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Punjab Elections 2017: As AAP makes inroads, Sikh centric-SAD jittery over erosion in vote bank

Punjab remained on the edge as it faced a breakdown of law and order following numerous other incidents of desecration in other districts. Tension flared up when two protesters from villages near Kotkapura were killed during police firing in Faridkot on October 15, 2015.

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(Left) Residents of Sarawan Kalan in Faridkot where police firing killed two protestors and (right) Sadhu Singh, father of Gurjeet Singh
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On October 12, 2015, pages of the Sikhs’ holy text, Guru Granth Sahib, were found strewn on streets outside one of the oldest Gurdwaras in the region at Bargari village in Faridkot, triggering a series of protests across the state.

Punjab remained on the edge as it faced a breakdown of law and order following numerous other incidents of desecration in other districts. Tension flared up when two protesters from villages near Kotkapura were killed during police firing in Faridkot on October 15, 2015.

Over a year later, widespread resentment among Sikhs due to the incident is making the ruling Badals-led-SAD government jittery. Badals maintain control over Sikhs’ top body, Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), and has always thrived on panthic (religious) agenda, but are now losing firm presence among rural Sikh vote bank. 

“Ded saal ho gya. Koi pakda nai gya. Saddi ta yehi mang si. Sada to auna nai mudke. (They (the government) assured, they will arrest the accused. That’s all we wanted. It has been 1.5 years but no one has been arrested.

My husband will not return),” said Birbal Kaur, widow of Krishan Bhagwan Singh, 45, from Faridkot, who was killed in the firing. The undercurrent is that people blame the SAD-BJP led Punjab government for incidents and its aftermath leading to killing of two protesters. “Panthic sarkar hai. Sikhan di sarkar hai. Fer vi Guru saab di beadbi karan waleyan nu nai pakdeya (It’s a government of Sikhs. Even then, they could not arrest the accused who disrespected the Guru Granth Sahib),” said Bahadur Singh, resident of Sarwan Kalan village in Faridkot, where the firing took place.

Either they should have resigned or arrested those accused of desecration, said Harmail Singh Sandhu, 90, resident of Bargari village, where the first desecration took place. 

At a time when villages in Punjab are painted in political hues of various parties, with posters and party flags fluttering atop houses, villages of the two victims in Faridkot have posters of the victims, who have been declared as ‘martyrs’. Leaders including Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Captain Amarinder and AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal met the families after the incident. But Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal visited two months after the incident — a visit that the two families recall with anguish.

“Kehnda bda maada hua. Jo hoga karenge. Badal saab aayenge December mein. Do December chale gye. Humare sath kissi ne nyaay nai kiya (He (Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal) said it was sad. They will do what can be done. CM Badal will come in December, but he did not. Justice has not been done),” says Sadhu Singh, whose son Gurjeet Singh, 26, was also killed.

SAD-BJP led Punjab government silence over the incident continues to unsettle the family. “1984 ki baat krte hain. Jo abhi unke saamne hua, uski kyun nai baat karte? Agar ye sarkar dobara aa gyi, to phir humein koi umeed nai.(They raise the 1984 issue, but why they don’t talk about what happened in their term? If this party comes back to power, then we have no hope for justice),” he said. “Order te bine, koi kyun chlayega?Jedi vi sarkar bane saboot mile. Saanu sabar aa jaye. Saada ta ghar ujaadta.(Why will police start firing without orders? Whichever party comes to power, they should collect evidence, so that we find peace. My family has been destroyed),” said Krishan Bhagwan’s widow, Birbal Kaur, as her eyes well up with tears. 

With elections due on February 4, Punjab Congress President, Captain Amarinder and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal have been promising to institute inquiry into the sacrilege incidents and arrest the accused. The Badals had transferred the case to CBI.

However, there is a new entrant, AAP, which has reaped political benefits by tapping into anti-Akali sentiments. The new entrant has made inroads into the Sikh vote bank, crucial in Punjab and is likely to cause a dent in the traditional voter base of the Akalis. Despite frantic attempts by CM Parkash Singh Badal to consolidate the Sikh vote bank portraying SAD as champion of Sikh rights, the erosion in party’s devout Sikh vote has already begun.

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