Punjab: 1980's Once Again?
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-02-27 09:41:29
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The India Commentary view
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It is unfortunate and dangerous that Punjab is once again slipping into a situation where the elected government is seen to be bowing before a group that does not seem to have widespread public support but thrives on radicalizing some youngsters and then taking on the government or established religious institutions on the pretext of protecting the faith but doing so by adopting venerated religious scripture as a shield.
What happened in Ajnala was deplorable. The police arrested a close aide of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh (and he took up the position just after returning from the UAE with even the family of late Deep Sidhu, who started the group, not aware how he took over the reins) on charges of kidnapping a person. But Amritpal Singh laid seize to the police station, along with a band of armed supporters, demanding his release. His men broke barricades and fought a pitched battle with the police. The worst part was that they carried the holy Guru Granth Sahib as a shield and that prevented the police from taking any action against them lest the situation went out of hand. The Akal Takth has already started an inquiry in the incident and might summon Singh for an explanation.
In December last year, supporters of Singh had entered Gurudwara Singh Sabha in Model Town in Jalandhar, removed the chairs in the gurudwara and burnt them. They had been doing the same in many gurudwaras in Kapurthala disctrict. Singh had decreed that having chairs in a gurudwara was against the maryada as such seating arrangement meant people were sitting higher than where the Guru Granth Sahib was placed. Then, too, there was no action against the group or Amritpal Singh, neither from the gurudwara committees nor from the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee for the acts of vandalism.
It is clear that Singh, while espousing the cause of Khalistan, is trying to show established Sikh institutions as not caring for maryada and not respecting the Guru Granth Sahib. While bringing about reform is not bad by itself and Singh is entitled to his views on the matter, but using the holy book as shield to confront the authorities is a dangerous trend. The AAP government must take the lead to ensure that the situation does not go out of hand. And this cannot be done by allowing Singh and his supporters to get away with incidents like the one in Ajnala. For, this will only embolden them. Already, Singh has said that Ajnala incident was not violent and "the real violence is yet to be seen". The government has to enforce the rule of law at all times. The Centre must also treat the matter seriously as Punjab is a border state and intel reports show that Pakistan might be involved in the renewed support for Khalistan.
