Farmers Movement Archive

‘Modi will have to take the initiative to resolve farm stir’, says Sukhbir Singh Badal

Chandigarh: Sukhbir Singh Badal, 59, has emerged as the lynchpin of the Shromani Akali Dal (SAD), coming out of the shadow of his nonagenarian father and five-time Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. But, with the Punjab assembly elections due early next year, he faces a slew of challenges in reviving his party’s political fortunes that hit a rough patch after snapping a 24-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year. It also upset its core constituency of the peasantry over the three contentious farm laws that the SAD initially endorsed. The Badals also face heat over the politically sensitive cases of desecration of Guru Granth Sahib and police firing during the Akali-BJP government’s tenure in 2015 as the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government pushes for a fresh probe.Last week, Badal stitched up a seat-sharing pact with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with an eye on Dalit votes that account for 32% of the state’s overall votes. He also took to the aggressive politics of protests to amplify anti-incumbency and galvanise his cadres. In a wide-ranging interview, the SAD president exuded confidence about next year’s high-stakes electoral battle. Edited excerpts:What is your take on Punjab’s political landscape?The ruling Congress has lost its credibility completely. Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh doesn’t have a single worthwhile achievement. He made a whole lot of promises in the last elections by swearing by the Gutka Sahib (Sikh religious scripture). The people of Punjab are religious and emotional, and a lot of them voted for the Congress. He used the ultimate weapon he had to garner votes. If you don’t live up to a normal manifesto, people don’t get that angry. But, if you swear by God and fail to deliver, they’re not ready to accept it. Second, Congress MLAs have created havoc in their constituencies. They don’t think there’s a rule of law. Not a single sand mine has been auctioned in five years, but the MLAs have been given a free hand to steal government resources. The Congress will pay a price for corruption and abuse of power.There are several parties in the Opposition space, such as the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP, and breakaway Akali factions. Who will gain the most from all the issues that you have listed ?A party which people believe has the capacity, credibility and experience to run the government. If you leave the Congress out, people have three choices. One is the Aam Aadmi Party, which has also lost its credibility. It was a bubble that burst. Look at the downslide in its vote share, from 22% in the 2017 assembly elections to 6% in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The second is the BJP, which will not be able to open an account because it is facing so much public ire. Then, there are splinter groups that will lose their security deposits. The only alternative for the people is the SAD-BSP alliance. It will be successful because of the SAD’s credibility. My father, Parkash Singh Badal, has been a five-time chief minister because of his credibility. In 2017, even though we lost and got only 15 seats (out of 117), our vote share was hardly 4% less than the winning Congress’s.The SAD has forged a poll pact with the BSP after 25 years. But the BSP has been a fringe player in Punjab as is evident from its performance in election after election. In the 2017 assembly polls, it got a mere 1.59% vote share and drew a blank in 111 of the 117 seats it contested. Where does your confidence about the alliance stem from?Our reference point is the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. They (the BSP) fought three of the 13 Lok Sabha seats. In Jalandhar, their vote share was 20%; it was 14% in Hoshiarpur, and 13% in Anandpur Sahib. In fact, when AAP first emerged in Punjab in 2014, it took away the vote bank of the BSP and Communist parties. It talked about ‘inquilab’ and was seen as the next party of the poor. But now when the AAP has lost its steam, the same vote bank has reverted to original parties. Still, it was a dead-end for BSP. But, after allying with the Akalis, the BSP cadre will feel empowered that they can also form the government.Your party has historically identified itself with the Sikh peasantry that forms the core of the Akali support base. How has the ongoing agitation against the three farm laws changed your party’s equation with the farmers’ constituency?We are a part and parcel of farmers. The biggest farmers’ organisation is the Shiromani Akali Dal. Farmer bodies never wanted their movement to be politically supported because it would have given a ruse to the Narendra Modi government to brand their agitation as a political game. So, neither us, nor the Congress nor the AAP is a part of that. But, if you go to protest sites, 80% of those sitting there are from the Akali Dal.Your party initially endorsed the Centre’s ordinances Will that not cause a political blow back?Being an ally in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, we got caught in that trap. When the Centre bulldozed its way on farm laws in Parliament, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the sole SAD minister in the Union cabinet, resigned and we pulled out of the NDA. So, the SAD has stood by farmers. It was only when her resignation happened that the farmers’ protest, which was till then limited to Punjab, became a national issue. In 1984 when the army stormed the Golden Temple, the President and Union home minister were Sikh faces, but they never resigned. Harsimrat is the only Union minister to have left the Cabinet on an issue of grave significance for Punjab.What is the way forward to resolve the farmers’ agitation?The Prime Minister will have to take the initiative. He is like the head of a family. Laws are made for people. If the people you are making the laws for don’t want it, nobody should have an ego that I have done it and now I cannot withdraw it. If Mr Modi wants to be seen as Prime Minister of the people, then he should immediately withdraw the farm laws.What if the Centre doesn’t repeal the laws?Then this agitation will continue, whether it takes six months, one year or two years. Look at the way those poor farmers are holding on despite the cold, heat, Covid and mosquitoes.A new special investigation team (SIT), set up by the Captain Amarinder Singh government, is probing the 2015 police firing cases which is seen as a move to put the sacrilege issue in the spotlight in the run-up to the assembly elections.The SIT was not formed with an intention to find the criminal, rather it was done with political intention. That is why four-and-a-half years were wasted and the previous SIT head, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, got a rap from the Punjab and Haryana high court. Rather than going after criminals, he wanted to defame the Akali Dal. Even now, the intent is not to give justice. I urge the new SIT to rise above politics as sacrilege is an emotional issue.A section of the ruling Congress leaders, particularly Navjot Singh Sidhu, accuses chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh of going soft on the firing and sacrilege issues, alleging a quid pro quo between him and the Badal family.Did Sidhu ever make this comment when he was a minister? The Congress leaders say such things when they turn Amarinder’s opponents. It’s their internal politics. Have we done anything wrong that the CM can charge us with? Capt Amarinder Singh has used SITs to defame the Badal family. He used Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh and the whole police machinery to go against us. He took every recourse, including the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission, to put us in the dock. But, just because he couldn’t find anything against us doesn’t mean he is soft on us.After snapping ties with the BJP, your party initiated talks on forming a third front at the national level with non-BJP and non-Congress parties. What has been the progress?The natural process has started. The regional parties have started winning elections; the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the DMK in Tamil Nadu. Next year, elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and other states will take place. More regional parties will come up. As we move closer to 2024, all of them will come on a platform. For instance, we have tied up with the BSP and are open to allying with the Left. Talks are happening. After all, they represent the same political ideology of social welfare that Sardar Parkash Singh Badal has worked for.Now that your father has almost retired from active politics, will you be the party’s CM face in the 2022 assembly polls?That is for the party to decide. He is already 94. From the bottom of my heart, I want him to continue in politics. I want his flag to continue till the end. At the moment he is not agreeing. For me, he is the Harvard University of politics. But for his guidance, I would have made a thousand more mistakes.

Hindustan Times

18-06-2021

Chandigarh