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Battle Royale Begins in Punjab Congress and the Government – by KS Chawla

As the elections to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha are approaching, battle royale has begun in the Punjab Congress and the Amarinder Singh led Punjab government. Already, the war of words was continuing for the past some time, but the rejection of the SIT report on Kotkapura police firing by the Punjab and Haryana High Court firing has provided the latest gun powder to warm this battle.

Navjot Singh Sidhu who was first divested of local bodies portfolio and then dropped from the cabinet has been active on Twitter and has been making scathing attacks on the leadership of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and finally the Chief Minister replied to his Twitter attacks and challenged him to contest the election against him from Patiala in the next election due in 2022.

Sidhu will get his bail forfeited, Amarinder has claimed. This war between the two continued in the midst of efforts to bring them together. Amarinder Singh invited Sidhu for lunch and tea and they had meetings but could not resolve their differences.

Partap Singh Bajwa, former PPCC Chief and Shamsher Singh Dhullo who is also a former PPCC Chief were already at loggerheads with the Chief Minister and they were attacking his leadership.

But with the rejection of the SIT report filed by former IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh in connection with Kotkapura firing case, the infighting between the various factions has become intense. Navjot Singh Sidhu has intensified his attacks on the Chief Minister maintaining that guilty of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and those responsible of police firing have not been punished.

In response to the attack by the Chief Minister Sidhu has said, “Efforts to derail Punjab’s conscience will fail. My soul is Punjab and Punjab’s soul is Guru Granth Sahib ji. Our fight is for justice and punishing the guilty, an assembly seat is not even worth discussion.

After the war of words between the Chief Minister and Sidhu intensified, some Congress MLAs have started rallying around Sidhu and they have held meetings with him. Pargat Singh former Olympian and MLA from Jalandhar Cantt has already expressed his support to Sidhu.

Two Cabinet Ministers Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi have also expressed their resentment against the failure of the government in taking action against the culprits of the police firing at Kotkapura and the culprits of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib.

They have not participated in the cabinet meetings which were held to discuss the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Some of the Congress MLAs have also contacted Navjot Sidhu and extended their support to him. Sidhu is learnt to have told his supporters that he has no plan to leave the Congress and join some other party.

Meanwhile the Chief Minister has also held separate meetings with the MLAs of Malwa, Doaba, and Majha and explained his position. The MLAs have expressed their apprehensions that the failure of the state government in not punishing the guilty of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan would have adverse affect in the next Vidhan Sabha elections.

The Chief Minister has formed a new Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by LK Yadav, ADGP, Ludhiana Police Commissioner Rakesh Aggarwal and Surjit Singh DIG, Faridkot and the SIT has been asked to submit its report within six months and also directed the SIT that no member would leak the findings of the investigations.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court while rejecting the SIT report given by Kunwar Vijay Pratap has stated that he should not be associated with the new SIT. Kunwar Vijay Pratap has since resigned from the IPS and has announced that he would practice in the high court. But the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Council has not allowed to register him as its member.

The petitioners who filed the writ in the high court had maintained that SIT investigation carried out by Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh was one-sided and biased as other members of the SIT had disassociated themselves from SIT as a protest against the functioning style of Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh and he continued with the investigation single handedly. The High Court has also criticized the working of Kunwar Vijay Pratap.

The SIT was formed in 2018 after the Punjab Vidhan Sabha unanimously passed a resolution that an SIT be set up for an investigation into police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in which two protestors were killed. The Shiromini Akali Dal led by Sukhbir Singh Badal had boycotted the Vidhan Sabha session on that day.

The Congress legislators are now grumbling that when members of the SIT had disassociated themselves from the SIT, the Chief Minister should have intervened and called all the members and brought them together to investigate the matter.

However, the Chief Minister did not bother at all nor the DGP Dinkar Gupta took any notice, so Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh continued his investigation and filed charge sheets in the court at Faridkot. Senior Police officers were arrested who got later bail. The Chief Minister also did not defend Vijay Pratap Singh after the verdict of the High Court.

The Congress MLAs and the opposition parties including AAP have alleged that the state government has not gone in appeal against the single bench judge verdict to the double bench and after that to the Supreme Court. But Amarinder Singh preferred to form a SIT and gave six months to it for completing the investigation.

This is the fourth SIT formed in connection with the incidents of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing at Kotkapura. The first SIT was formed under an ADGP rank officer who gave the verdict that there was a foreign hand behind this sacrilege incident. Sukhbir Singh Badal took no time and wrote to the then Home Minister Rajnath Singh for CBI enquiry.

Since Harsimrat Badal was a member of the Union Cabinet, the matter was handed over to the CBI. Yet another SIT was formed under the leaderships of DIG RS Khatra for probe into the incidents of sacrilege. Khatra claimed that he had identified the culprits but they could not be arrested because there was SAD-BJP government in power.

Parkash Singh Badal, the then Chief Minister also set up a judicial commission under retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court namely justice Zora Singh. He also submitted his report to the government. But no action was taken on the report. The hardliner Sikhs also got an enquiry conducted by a retired judge of the Supreme Court Justice Markandey Katju who held the failure of the Akali Government in nabbing the guilty.

After the 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections, when Akali Dal was decimated to third position with 15 seats, Congress government led by Amarinder Singh came into power and he had promised to take action against the culprits.

He set up a judicial commission headed by retired justice Ranjit Singh who looked into police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan and stated that the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was in the loop when the firing took place.

Four SITs and two judicial commissions failed to give justice to the culprits of sacrilege and police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan. This reflects on the functioning of the two popular governments elected by the people of Punjab-SAD-BJP and the Congress government.

The hardliners also fought for nabbing of the culprits and formed Panthic Morcha which launched dharna at Bargari. This dharna was headed by Dhian Singh Mand and Baljit Singh Daduwal now president of the Haryana Shiromini Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. Dharna continued for record 198 days and there was spontaneous response from the Sikhs from all over the country and even abroad.

The Congress government in Punjab got worried over the popularity of the morcha and felt the need to get it wound up as government felt that the Panthic morcha may not get the importance of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Two ministers Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhjinder Randhawa were tasked to persuade Mand and Daduwal to wind up the dharna.

They succeeded in persuading Dhian Singh Mand to wind up the dharna and Daduwal was not taken into confidence. Now, Mand and Daduwal are not on speaking terms even after winding up of the dharna. After the verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Bhai Ranjit Singh, former Jathedar of the Akal Takhat has taken up the cause of the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing and has collected some hardliners to launch the morcha against the Congress government in Punjab.

The decision of the Punjab government to give six months to the new SIT for completing the investigation has been strongly assailed by the Congress leaders and the opposition parties. Partap Singh Bajwa and Navjot Singh Sidhu described the six months period as giving a lease of life to the perpetrators of the sacrilege and police firing.

The AAP leadership in Punjab and BJP General Secretary Tarun Chugh has also condemned the Amarinder Singh government and alleged that he is in alliance with the Shiromini Akali Dal. Chugh should explain why the BJP ministers were silent when the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib took place and the police firing was resorted to at Kotkapura. They were part of the government in 2015 when the incidents took place.

KS ChawlaOnly the Shiromini Akali Dal has welcomed the formation of the new police SIT which has been given six months for completing the investigation because Akali Dal was the major partner in the government in 2015.

The following facts cannot be denied-first theft of Guru Granth Sahib took place in gurdwara Burj Jawahar Singh Wala, Patras of Guru Granth Sahib were torn and thrown in a drain. Second there was a blast at Maur Mandi in which six persons were killed and police firing took place at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in which two Sikh youth were killed.

These developments in Punjab will form the election campaign in 2022. Congress will find difficulty in defending itself. Wait for the result.

KS Chawla is a senior journalist based at Ludhiana.
Can be reached at: [email protected]
Mobile: 99886-44244

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