Punjab in crisis as Barnala Ministry reduced to a minority following split in Akali Dal

Barnala in the TemplePunjab's affairs have seen many twists and turns in the last four years. But last week's sustained drama was something special even for that troubled state: desperadoes declaring the birth of Khalistan, yet another commando entry into the Golden Temple, a split in the ruling Akali Dal, MLA's going into hiding in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, more than half the members of the Barnala faction ending up as ministers.There was all this and more in an action-packed fortnight, including yet another burst of murderous violence, party expulsions and moves for ousting the speaker, and the unique sight of an entire opposition declaring its support for a beleaguered government. But the underlying message was clear: a strife-torn state had been plunged once again into confusion and uncertainty as the Barnala Government's fate hung in the balance. At one level, the Government's decision to go back into the Golden Temple was probably a mistake since it was well known that the men who made the farcical announcement of the birth of Khalistan had left the temple immediately afterwards. At another, it provided an opportunity to disgruntled politicians in a divided Akali Dal to get their own back on Barnala and make a bid for power themselves. Whatever the case, the political temperature in the state rose quickly to near explosion point.Indeed, history seemed to be repeating itself in bizarre fashion: if it was amoral politicking by the Congress(I)'s Punjab stalwarts that led to the rise of Bhindranwale and then Operation Bluestar, this time the state's future seemed to have been mortgaged to the machinations of frustrated Akali politicians, in turn playing into extremist hands.And once again the perceptions in and outside Punjab were sharply different. While the rest of the country welcomed the state Government's decision to go in after the Khalistanis, the mood in Punjab was more uncertain, and opinions still subject to change as political events flowed thick and fast.Certainly, no police entry into the Golden Temple is without repercussions. Barnala got a stormy reception at the Golden Temple the morning after the commando action. He was greeted by wailing women shouting "Hai Barnala, Hai Barnala", and an old woman going around the Harmander Sahib sanctum kept mumbling "Kar paapiyan da naas" (destroy the sinners). When Governor S.S. Ray visited the temple, he faced an even more hostile crowd. Protestors surrounded his car, shouting angry slogans.Akalis clash outside: turbulent timesTaking advantage of the confusion, sympathisers of the All-India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) moved back in, broke open the locks on their office door and were back in business.Workers of the Damdami Taksal and United Akali Dal also trooped back and started the recitation of the Granth Sahib outside the demolished Akal Takht building. While the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), virtually ousted from the temple premises in January, had been able to move back in following the action, it became uncertain once again how long it could retain this control.In the midst of this frenetic activity, Barnala repeatedly stressed he had only implemented the resolution adopted by the Sarbat Khalsa on February 16 at Anandpur Sahib. Denying that he had acted at the Centre's behest, he said: "I took this painful decision myself. Persuasion had failed and my leniency was misunderstood by the extremists. I had no choice.'' He lashed out at former SGPC chief G.S. Tohra for "running away after handing the complex over to extremists" and "not daring to visit the temple after that", and said in exasperation: "First they blame me for inaction; now they are blaming me for doing something."None of this cut any ice with the dissidents. And the storm broke immediately after the temple entry. Some Cabinet ministers protested that they had not been taken into confidence on the decision, and agriculture minister Amarinder Singh suffered the embarrassment of hearing the news the next day from his tailor, who had come to measure him out for new clothes. "And I am supposed to be the No. 3 man in the Cabinet," he scoffed.Barnala's rejoinder - he did not want word about the operation to leak out was the most open admission any chief minister has made that some of his colleagues may be extremist sympathisers.Nevertheless, Amarinder had soon joined the dissidents: the wily Tohra, the sulking former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and the joker in the pack, Assembly speaker Ravi Inder Singh, at whose house they met. They boycotted the joint meeting of the Akali Dal Working Committee and party MLA's that had been called by Barnala, and the next day Amarinder and education minister Sukhjinder Singh resigned from the Cabinet. They were followed by state tourism minister Sucha Singh Chhotepur.Tohra, Ravi Inder Singh and Badal: grim propheciesBadal and Tohra in turn resigned from the party's working committee, along with vice-president Surjan Singh Thekedar, who had held the Akali Dal together in the post-Bluestar period when recognised leaders were in jail. Ravi Inder played a key role in persuading Badal and Tohra to patch up their differences and unite against Barnala.And he took the vital decision to ignore Barnala's expulsion from the party of Amarinder, Sukhjinder and Chhotepur, and recognised the rebels as a separate group in the Assembly, reducing Barnala to a minority. Had he not ignored the expulsions, the 27 rebels would have been less than a third of the Dal's 73-strong legislature party and been automatically unseated from the Assembly under the anti-defection law. Earlier, when Amarinder and Badal released a list of MLA's who opposed the police entry into the Golden Temple, the ruling group took a leaf out of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao's book and spirited some 40 legislators off to Chail and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, to shield them from the allurements of the dissident group. "We have sent the MLA's to the maharaja's palace," joked Finance Minister Balwant Singh, referring to the fact that Chail at one time used to be the summer palace of Amarinder's father, the Maharaja of Patiala.Fighting for political survival, Barnala had to take the somewhat ignominous step of adding 21 legislators to his council of ministers, including three dissidents, making more than half his MLA's members of the Government. Seeing its strength reduced, the Badal, group then escalated the conflict and announced that Amarinder, Badal and Tohra would address gurudwara meetings all over the state from May 11 against the commando action in the temple. This drive would end at Amritsar on June 4, the second anniversary of Operation Bluestar.But Barnala struck back in a preemptive move by summoning the Assembly for a meeting in Chandigarh on June 2, to decide on the removal of Ravi Inder Singh from the speaker's post. This was almost certain to succeed, given the support extended to Barnala by the entire opposition. And despite Amarinder's declaration that "by July 31 Barnala's Government is going to collapse," there was little doubt that the rebels had been checkmated for the moment.Interestingly enough, though Tohra joined hands with the dissidents, his two lieutenants - Health minister Basant Singh Khalsa and Revenue Minister Major Singh Uboke - decided to stay put in the Barnala Cabinet. Khalsa confessed that though he was unhappy about the police action, he would not be a party to toppling the Government as this would be pushing Barnala into the open arms of the Congress(I). "The Centre will then treat us like it did G.M. Shah in Jammu & Kashmir, discredit the Akali Dal and dismiss the Government whenever it wants. This is the game that Ravi lnder and his friends are playing," Khalsa charged.But Badal and Amarinder charged that Barnala had already played into the Central Government's hands by ordering Operation Search, in effect justifying the earlier Operation Bluestar. "We got votes on an anti-Bluestar plank. Now what will we say?" asked Badal. Amarinder added: "No Akali chief minister would be stupid enough to order such an action unless he was under tremendous pressure."With both sides having taken diametrically opposite positions, it was inevitable that they would clash. That clash occurred as Badal, Tohra, Amarinder and Sukhjinder arrived at the Golden Temple on May 11 with their supporters. But Barnala's men were already there and a scuffle followed. Once again the area around the temple was put under curfew. Barnala made the telling point that the dissidents had been able to enter the temple for the first time in over three months only because the Government had cleared it of militants.Responding to the dissident demand that he should apologise for the police action. Barnala said he had done nothing wrong. He was, however, willing to appear before the Akal Takht if Kirpal Singh, the SGPC-appointed Jathedar, held him guilty of misconduct.The politicians' headline-grabbing shenanigans distracted attention from one pressing issue: the escalating tempo of killings by terrorists, who brazenly peppered 44 people with bullets in the week following the police entry. In Tarn Taran alone, 11 people were killed in three separate incidents, and four passengers were pulled out of a bus and shot near Verowal. In almost all the cases the terrorists escaped, unchallenged by a dispirited police and a scared public. Haifa dozen killings a day were now considered disturbingly commonplace.The only redeeming feature was the splits in some of the killer gangs which, police sources say, led to the shooting of the dreaded terrorist, Sukhdev Singh Sakhira. Another terrorist was killed in a similar shoot-out in Amritsar.But by far the most important question that arose out of the political developments in Chandigarh was whether Barnala would survive the withdrawal of support by over one third of his party's MLA's. He can stay on as chief minister if he accepts the support offered by the 43-strong Opposition. That prospect pleased Amarinder: "That will discredit Barnala even more," he said. Barnala of course wants to avoid being perceived as a creature of the Centre.But in the ultimate analysis, Barnala's future will be determined by how opinion in Punjab crystallises during the coming weeks when the dissidents take their case to the people. Badal and his men draw parallels between the April 30 action and Operation Bluestar. While many Sikhs in the Villages will undoubtedly agree with them, there are others who realise that the comparison with Bluestar is vastly overdrawn. The transparent ambition of the rebels also damages their cause. The moment the revolt acquired political dimensions, it shifted the focus of public attention from the original issue, the police entry into the Golden Temple. And by a strange coincidence, things will be coming to a head as the second anniversary of Operation Bluestar approaches.Published By: AtMigration Published On: May 31, 1986 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Punjab in crisis as Barnala Ministry reduced to a minority following split in Akali Dal

Punjab edged closer to the brink of yet another crisis as the Surjit Singh Barnala Ministry was reduced to a minority following a split in the ruling Akali Dal Party. The power struggle within the party has dangerous implications for the troubled state.

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