Sad Forced Back To Panthic Agenda

[Azaad]

In less than a week after the debate over the capital punishment to former CM Beant Singh's assassin started, the focus of Punjab politics has shifted from development to Panthic agenda.

Convicted way back in 2007, Balwant Singh Rajoana was almost forgotten until March 10 when a local CBI Special Court issued warrant for hanging him till death. This too did not have much impact, except his sister Kamaldeep Kaur holding a press conference to highlight the issue. In the meantime, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal along with his Cabinet was sworn in on March 12.

Again for a week till March 19, the issue was buried under the euphoria of the formation of a new government. After the warrants were issue for a second time on March 19, it changed everything for the state.

The Akal Takht, the highest spiritual and temporal body of the Sikhs, moved into action. Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh went to meet Rajoana in Patiala jail two days after the second warrant was issued, hoping to persuade him for a clemency petition.

The timing of the warrants has raised several questions. But what has transpired this week is even more intriguing. The theory doing the rounds in political circles is that Badal's detractors tried their hand at fermenting trouble for the newly formed SAD-BJP government.

The move would have served two purposes: hamper development (the mantra of SAD success in the polls) and strain the relations between the SAD and BJP as both the parties have divergent stands on the issue.

However, two parties emerged stronger in the episode: the Beant Singh family, which was on the radar of the hardliners, managed to placate the radicals by saying they had no issues with clemency and Badal once again managed to show his political acumen by neutralising his detractors and putting the Congress on the defensive, forcing PCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh to issue a statement supporting clemency.

It is apparent that till the second warrant was issued on March 19, the government could not visualise its implications or was working on a plan. The Akal Takht Jathedar called a meeting to discuss the issue on March 23. The Jathedar, apparently under pressure from radical elements, declared Dilawar Singh, the "human bomb" who killed Beant Singh, as a 'martyr' and Rajoana a 'living martyr'. He even issued an edict to the SGPC, the CM and the SAD president to seek clemency for Rajoana.

It is at this point that the SAD think-tank launched its counteroffensive. The SAD core committee directed the SGPC to petition for clemency to the President, something that forced the Congress also to issue a statement supporting the clemency move.

But, before the SAD core committee could ask the CM to make a statement on the floor of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha today, Badal had taken BJP leaders like LK Advani and Arun Jaitley into confidence. Therefore, there was not much uproar in House today when the CM expressed his inability in executing Rajoana.

Though the SAD has managed to neutralise the hardliners, one thing is clear that the Panthic agenda is still a sensitive issue in Punjab, which can be easily exploited.

[VanHelsingh]

What's with the "radical elements" in the above article? Surely they don't mean the likes of DDT, etc?

[S1ngh]

Kalugi veer, all reporters from "Times of India", HT, Indian Express, Tribune and India Today classifies amritdhari with open beard as a radical Sikh. They also use term 'extremist' often.

[singher23]

NDTV has been referring to him as a "Babbar Khalsa Terrorist". I didnt realize that those who kill people who kill thousands are now terrorists. By this definition, those who killed Gaddafi, Hitler, etc., are all terrorists. Governments are terrorists when they execute serial killers