The two main political parties in Punjab — Congress and the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine — have been banking on the blast from the past to carry them forward in the 2014 parliamentary polls.
Both the rival factions have been reverting to the three-decade-old subject — Operation Bluestar and 1984 anti-Sikh riots — to rake up the emotions of the masses in their favour. The issue was again brought to fore by Punjab’s former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh. His attempts to take people back in time in the days of elections, however, misfired, resulting in a wave of anger across the region.
Brought to the light once again after thirty years gap with the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s candid interview and declassification of paper by the UK authorities, the political parties are not letting the issue to die down, apparently for their political gains targeting each other on the issue and the involvement of leaders from the respective parties in Operation Bluestar and consequential 1984 riots.
They are exploiting the age-old issue like a fresh one while the main issues, that actually concern the people and afflicting them, are taking a backseat. Notwithstanding the increasing drug menace, high rate of unemployment, rising prices, farmers’ suicide, pitiable infrastructure facilities, stagnant peasantry, burdening taxes, deadly cancer problem, poor health and education facilities, and what not in the State, the political parties are raising these “ancient” sensitive issues just to take political mileage out of it by raking up emotions of the Sikh community.
Once more, Capt Amarinder has fanned the flames by allegedly defending Jagdish Tytler, the main accused in 1984 riots matter — that swept the party off its feet making the senior Congress leader to come out with a clarification.
Raking up this susceptible issue during election time was nothing new in Punjab, and also in the national capital, when the parties try to make the most of it. Be it the parliamentary polls, or the Assembly or just Gurdwara bodies’ elections, all the political parties took advantage of the issue for their political gain in elections with the issue still hanging fire.
There are so many victims who are still waiting for justice with their cases pending in the courts, while many are awaiting their compensation, their residential accommodation as promised.Projecting itself as the party for the Sikh cause, the SAD had promised to set up Special Courts to punish those involved in 1984 anti-Sikh riots in its 2007 Assembly election manifesto, and also before that too, but nothing has been done so far when the State Government was serving its second term in Punjab.
This ‘promise” was found in the election manifestos that followed, including for the 2014 elections too. The party has promised to set up a panel under Supreme Court judge and setting up special courts.
In fact, Congress ally — SAD (Delhi) led by Congressman Paramjit Singh Sarna, had failed to ensure houses, jobs, compensation to the 1984 riots victims despite ruling the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) for several decades.
Moreover, the SAD had all along been accusing the Congress for shielding the perpetrators of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and bestowing them with senior posts, including Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.Even as the Congress and Akali Dal are accusing each other of “trying to make political capital out of the situation”, the leaders from both the parties are not letting down their attack.
While the Congress, led by former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, is attacking the SAD, especially Chief Minister and SAD patron Parkash Singh Badal, for playing “negative role” at the time of negotiations, the Akali Dal has been charging the party for carrying out Operation Bluestar that led to mass killing of hundreds of innocent people.
Akali Dal has also targeted the Congress for harbouring the culprits, and delaying the justice. On the other hand, Capt Amarinder claimed that the BJP and RSS leaders were also involved in the riots, while maintaining that 442 people were convicted for the riots, and 49 of them were sentenced to life imprisonment, besides three to 10 years or more imprisonment.