break, at one of these conferences in 1993, journalists were introduced to Dr Manmohan Singh. When Hari Jaisingh, chief editor of the Tribune Group of newspapers, introduced me to him, Dr Manmohan Singh remarked: ‘Yes, I have been reading his articles. He has a perceptive mind.’
Firstly, it was improbable that after becoming prime minister (in May 2004), Dr Manmohan Singh would still remember what he had said in the early 1990s. Secondly, even if he held the same view about my write-ups on Punjab syndicated by the India Press Agency (IPA), which were often used by the Economic Times, this could not be enough reason for the PMO to suggest my name for a Padma award.
The mystery behind the recommendation of a Padma award continued to baffle me. In response to the government’s letter, I sent my bio-data. But in it, I mentioned only my professional achievements. I did not state anything about my efforts to mobilize public opinion through my write-ups against separatist militants during the 1980s. The write-ups had annoyed the militants who had included my name in their hit list. My retired chief secretary friend said that it could be because of my campaigning against the militants that the Union Home Ministry or the PMO had proposed my name for a Padma award.
The Padma award, however, proved to be elusive. Nevertheless, I was given two Lifetime Achievement Awards, the first in 2010 by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda ‘for excellence in journalism’, and the second in 2012 by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal ‘for my lifelong devotion to journalism and my functioning as a fearless and courageous reporter for 60 years’.
On its Foundation Day function held on 15 July in 2012, the Chandigarh Press Club2 also ‘honoured’ me with an award for what I had been able to do for this institution as its founder president.
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1 Advani’s yatra was undertaken essentially for mobilizing the Hindus to support the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. (Advani had started his yatra from Somnath, in Gujarat, famous for its splendid temple, on 25 September 1990, and proposed to finish his journey at Ayodhya. A present-day vehicle was decorated so that it resembled a chariot.) As the yatra progressed, it polarized the country on communal lines. Advani was arrested at Samastipur in Bihar on 23 October 1990 by the Lalu Prasad Yadav Government. The BJP then withdrew support to the V. P. Singh Government at the Centre, which lost a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on 7 November 1990 and had to quit.
2 The Chandigarh Press Club was established on 15 July 1983. I was elected its founder president. Due to the efforts made by its successive governing councils, the two-storeyed CPC is today considered India’s best Press Club. It has vast lawns, a children’s park, a modern swimming pool, a badminton court and two big conference rooms besides a large dining hall.