who-is-afraid-of-amritpal-singh

Ever since the entry of radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh into the electoral fray, from the predominantly panthic constituency of Khadoor Sahib, it is the mainstream Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal (SAD-B) that is the most annoyed, and apparently worried as well.

 

The reason is obvious. Amritpal will definitely cut into the vote share of the SAD-B. Given its predominantly panthic composition, Khadoor Sahib was considered to be the SAD-B bastion till 2019, when the Congress candidate Jasbir Singh Dimpa defeated the SAD-B candidate Bibi Jagir Kaur by a margin of over one lakh votes.

The main reason for SAD-B’s loss was the division in panthic votes. Besides Bibi Jagir Kaur, there was Paramjit Kaur Khalra, the wife of the late Jaswant Singh Khalra, a human rights activist who went missing under mysterious circumstances during militancy in Punjab.

 

While Bibi Jagir Kaur got about 3.19 lakh votes, Ms Khalra, contesting on the ticket of the now defunct Punjab Ekta Party then headed by Sukhpal Singh Khaira, got about 2.14 lakh votes. Congress’ Dimpa got about 4.59 lakh votes, thus straightway benefitting from the division of the panthic votes.

 

This time around, Amritpal is expected to get many more votes than Ms Khalra. Given his popularity, particularly among the youth, he may well end up victorious from here. And nobody will be having any problem, except the SAD-B as it sees its base eroding and going to the radicals. 

 

Amritpal heads an organisation ‘Waris Punjab De’ (WPD) which was founded by Deep Sidhu, who died in a road accident. Till then Amritpal was never thought to be a potential radical leader. He was already settled in Dubai where he was in the transport business. But he was already a familiar face on social media platforms, preaching and supporting radicalism. After Deep Sidhu’s tragic death in a road accident, he returned to India, rather all of a sudden, to head the WPD organisation. Since he was already a familiar face on social media, he instantly caught the imagination of the youth. 

 

Amritpal assumed the role of a self-appointed preacher trying to wean away the youth from drugs and also preaching for baptising them, called ‘Amrit Sanchar’. He has been copying the late popular militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, often referred to as ‘Sant Ji’ (Saint). 

 

Although Amirtpal’s ideas are rebellious, he remained vague and evasive about his position on Khalistan. Currently, he is in Dibrugarh jail in Assam and has been arrested under National Security Act (NSA). He filed his nomination papers in absentia and was represented by his mother under due permission from the election authorities. 

 

The SAD-B has more reasons to worry. It is fast losing traction among its traditional panthic base. This happened after the sacrilege incident preceded by the “pardon” to Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for alleged blasphemy of trying to copy the Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh. In fact, SAD-B’s base is eroding very fast. Whether it has touched its nadir or not will be established after the results of the current General Elections are declared on June 4.

 

In the last assembly elections held in March 2022, the SAD-B came down to just three seats in a house of 117 members. It was the party’s worst-ever performance. Later in the Sangrur parliamentary byelection, the party candidate fared equally worse. Although it had fielded a radical face, the sister of Balwant Singh Rajoana from Sangrur, she came a poor fifth in a five-cornered contest, even behind the BJP.

 

The election was won by Simranjit Singh Mann of the Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar, one of the radical Akali outfits. Mann publicly proclaims support for a separate Sikh state of Khalistan. 

In Jalandhar parliamentary by-election the Akali candidate came a distant third, while the BJP came fourth, with not much gap between the two parties.

The SAD-B is faced with a double challenge from within and outside. It parted ways with the BJP precisely to consolidate the ‘panthic’ vote base.

 

But that seems a far cry as radicals like Amritpal are cutting into its support base. It is not just Amritpal in Khadoor Sahib and Simrajnjit Singh Mann in Sangrur, the SAD-B faces a challenge in its family borough of Bathinda, where Simranjit Singh Mann has fielded Lakha Sidhana, a staunch proponent of Punjabi sub-nationalism. In Khadoor Sahib, Simranjit Singh Mann’s party withdrew its candidate in favour of Amritpal.

 

On the face of it, the rise and strengthening of the radicals and extremists like Mann and Amritpal is not good for the state. A moderate and patriotic organisation like the Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal should always be preferred and promoted. You never know, when the radicals get out of hand even if they may seem to be perfectly “under control”, as is usually alleged.

 

However, there is a silver lining in the entire issue. The very fact that Amritpal has decided to participate in electoral politics and to establish his acceptability and credibility through elections, is also encouraging. His participation in the election process should come as a pleasing surprise for the government. 

 

At least Amritpal has accepted the sovereignty of the country and that of its parliament. Anyone, even if he may be a radical like Amritpal or Simranjit Singh Mann is always better, while accepting and acknowledging the parliamentary democracy than defying it. That is why it is not bad news for the government, while it may, rather shall, be very bad news for the traditional Akalis as they are fast losing base to the radicals. 

 

A moderate Akali Dal is always preferable and must be protected, patronised, encouraged and supported, rather than letting any radical hijack the panthic politics. Recent history must serve as a lesson that radicalism does not take much time to turn into extremism. 

 

On their part, the Akalis will also need to introspect and look within as to why they are losing their base, not just to the radicals, but to other mainstream parties like the AAP and the Congress. Punjabis, by nature and by tradition do not support extremism and radicalism. Because they are rebellious by nature, they may sometimes end up supporting radicalism, if they do not find a convincing and appealing alternative in the moderate mainstream parties.