Punjab is skating on thin ice as long-dormant militant outfits rear their heads in the face of continuing government apathy and ineptitude, reports Jagtar Singh
A July 30 e-mail addressed by Babbar Khalsa to journalists in
Patiala set the cat among the pigeons. The militant outfit claimed responsibility for the murderous attack on Rashtriya Sikh Sangat leader Rulda Singh, who succumbed to his injuries a few days later. This was not an isolated incident.
A day earlier, Lily Kumar, a follower of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, had been gunned down in Patiala. This Dera, headed by the controversial Baba Ram Rahim Singh, has followers in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It has the power to influence political permutations and combinations in the region in general and the Malwa area of Punjab in particular. The Dera has been at loggerheads with Sikh religious organisations for some time.
The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat is an affiliate of the Sangh Parivar. When the Akali Dal-BJP combine came to power in Punjab in 1997, the Sangat had tried to spread its tentacles in the border state. The activities of the Sikh Sangat and its parent body, RSS, provoked hardliners in the state. The Akal Takht, the supreme Sikh institution for prayer and politics, had to take a stand against the RSS much to the discomfiture of moderate Akalis. Rulda Singh, who had his religious training in Damdami Taksal, considered to be the fountain head of militancy in the 1980s, shot into prominence when he came into contact with some militant leaders settled overseas, particularly in Europe.
This interaction was part of an RSS initiative to put an end to the legacy of the dark days of Punjab militancy. The Sikh Sangat considers Sikhs to be part of the greater Hindu family. In a recorded interaction with some leaders, Rulda Singh had claimed that he was close to BJP leader L.K. Advani.
Senior police officials who have been in the forefront of the fight against militancy are keeping their fingers crossed. Preferring anonymity, one officer says, “These two incidents cannot be dismissed as isolated. The situation calls for a close watch.” And there are striking similarities between the current situation in Punjab and that which prevailed in 1978.
However, this perception is not shared by Dr Pramod Kumar, Director, Institute for Development and Communications and Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Committee constituted by the Punjab government. “These are only sporadic incidents but they need to be taken seriously. There is no chance of resurgence of any extreme political articulation,” he says. There is, he argues, no external stimulus to aid and abet a renewed spurt in militancy in Punjab.
The flare-up in the late 1970s stemmed from simmering tensions between Sikhs and Nirankaris. The first militant killing was of Nirankari chief Baba Gurbachan Singh in 1980 to avenge the killing of 13 Sikhs in Amritsar by Nirankaris on Baisakhi day of 1978. The second leader to be targetted was also a Nirankari. The sect had come under attack allegedly for denigrating the Sikh theology.
Today, it is the Dera Sacha Sauda that has earned the ire of Sikh organisations. The head of the sect had appeared at a congregation in a dress associated with Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru. As it had done in the case of the Nirankaris, the Akal Takht issued a hukamnama (edict) against the Dera.
The similarities do not end here. Parkash Singh Badal was the Chief Minister in 1978. Of course, his government had been dismissed by the time Baba Gurbachan Singh was gunned down in 1980. However, he had come under fire from leaders like the then Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, for pussyfooting on the Nirankari issue. This was one of the allegations levelled against him in the chargesheet submitted by Tohra and the then Akali Dal President, Jagdev Singh Talwandi, to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Sadhu Singh Bhaura while resigning from their posts in 1979.
Badal is Chief Minister again and he is once more under severe attack from the radicals for his soft approach towards Dera Sacha Sauda. One prominent Sikh religious leader spearheading the campaign against the Dera is Takht Damdama Sahib chief, Jathedar Balwant Singh Nandgarh, an appointee of the SGPC. The tone and tenor of his speech at a recent meeting in Bathinda district, which discussed the situation arising out of arrests made by the police following the attack on Dera Sacha Sauda followers, cannot be dismissed.
A July 30 e-mail addressed by Babbar Khalsa to journalists in
Patiala set the cat among the pigeons. The militant outfit claimed responsibility for the murderous attack on Rashtriya Sikh Sangat leader Rulda Singh, who succumbed to his injuries a few days later. This was not an isolated incident.A day earlier, Lily Kumar, a follower of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, had been gunned down in Patiala. This Dera, headed by the controversial Baba Ram Rahim Singh, has followers in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It has the power to influence political permutations and combinations in the region in general and the Malwa area of Punjab in particular. The Dera has been at loggerheads with Sikh religious organisations for some time.
The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat is an affiliate of the Sangh Parivar. When the Akali Dal-BJP combine came to power in Punjab in 1997, the Sangat had tried to spread its tentacles in the border state. The activities of the Sikh Sangat and its parent body, RSS, provoked hardliners in the state. The Akal Takht, the supreme Sikh institution for prayer and politics, had to take a stand against the RSS much to the discomfiture of moderate Akalis. Rulda Singh, who had his religious training in Damdami Taksal, considered to be the fountain head of militancy in the 1980s, shot into prominence when he came into contact with some militant leaders settled overseas, particularly in Europe.
This interaction was part of an RSS initiative to put an end to the legacy of the dark days of Punjab militancy. The Sikh Sangat considers Sikhs to be part of the greater Hindu family. In a recorded interaction with some leaders, Rulda Singh had claimed that he was close to BJP leader L.K. Advani.
Senior police officials who have been in the forefront of the fight against militancy are keeping their fingers crossed. Preferring anonymity, one officer says, “These two incidents cannot be dismissed as isolated. The situation calls for a close watch.” And there are striking similarities between the current situation in Punjab and that which prevailed in 1978.
However, this perception is not shared by Dr Pramod Kumar, Director, Institute for Development and Communications and Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Committee constituted by the Punjab government. “These are only sporadic incidents but they need to be taken seriously. There is no chance of resurgence of any extreme political articulation,” he says. There is, he argues, no external stimulus to aid and abet a renewed spurt in militancy in Punjab.
The flare-up in the late 1970s stemmed from simmering tensions between Sikhs and Nirankaris. The first militant killing was of Nirankari chief Baba Gurbachan Singh in 1980 to avenge the killing of 13 Sikhs in Amritsar by Nirankaris on Baisakhi day of 1978. The second leader to be targetted was also a Nirankari. The sect had come under attack allegedly for denigrating the Sikh theology.
Today, it is the Dera Sacha Sauda that has earned the ire of Sikh organisations. The head of the sect had appeared at a congregation in a dress associated with Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru. As it had done in the case of the Nirankaris, the Akal Takht issued a hukamnama (edict) against the Dera.
The similarities do not end here. Parkash Singh Badal was the Chief Minister in 1978. Of course, his government had been dismissed by the time Baba Gurbachan Singh was gunned down in 1980. However, he had come under fire from leaders like the then Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief, Gurcharan Singh Tohra, for pussyfooting on the Nirankari issue. This was one of the allegations levelled against him in the chargesheet submitted by Tohra and the then Akali Dal President, Jagdev Singh Talwandi, to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Sadhu Singh Bhaura while resigning from their posts in 1979.
Badal is Chief Minister again and he is once more under severe attack from the radicals for his soft approach towards Dera Sacha Sauda. One prominent Sikh religious leader spearheading the campaign against the Dera is Takht Damdama Sahib chief, Jathedar Balwant Singh Nandgarh, an appointee of the SGPC. The tone and tenor of his speech at a recent meeting in Bathinda district, which discussed the situation arising out of arrests made by the police following the attack on Dera Sacha Sauda followers, cannot be dismissed.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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