Punjab: Parties claim Sikh warrior’s legacy

Punjab’s upcoming polls have political parties competing with each other to celebrate the memory of the famous seventeenth century ascetic-turned-warrior, Banda Singh Bahadur.

Born to a Rajput family of Rajori in Jammu, he embraced Sikhism and turned ascetic. However, after coming in touch with the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, and after getting his blessings General Banda Singh Bahadur fought against the Mughals.

He established the Sikh state across most of present day Indian Punjab. He was tortured and killed in 1716 by the Mughals in Delhi. In the 300th year of his martyrdom the political parties of Punjab are in a game of one-upmanship to inherit the legacy of the great Sikh general.

It was AAP which took the initiative by announcing that its government in Delhi would rename the Barapulla flyover in the capital after the iconic general. Later, the Akalis decided to install a 20-feet tall statue of Banda Bahadur at Mehrauli in a park built by DSGMC on a 7.5 acre-plot. The Akalis and the AAP government of Delhi are reportedly locked in a war over the issue with the latter saying that the Supreme Court had imposed interim restriction on installation of statues at public places.

The Akalis have questioned how the Delhi government installed statues of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev in Delhi Vidhan Sabha on 23 March, 2016. He Who said that the statue of Banda Bahadur will be installed at any cost on the pattern of the 1984 genocide victims’ memorial which is in the process of being built near the Parliament. If permission for the general’s statue is revoked, the DSGMC shall look for an alternate site.

Addressing a function organized at Fathegarh Sahib to commemorate the general’s 300th martyrdom anniversary, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said that Banda Bahadur helped improve the quality of life of the peasantry. He said that historians had not taken due notice of his contribution. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had released a silver coin to mark the 300th martyrdom day of Banda Bahadur.