By Manjit Singh Calcutta
Political Alliances are always formed for the purpose of sharing power but the Punjab CM would have us believe that the political alliance between the BJP and Akali Dal ( Badal) is based on principles. He has never endeavoured to elucidate the common principles which bind the two alliance partners.
Akali Dal used to be a Panthic party which has now christened itself as a regional party of Punjab.The BJP and its progenitor the RSS are votaries of Hindu Rashtra, whereas the Akali Dal has in the past always been in the forefront in demanding autonomy for states as enunciated in the Anandpur Saheb resolution of 1973 which was reiterated in the General House conference in 1977 coupled with its party manifesto.
The Akali Dal has in the past always agitated for the exclusive demand for Chandigarh as its state capital, the Punjabi speaking areas of Haryana, Himachal, the exclusivity of water of the rivers Beas and Satluj which the BJP has never supported.
The Economy of Punjab hinges on agriculture, the vote bank of the Akali Dal is the farmer who resides in the moffusil areas , whereas the BJP vote bank is the traditional upper caste Hindu traders.Today the harsh reality is that the farmers in Punjab are committing suicide on a daily basis whereas the ruling dispensation looks askance, cannot provide any panacea for the plight of the poor farmer, nor any adequate compensatory succour for his ruined crop.
In the National Minority Commission, the Sikh representative post is lying vacant, there is no Sikh Representation in the Central Cabinet baring for a single post which has gone to Harsimirat Kaur, that too just to appease the Badals and keep its alliance intact.There is no Sikh appointed as the Governor of any state in India, since the formation of the BJP government at the centre.This goes on to illustrate the nature of the alliance that is shared between the Akali Dal and BJP.
It is evident from the aforementioned facts that since the formation of the Punjabi Suba that there have been fundamental differences between the two alliance partners and this is only an alliance of convenience formed ostensibly to share the spoils of office. The BJP and its earlier avatar the Jan Sangh have always opposed the formation of the Punjabi speaking state, a case in point being that in the first two census post independence of 1951 and 1961. Punjabi Hindus took up the cause of Hindi with such great passion that they abjured their links with Punjabi as their mother tongue, prompted and provoked to do so by the Jan Sanghis and the RSS who issued a clarion call to Hindus in Punjab to declare Hindi( Devnagiri) as their mother tongue, a humungous lie and which lead to creating fissures between the Sikhs and Punjabi Hindus.
The Shiv Sena in Maharashtra is also a Hindutva Party, but one which asserts its regional identity and has never played second fiddle to the BJP so much so that in the recently concluded state elections it fought the elections independently.Contrast this with the Akali Dal ( Badal) which has no qualms of leave alone being assertive, has compromised the aspirations of the people of Punjab with is ideological capitulation, subservience to the BJP, betrayed the Agriculturist, and the Sikh Panth in equal measure.
Manjit Singh Calcutta is former, Cabinet Minister, Pb & Chief Secretary, SGPC.
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