Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, A section of the radical leadership from the days of the Sikh militancy which had gone into oblivion has once again initiated the move to jump into the fray as a religio-secular outfit articulating the concerns of all the communities in Punjab with focus on the Panth. The effort is to provide alternative to the Shiromani Akali Dal in the next Assembly election. These leaders are already active under the banner of the United Sikh League which had extended support to the Aam Aadmi Party in the state in the last Lok Sabha election.
The brains behind the move, both Mohkam Singh and Gurdip Singh, have been associated with Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale but confined to political activity only. They played rather more active role during the post-Bhindranwale period. They already have organised scores of meetings with different sections of society including retired bureaucrats to involve them in the new outfit so that their baggage from the past gets overlooked by the people.
The immediate focus would be on the drug menace and the rising debt.
“With the coming into power of the Bharatiya Janata Party at its own at the centre, the ruling Akali Dal had got a major opportunity to resolve the debt issue but Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has miserably failed on this front. Rather than getting ministerial position for his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur in the Narendra Modi cabinet, he should have traded this position with debt waiver. His problem is that he can never think beyond the family interests”, said Mohkam Singh. It may be mentioned that then finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal was forced out of the government and the Akali Dal when he tried to negotiate with the UPA government to rid Punjab of this mounting debt. He took it up as a major issue when he launched his People’s Party of Punjab. It is his contribution at the personal cost that debt burden has come on the agenda of every political party in the state.
He said the government had allowed the opening of liquor shops in every corner of the towns and villages and on the highways. It was the government which was encouraging and patronising this menace. He said these two issues would be given immediate priority.
The party would take up the Panthic agenda which has been shed by the Shiromani Akali Dal, especially under the presidency of Sukhbir Singh Badal. The Sikh agenda would include growing threat to the Sikh identity as the Sikh youth had the inceasing tendency of shedding Sikh symbols and these leaders blame Badal for the situation as he controls all the Sikh institutions. Mohkam said it was a matter of concern that the vote share of the Akali Dal had drastically come down to about 25 per cent from the normal above 30 per cent even during defeats. This was an indication of the shrinking base of this party which was set up to articulate the Sikh concerns. This gap would be filled up by the new set up, or at least an effort would be made.
These leaders feel that the problem in Punjab was not communal as was being made out by Badal by saying that any break in the Akali Dal-BJP alliance could disturb the communal harmony. He said this amounted to blackmailing tactics.
This party would oppose dynastic politics, be it in any party. Mohkam made it clear that the thrust of the new party would be on providing solutions to the problems afflicting this state as these problems had already been identified over the years.
Although carrying the baggage from the militancy days, the new party would maintain distance from leaders like Simranjit Singh Mann, who, Mohkam said, was not concerned with the immediate problems concerning the Sikhs and Punjab.
None could find fight with such an agenda which needs committed people with credibility. This would be the main problem this leadership might encounter and perhaps it is because of this reason that the effort is to rope in intellectuals and retired bureaucrats. But then these intellectuals too have already been tested and rejected by the people during the earlier times.
Punjab is definitely very good testing laboratory with the ruling Akali Dal facing strong anti-incumbency, the fact which has been realised by its alliance partner BJP and the Congress losing ground every day due to infighting. Punjab has space for a new outfit. Then it is the BJP too which is eyeing this space with the design to part company with the Akali Dal to blunt the anti-incumbency factor.
