Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, The growing tension between the two alliance partners in Punjab, the Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has the potential of snowballing, calls for immediate and effective intervention by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal who has the image of being an action oriented dynamic leader. Further delay might be detrimental to the interests of the state, despite virtually there being no opposition to cash upon the situation as the Congress too is involved in the infighting to finish each other. The battle in the Congress is over the elusive chair of the chief minister.
What happened in Amritsar yesterday does not portends well for the two alliance partners. The tension between the two sides has been simmering for long and earlier, it was Navjot Singh Sidhu who became a casualty of this situation who was replaced by Arun Jaitley in the Lok Sabha elections. It was perhaps for the first time that Sukhbir had failed to correctly assess the situation, both in Amritsar as well as in Bathinda. Absolute power sometimes blinds the rulers as they get insulated from the social reality. Perhaps that is the logic of power. Jaitley lost both name and money as he faced humiliating defeat. Similarly, Sukhbir’s wife Harsimrat Kaur seeking re-election from Bathinda barely managed to scrape through. Tension has been building up between the two alliance partners since then.
Even at the cost of repetition, the reference to what happened during the Haryana Assembly election cannot be avoided as that added fuel to the already simmering fire with the Akali Dal exercising its choice in favour of the Indian national Lok Dal by ditching the BJP which returned to power with absolute majority there. This has brought about a qualitative shift in the situation as the BJP is now in no mood to depend upon the regional outfits and the Congress is in no position to stop the Narendra Modi juggernaut.
Both the Akali and the BJP leaders of Amritsar, while trading charges yesterday, overlooked the fact that the allegations against the Akalis of controlling the drug and sand mafia were being levelled by the opposition Congress. Such a situation would strengthen the attack from the Congress, despite the fact that the opposition is in no position to throw any stiff challenge to the ruling combine. However, like the Congress in the state, the Akali Dal-BJP alliance is also following suicidal path. But then the BJP seems to have taken such a step after weighing all pros and cons. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, whose activities have attracted all the more attention and importance after the successive victories of the BJP, has already started implementing its design in this sensitive state after a gap of more than a decade. The credit for the Modi wave is being given to the RSS, although it might have been more of an anti-incumbency tsunami that brought the BJP into power at the centre.
It may be recalled that at one stage, it was Sukhbir who considered BJP to be more of a liability and he was not far off the mark in that assessment. For years, the BJP was not in a situation to win even a couple of seats at its own. The BJP has been contesting elections in alliance with the Akali Dal in Punjab since 1997 and is yet to test waters solo. The new found over-confidence might not yield the expected results as the political dynamics of this state is different from the rest of the country. But then Sukhbir too was over confidence in the Lok Sabha election otherwise he would not have taken the risk of inviting Jaitley to contest from Amritsar. Not that Jaitley lost due to Capt Amrinder Singh having been fielded by the Congress as a master stroke. The mood in Amritsar even three months before the elections was openly against the Akali Dal-BJP with the people determined to defeat who-so-ever the candidate might be, barring Navjot Singh Sidhu. Interestingly this was the mood even in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee complex. It seems the senior Akali leadership had stonewalled itself and hence failed to get correct picture.
Now the ground reality is that the people are already fed up but there is no alternative at the moment. An effective opposition is lacking. Manpreet Singh Badal can stage a comeback on the political stage provided he reinvents himself. He is the one leader who received massive support after he parted company with the Akali Dal. That would need a lot of struggle involving people. The situation is ripe for him.
It is in this context that Sukhbir would have to assert himself and be in command of the situation. He should first get the right feedback.
