The ghost of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale is haunting Punjabi newspapers once again, thanks to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandak Committee (SGPC).
What the Punjabi papers say...
The ghost of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale is haunting Punjabi newspapers once again, thanks to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandak Committee (SGPC), which installed his portrait in the Sikh museum gallery in the Golden Temple, Amritsar last week.
Since the function was unexpectedly preponed by a day, Aj Di Awaz newspaper blasted SGPC for trying to outwit radical Sikh organisations which had been demanding that Bhindranwale’s picture must become part of the gallery, which traces historical moments of Sikh history.
The newspaper said that by excluding many prominent Sikh organisations from the function, SGPC was only trying to play cheap politics. It said the demand was basically raised by Sikh organisations like Dal Khalsa and Damdami Taksal.
The SGPC has only tried to hijack their agenda to score brownie points. Instead, SGPC should have tried to ensure widespread participation of Sikhs loyal to Bhindranwale in the ceremony, the paper said.
The Punjabi Tribune wondered if it was an appropriate time to rake up controversy about Bhindranwale when the state should have been talking more seriously about development issues. It wondered why the SGPC buckled under pressure from radical Sikh bodies and acceded to their demands.
Nwan Zamana attacked chief minister Parkash Singh Badal for allowing SGPC to reignite the debate, giving renewed inspiration to radical elements which had so far lying dormant.
It said Bhindranwale had ushered in an era of violence and turmoil in Punjab, as a result of which many innocent Sikhs had lost their lives in Operation Bluestar.
Daily Ajit on Monday gave prominent display to a news item in which former chief minister Amarinder Singh questioned SGPC’s propriety in fomenting radical thoughts at this juncture.
Amarinder said the chief minister should focus on governance instead of diverting people’s attention to unpleasant incidents of the past.
The newspaper displayed the chief minister’s opinion on the matter also equally prominently. In the news item, the chief minister sought to dismiss the entire controversy as “useless and baseless”, stating that the issue was too trivial to be treated as a threat to law and order situation in the state.
The newspaper wondered if the BJP, a coalition partner of Akali Dal, would cause any embarrassment to the government on the issue by joining the Congress in raising a voice against it.
b_ajay@dnaindia.net
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