Religious issues dominate state politics again

Chandigarh: The Panthic agenda is back in Punjab politics. The recent Assembly session has seen tabling of the report of Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, constituted to find out the people behind the firing in Behbal Kalan after incidents of sacrilege.

It is almost certain now that Panthic issues will be at the core of the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls next year while the real issues will take a back seat. The problems of drug menace, farmer suicides, unemployment and exodus of youth to foreign shores are likely to be lost in the din of Panthic issues.

The findings of the commission on sacrilegious instances have emerged as a major point of contention between the ruling Congress and the Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). The commission report leaked a few days ago reportedly indicted former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal for being in the know of police action on the protestors at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in 2015 that had led to the death of two persons. The indictment has put the Akalis on the back foot.

However, Panthic issues are at the core of Akali Dal politics now. It was evident when the party launched a counter-attack with its president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleging a conspiracy to defame the erstwhile SAD-BJP government and divide the Sikh community. He released phone call details to support his allegation that chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh, his ministers as well as Justice Ranjit Singh of conspiraing with radical jathedars to vet the commission report.

The report was tabled in the Assembly on Monday.

“The unholy nexus between the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and ISI-sponsored radical outfits to help the Congress cover its misdeeds against the Sikhs is out in the open,” Sukhbir Badal said. He has also accused Captain Amarinder of meeting Sikh radical Baljit Singh Daduwal secretly at his residence.

Taking exception to these allegations, Captain Amarinder has urged the Speaker Rana Kanwar Pal Singh to probe the charge of his meeting Daduwal.

These developments coincide with  to a “morcha” being held at Bargari by Sikh hardliners over the past couple of months to seek action against police officers guilty of the 2015 firing at the protestors and those responsible for sacrilege of holy texts.

The issue of sacrilege is set to dictate the political discourse in this sensitive border state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Along with the commission's findings has been the recent decision of the Punjab cabinet for bringing in amendments to the CrPC and IPC to make sacrilege punishable with life imprisonment, thus taking a step towards 'curbing such incidents and maintaining communal harmony' in the state, say political analysts.

The Punjab Cabinet recently approved insertion of Section 295AA to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to provide that “whoever causes injury, damage or sacrilege to Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Srimad Bhagwad Gita, Holy Quran and Holy Bible with the intention to hurt the religious feelings, shall be punished with imprisonment for life.”

While the move has been termed “regressive” by many intellectuals, no political party has come forward to denounce it. This move too will be played up during the poll campaign to woo voters from across the state.