Attack On Sukhbir Badal Is Disturbing Deepens Unease In Punjab

The attack on Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal in Nanded is reprehensible. The investigation will shine more light on this disturbing episode, but in Punjab, it can be said to be the latest in a recent series of developments that have deepened a sense of unease. In no particular order: Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called on the Governor to seek a 10-day parole for Jagtar Singh Hawara, one of the convicts in the 1995 assassination of former Chief Minister Beant Singh; Satluj, a film that streamed for only a few hours, has revived memories of Punjab’s dark decade of militancy; a march to Chandigarh by the Shiromani Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) demanded the release of its jailed leader, Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, and other prisoners of the militancy era, the Bandi Singhs.

It is striking that a state confronted by a host of pressing challenges, be it drugs, gangsters, a faltering agricultural economy or the continuing exodus of its young, should be spending so much political energy looking backwards. The renewed traction around the Bandi Singhs, particularly among the young, shows how unresolved history can travel across generations. Issues rooted in the panthic imagination can be recast for a generation that did not experience the violence but has inherited its unanswered questions. Political parties must take the blame for turning such issues into electoral instruments, but failure to resolve several longstanding questions has handed them this ammunition. Chandigarh, the sharing of river waters and the status of Sikh prisoners are unresolved legacies that have been allowed to fester for decades. It’s time to confront these issues rather than repeatedly rediscover them at election time.

The question of Punjab’s river waters must be settled through constitutional processes. The cases of Sikh prisoners, including those convicted in high-profile assassinations, must be considered through the framework of law and justice, though the passage of time has added another layer to the debate: The perception of discrimination. Political parties must understand that emotions cannot be turned on and off, come elections, at will. Once unleashed, they acquire a life of their own and can overwhelm the very political actors who sought to harness them.