Tarn Taran: No election in Punjab has ever been completely free from the shadow of the state’s dark days of militancy. And, this Lok Sabha election is no different.
Fighting from the Khadoor Sahib seat in Tarn Taran district, which was the epicentre of Punjab’s militancy in 1980s-90s, is Paramjit Kaur Khalra, wife of Jaswant Singh Khalra. A bank official-turned-human rights activist, Jaswant was abducted from his house by the police in 1995 and then murdered. He had spent most of his life searching for Sikh youths, who had gone missing and were suspected to have been killed by the police during those years of militancy.
His wife, Paramjit, says she fought hard for justice for her husband and finally in 2011, six policemen were convicted for Jaswant’s murder.
Paramjit’s electoral battle and her campaign pitch that revolves around the grim militancy years have brought the issue back in focus in this Lok Sabha poll.
Punjab votes in the final phase of this election Sunday.
Supported by breakaway factions
This is not the first time Paramjit is contesting elections. She was the candidate of the Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. The party was floated by Gurcharan Singh Tohra after he broke away from former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Paramjit had then secured around 39,000 votes, coming fourth in the contest.
However, 20 years later, a lot has changed. This time Paramjit has been given a ticket by rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira’s newly formed Punjab Ekta Party. Khaira, along with half a dozen AAP MLAs, broke away from the party in August last year after he was removed as the leader of the Opposition. After Khaira announced Paramjit’s candidature, SAD (Taksali) withdrew its candidate General (retired) J. J. Singh from the seat in her support.
SAD (Taksali) is the breakaway faction of the SAD formed earlier this year after a section of the party’s old guard broke away from the main faction, demanding action against the Badals in asacrilege case.
The Taksalis, led by outgoing Khadoor Sahib SAD MP Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, hold the Badals responsible for the downfall of the SAD because the party failed to take action against those who had desecrated the Guru Granth Sahib in 2015 when Badal was the chief minister and Sukhbir Badal, the deputy CM.
Paramjit’s main backing this election comes from breakaway factions of mainstream parties, and this makes her more than just a ‘fringe’ element.
She is pitted against SAD candidate Bibi Jagir Kaur, a former chief of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), and Congress’ Jasbir Singh Dimpa.
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‘Grim reminder’
Khadoor Sahib was the epicentre of Punjab’s militancy, which later spread across the state. The Damdami Taksal, which was headed by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrwanwale, is located at Chowk Mehta that falls in this constituency. Areas like Baba Bakala, Harike witnessed the worst incidents of violence during 1980s-90s.
Paramjit’s campaign revolves around the militancy years and alleged human rights violations. While issues raised by her may not have overwhelming traction, some voters believe it is important to talk about them.
“Paramjit is talking about human right violations by the police (in her rallies) and it is a grim reminder of those (militancy) days. Many of the youngsters have heard these stories for the first time. They should know what happened (in those days),” said Amarjit Kaur, a resident of Tarn Taran, who attended one of Paramjit’s rallies.
Limited electoral resonance
While Paramjit’s focus has been the disappearance of innocent youths and her husband’s fight for ‘justice’, she, however, realised the she also needed to talk beyond these issues in this election to connect with the voters. Therefore, in many of her rallies, she also spoke about Punjab’s drug problems, besides other issues.
“Her contenders are talking about regular poll issues like unemployment and farm loan waivers. And, she also realised the electoral stamp of radical leaders in the state has been low,” said Sukhmani Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran.
The vote bank of SAD (Amritsar), whose president Simranjit Singh Mann has openly espoused the cause of a separate Sikh state, has been depleting over the years. Mann is contesting from Sangrur in this election. Candidates of SAD (Amritsar), an old breakaway faction of SAD, who had contested the 2017 Assembly elections, had to forfeit their deposits. Mann himself secured just about 5,000 votes from Barnala Assembly seat.
The AAP, which was considered the hot favourite in the run up to the 2017 Assembly polls, had to pay a heavy electoral price for hobnobbing with radical elements. It is believed that the entire non-Sikh community voted in favour of the Congress — which came to power winning 77 of 117 seats — after AAP took help of some NRI radical fringe groups for election campaigning.
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Revival efforts
While radical leaders have not received many votes, there have been several attempts to revive militancy in the state. The latest being a bomb blast at the Nirankari Bhawan in Amritsar in November 2018 where three persons were killed and several injured.
Since the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the state has witnessed over half a dozen killings of right-wing leaders. This began in January 2016 and continued unabated till the killers were finally arrested in November 2017. Investigating agencies claimed the killers were being coordinated by former Sikh militants settled abroad and operating through Pakistan’s ISI.
Punjab continues to be a sensitive state because of its geo-political position in South Asia. Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has referred to the “ill designs” of the ISI in reviving militancy in Punjab.