Using its opposition to the Dera Sacha Sauda, the SAD (Badal) has appropriated the space radical groups occupied before.
Any event within the cultural realm can be traced in the contemporary political structure. The rail roko agitation in Punjab on June 25 by radical Sikh groups demanding the arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, too, has become one such event that suggests a similar analysis. It speaks of the political culture, growing fanaticism and corruption in the governance of Punjab.
On June 20, a bodyguard of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief fired at a group of persons protesting against him in Mumbai. Balkar Singh Thakur Singh, 50, who was injured later died. Anti-Dera slogans inside a mall in suburban Mulund during Gurmeet Singhs visit to the place led to altercations between his supporters and the protesters. The situation turned violent after the protesters allegedly started throwing stones. The police said the group attacked the Dera chiefs vehicle when he was leaving the place.
The radical groups, such as the Damdami Taksal, had given the impression that they would carry on the agitation until Gurmeet Singh was arrested. But the incidents that took place in the aftermath of the Mulund incident street violence, destruction of the Deras property and disruption of public life came to a sudden end after the rail roko.
What induced the sudden freeze? Informed sources say that over the years the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) have managed to get a hold on radical Sikh groups in Punjab.
The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), too, has earned the tag of being a front for the SAD led by Prakash Singh Badal. Distribution of SGPC langar at SAD (Badal) rallies, misuse of SGPC infrastructure and staff for canvassing and allocation of grants to gurdwaras on the recommendation of party leaders were charges that Badals party faced during the last elections. Thus, the SGPCs support to the rail roko and incidents of violence earlier suggests that the agitation was more political in nature and not a spontaneous outpouring of religious sentiments.
The outburst against the Dera in 2007 by the Damdami Taksal and other radical organisations when Gurmeet Singh was accused of imitating Guru Gobind Singh, the last guru of Sikhs, and the violence following it led to two important developments. First, the moderate SAD (Badal) gained further support from the radical groups in exchange for its support to the movement. Second, it strengthened the SADs hold over these groups political activities. By supporting the rail roko and related incidents, the SAD managed to appropriate the radical space that groups such as the Damdami Taksal had occupied in public perception. With its goals achieved, the ruling party also made a timely intervention to demand an immediate stoppage of all violence, in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, as the Dera has a considerable following among the weaker sections of Punjab society.
Therefore, it was not surprising when Damdami Taksal spokesperson Mohkan Singh said, We do not want to disrupt public life anymore as our agitation against the Dera stands on Sikh support. Our rail roko was successful and from now on we will call upon Indian law to restore our pride, which has been scarred by Gurmeet Singh.
The Dal Khalsa, which supported the Damdami Taksal in the agitation, took a more cautious approach. Its spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said that the organisation, along with the Taksal, had decided to set the stage for action against Gurmeet Singh. He said: We have asked the SGPC to hold a congregation of all Sikh groups on July 10 to decide the future course of action. If it does not happen, we will meet again independently and see what can be done.
Even Balwant Singh Nandgarh, jathedar of the Damdama Sahib, who played an instrumental role in mobilising his religious army Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj against the Dera during last years violence, said that he would let the law take its own course and demand Gurmeet Singhs arrest.
The Damdami Taksal and the Dal Khalsa still support openly the demand for a Sikh Homeland-Khalistan and believe it can be achieved only by democratic and not militant means. The moderation of these groups and the control of the SAD over them have come about in the past 10-15 years.
There are indications that the SAD has been dictating the rules of these forces. All the major groups against the Dera just held a meeting to condole the death of Balkar Singh in his village, Jamarai, in Tarn Taran district of Punjab.
The co-option of all these radical groups was evident when another radical political party, Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), led by Simranjit Singh Mann, forced Joginder Singh Vedanti, the chief jathedar of the Akal Takht in Amritsar, out of a meeting for having cheated Sikhs in the ongoing agitation against the Dera. The SAD (A), which apparently commands most of the radical votes in Punjab, had organised separate protests at the height of the agitation last year and also this year.
Political observers believe that the Punjab government, while acting against the Dera, is playing into the hands of the liquor lobby, which apparently fears that its business would be affected with the Dera urging people to give up drinking.
The political scientist Randheer Singh has written that the culture of Punjab has deteriorated into a chicken and whisky culture owing to the bourgeois nature of its politics. Last year, the Badal government announced a new excise policy reducing the rates of foreign liquor drastically. Badal claimed that people would now buy good liquor and thus the policy would help increase the States revenue from liquor from Rs.1,524 crore in 2006-07 to Rs.1,649 crore in 2007-08. The previous government in Haryana, led by Om Prakash Chautala, had also acted on the same lines.
Most of the Deras in Punjab and Haryana are strictly against consuming liquor. The Dera Sacha Sauda mobilised its supporters against the new excise policy. It had also lobbied hard against the implementation of the Casino Bill by the Chautala government in 2003. Gurmeet Singhs organisation is continuing its work in the area of liquor de-addiction and its campaign against female foeticide, in both Haryana and Punjab. Dr. Aditya Insaan, its spokesperson, said it had given de-addiction training to 45 lakh people in Punjab and 50 lakh people in Haryana.
The Deras metamorphosis from a purely spiritual organisation to a political force to reckon with has made it the centre of attention. The Sirsa-based organisation, which has a strong base in the politically sensitive Malwa region, supported the Congress in the Assembly elections. This was a change from the past when it used to support individual candidates. As a result, the SAD (Badal) was almost decimated in southern Punjab. This earned it the wrath of the SAD (Badal). However, the neutrality maintained by the Dera in the May 26 local body elections explains the SAD (Badal)s pressure on radical groups to stop the agitations.
The loss in southern Punjab made the SAD (Badal) take the region seriously this time. The party, it is alleged, misused official machinery and indulged in rigging and violence in the local body elections in the Malwa region Bhatinda, Mansa, Faridkot, Moga, Ferozepur, Sangrur and Patiala. Incidentally, Chautala and his controversial Green Brigade, said to be opponents of the Dera, allegedly helped the SAD (Badal) in the process. The Badal government also whipped up cases against Gurmeet Singh as soon as it came to power. The Dera chief has cases of murder and sexual harassment pending against him in the CBI court in Ambala.
It is in this context that the recent agitations should be seen. While informed sources say that personal relations between the Deras followers and its opponents in the villages in southern Punjab have been strained, the feudal class, primarily upper-caste Jat Sikhs, still employ Dalits, agricultural workers, many of them followers of the Dera, ignoring Akal Takhts hukumnama, issued last year to boycott Dera followers socially and economically. In the upper echelons, the politics of violence and also of silence is employed suitably. In this case, it is a clash of titans.
