On the anniversary of Operation Bluestar, Maharashtra BJP minister Girish Mahajan attended a memorial service at Chowk Mehta, the headquarters of the Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal. Mahajan described Operation Bluestar as ‘aakraman’ (attack) on the Golden Temple. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used a similar expression in the past describing it as an attack on Akal Takht. While Modi’s remarks had been forgotten long back, Mahajan’s recent ‘aakraman’ remark has left the BJP red faced.
The BJP is apparently trying to reach out to the radical sections among the Sikhs represented by Damdami Taksal head Harnam Singh Dhumma. Militant preacher Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was heading the Taksal seminary when he led a violent movement against the Government of India for various issues related to Sikhs and Punjab. Bhindranwale, as such, had never demanded a separate independent Sikh state, Khalistan. Whenever he was asked about it, he would reply that if it is granted, he will not refuse it.
However, the violence during his lifetime, which targeted Hindus and his political opponents among the Sikhs, was attributed to him. He had proudly owned up to certain killings like that of Lala Jagat Narain of Punjab Kesari. He even once publicly threatened the government, after a bus carrying his supporters was impounded; to release it else he would kill 5,000 Hindus. This is one of his recorded statements.
Dhumma now heads the same seminary. He claims to be following the ideals of Bhindranwale, who remains a polarising and divisive figure in Punjab, where Hindus and Sikhs view him differently and with contradictory points of view.
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The BJP, by trying to cosy up to Taksal through its head Dhumma, appears to be conveying a message to the ‘conservative’ class among the Sikhs, who it thinks can be won over by reaching out to the seminary known now for holding radical views.
Whether the BJP’s reach out to radicals will fetch any votes in return is not certain, may be quite unlikely even, but it will definitely alienate and antagonise the party’s traditional vote bank among the Hindus, who relate Damdami Taksal with Bhindranwale and the harsh and traumatic memories of the 1980s and early 1990s.
It is strange that while the BJP has been repeatedly rejecting the suggestions of an alliance with its old partner, the Shiromani Akali Dal, asserting it will fight Punjab elections on its own, it has been warming up to the radicals. The Shiromani Akali Dal has always been a moderate political party and has never embraced radical or extremist ideology. No wonder the Akali Dal lost as many leaders and cadres to terrorism as the Congress or the BJP.
If the BJP thinks that the radicals really have an appeal among the masses or the seminary will deliver it any extra votes, it is badly mistaken. The Punjabi society, irrespective of any religious identity, does not accept extremism or radicalism. The greatest proof is that it never gave any mandate to the extremists and they always remained on the fringes and they continue to remain so.
Also, the fact that the Congress formed the government in Punjab thrice after Operation Bluestar should also serve as an example for the BJP to learn that the Punjabis are inclined towards moderate politics and are always ready to move on.
The BJP should also have learnt the lessons from the past. The Congress has been accused of having encouraged Bhindranwale in a bid to corner and weaken the Akalis. While it is absolutely incorrect that Bhindranwale was the product and protégé of the Congress as is often alleged, it is very much correct that once he assumed some prominence in Sikh politics, he was encouraged by subtle and not-so-subtle actions of the then Congress governments, both at the Centre and in the states, in a bid to create alternate Akali power centre. What happened afterwards is history to learn from, lest it gets dangerously repeated.
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The BJP has been reaching out and trying to rope in different sections of people in its aggressive outreach in Punjab. The party leaders have been visiting various ‘deras’ (sects) and their heads. The influential and widely respected Dera Beas head Gurinder Singh’s proximity with the BJP leaders and government is quite well known. Union Home Minister Amit Shah also visited the Dera.
Dera Balan is another influential sect near Jalandhar with a lot of influence in the Doaba region. Prime Minister Modi specially visited the Dera early this year. Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda in Haryana, has a huge number of followers across the Malwa region of Punjab. The sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is undergoing a sentence in a rape case, is considered to be on the saffron party’s side. His frequent paroles are an example of his proximity with the BJP.
There is a high likelihood that Maharashtra BJP minister Girish Mahajan may have attended the Taksal function on his own because of his proximity with Dhumma, who spends good time in Mumbai, but his presence at the Operation Bluestar event is going to have definite political implications in Punjab. The BJP cannot distance itself from his presence publicly. At the same time, its silence and ambivalence are not going to do any good to the party, particularly at a time when the state is headed for crucial assembly elections about nine months from now.
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