Punjab: The New Target of BJP-Sangh Parivar Stratagems

I would be the last person to label the designs of any political party as dubious, alarming, inauspicious, creepy, sinister or portentous. It is common practice for political parties to use and employ every possible plank, of course within the given parameters, to win at the hustings.

Of late, however, the term fighting elections within lawful and statutory boundaries has been replaced with winning by hook or by crook. There are several examples supporting this ‘charge’, starting with elections in Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra.

If you thought Operation Lotus had been put to rest after achieving desired results in Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra, you are mistaken. In Bihar, a Chief Minister for 20 years is now happier being a Rajya Sabha member than heading the state machinery. TMC and UBT have been literally decimated in the other two states.

A precursor to the shape of things to come in Punjab was presented when six out of nine AAP Rajya Sabha members shifted over to, or ‘merged with’, the ruling combine.

Party manoeuvres already afoot in Uttar Pradesh against the SP could wait. More important is what may be cooking in Punjab after Raghav Chadha and company walked over, and why these developments could be called sinister or dubious.

No rewards for guessing that some did so under pressure from central agencies through raids and other inexplicable measures.

BJP currently has two options at hand for the crucial state that has never gone with the country on the formation of governments at the Centre.

The Sandeep Pathak Route

One route is to utilise the services of Dr Sandeep Pathak, one of the half a dozen MPs to cross over, to engineer an en masse coup reminiscent of the Bhajan Lal era in Haryana in the 1970s.

Dr Pathak, in charge of Punjab affairs in AAP till recently, was in touch with close to 70 AAP MLAs in the state. The lure for a walk across the floor of the state legislature included bags full of money, pressure from agencies, important positions and much more. Though the Arvind Kejriwal-Bhagwant Mann duo is confident of having closed ranks, efforts are still afoot.

Dr Pathak, an IIT assistant professor and a PhD from Cambridge University, had report cards on the doings and misdoings of all the 94 AAP MLAs. Raids and arrests of a few probably did not work.

If the planned takeover, now a remote possibility, does not happen in the next few weeks, then comes the second option. This, believe you me, is much more menacing and lethal in design.

The Push Into Sikh Institutions

The focus is on having the maximum number of turbaned BJP leaders in Sikh religious bodies, including the SGPC. The idea is to penetrate gurdwaras, religious bodies and Sikh institutions involving big budgets on the lines of Delhi, Patna, Dhubri in Assam, Lucknow and Kanpur through the saffron brigade.

It may even revive the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat phenomenon to control these bodies after getting them freed from the Badal Parivar.

The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has 35 of its 46 elected members owing allegiance to the BJP-supported group led by Harmeet Singh Kalka. He works under the guidance of Manjinder Singh Sirsa, former DSGMC chief and now a minister in Rekha Gupta’s Delhi Cabinet.

The other Sikh adviser to the government is Iqbal Singh Lalpura, former Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities.

A case in point is the recent bill passed in the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha repealing the 1956 Act governing Sachkhand Hazur Sahib Abchalnagar, Nanded. The bill, inter alia, proposes that 12 of the 17 members henceforth would be named by the state government.

Representation of the Chief Khalsa Dewan and other Sikh bodies has either been done away with or drastically reduced.

The party is believed to have hired, or is in the process of hiring, the services of an international PR and election management firm to collect data on lines hitherto unknown.

The Data Collection Exercise

The agency, or a group of discreet individuals already in India, has been assigned the task of collecting data on all the gurdwaras of Punjab, both historic and those run by Singh Sabhas, along with the names of their priests, katha vachaks, gianis, ragis, pathi singhs and sewadars.

On their radar are also Sikh institutions, Sikh families, scholars, teachers, professionals, well-known Punjabi actors, singers, comedians, all the dera chiefs, Sikh historians, members of the intelligentsia and popular Punjabi names who could influence elections.

They have reportedly been in touch with Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan and the Punjabi Academy seeking help in data acquisition.

The firm would help screen, influence recruitment, dole out benefits and win over the average Sikh connected to religious bodies, universities, colleges, hospitals, drug rehabilitation centres, NGOs and self-serving groups of all shades.

Care is being taken to ensure that the majority being picked are from marginalised families. Sikhs getting attracted to Christianity are also part of the spotlight. The list attached herewith makes interesting reading.

Plans are that when elections are round the corner, BJP, perhaps through a new political outfit supported by big names, would promise salary hikes for gurdwara and other employees, bring Chandigarh into Punjab’s fold and settle the water issues between Punjab and Haryana.

To balance the backlash, in lieu of transferring Chandigarh, the Centre may declare a hefty advance for Haryana to build a new capital city.

The new party would have names such as Amritpal Singh and Sarabjit Singh, MPs from Khadoor Sahib and Faridkot, now representing Virsa Punjab Da.

These, with indirect support, could help consolidate Sikh votes by raising the bogey of Khalistan. Amritpal is believed to have been indoctrinated at Dibrugarh Jail.

For the leadership role, Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon, Radha Soami Satsang Dera chief, is being kept as a dummy choice.

Indications are that someone like cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu is being groomed for springing a last-minute surprise. Small wonder that the motormouth showman is keeping himself under check and desisting from making any political statements.

Why Punjab Is a Priority

That Punjab this time is a priority for BJP is evident from the fact that senior party leaders from different parts of the country, including Haryana, have been visiting Amritsar and other important cities of the state sporting saffron turbans. A sewa at Harmandir Sahib has been part of the itinerary of most of these leaders.

The exercise of wooing Sikhs and bringing more and more turbaned leaders to centre stage has not gone down well with the established BJP leadership in the border state. They were first unhappy with the rewarding of Taranjit Singh Sandhu as Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. It did not go well with Tarun Chugh and others.

The replacement of Sunil Jakhar with Kewal Singh Dhillon, believed to be a spent force, as BJP state president has also not been to the liking of many.

Ignoring leaders like Ashwani Kumar Sharma, the working president and former party chief, Vijay Sampla and veteran Chuni Lal Bhagat, as well as Amrinder Singh, Preneet Kaur and Rana Gurjit Sodhi, too, is believed to have backfired for BJP in Punjab, where the party has long been rejecting the overtures of its beleaguered ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal).

Making Yo Yo Honey Singh the anti-drug crusader is another move that has not augured well. Jasbir Jassi’s open diatribe against the move and Diljit Dosanjh and Sonam Bajwa shifting their base out of India amid reports of coercion to join or become faces of campaigns before elections have gone against the strategists.

Against this background, can BJP trick and fool the electorate of Punjab? Punjab has often defied political calculations made in Delhi. Whether it does so again, or becomes the next great experiment in political engineering, remains the question. 

This article was originally published in Punjab Today News and can be read here.