Hindus Afraid To Vote In Punjab, Face Wrath Of Khalistani Separatists, BJP Leaders Shown Black Flags – OpEd

A total of 57 seats across 8 states polled on June 1 in the last and final phase of the ongoing general elections in India. The announcement of results is scheduled for June 4, 2024. Voting for all seats in the northern border state of Punjab will take place in this last and final phase, 13 constituencies being Gurudaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Firozpur, Bathinda, Sangrur, and Patiala.

With Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) the Sikh nationalist political party and central ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) charting independent paths much ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Punjab has been bracing up for a four-cornered electoral contest as had happened in the state assembly polls. Each party is pursuing distinct agendas, with SAD focusing on reclaiming its traditional support base and criticizing the AAP-led state government. Meanwhile, AAP aims to highlight its governance model and delivery of pre-election promises, while the BJP seeks to leverage Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and its Hindutva agenda. The Congress, facing internal challenges following its alliance with AAP at the national level, aims to navigate the electoral landscape with an anti-AAP stance, but is finding it extremely difficult to do so.

Giventhat that the BJP has swept the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi twice, it should seem like an obvious decision for the Congress and AAP to put up a united front. But what appears to be common sense in terms of arithmetic, does not quite translate into seamless chemistry. The reason for this friction has been the rise of AAP in Delhi since 2013 which came at the cost of a decline in the Congress’ fortunes.

As voting nears, the implications of this development extend beyond electoral arithmetic, shaping the discourse on issues ranging from agrarian distress to minority rights. In this charged atmosphere, the electorate remains the ultimate arbiter, tasked with the responsibility of charting Punjab’s political course amidst shifting alliances and competing narratives.

Once the granary of India, Punjab has shown little or no development in the last two decades. Many would admit that a once most prosperous state of the country has shown a steady decline. The misuse of central agencies, farm MSP issue, ban on trade with Pakistan, and several other issues are spoiling the prospect of the ruling BJP in the state.

BJP candidates in Punjab are facing farmers’ wrath and they have been surrounded, heckled and shown black flags, especially in the rural areas.

From BJP Faridkot nominee, singer-politician Hans Raj Hans to Patiala MP candidate Preneet Kaur, the ruling party candidates are facing protests from farmers over MSP issue & death of 4 farmers, allegedly run over by a minister’s son. Several farmer outfits affiliated with the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) have been targeting the BJP candidates, forcing them to answer their questions. Several villages have also decided against allowing BJP candidates to campaign.

Hans Raj Hans, who was earlier an MP from Delhi, was not even allowed to campaign in a village after angry farmers confronted him. Much the same happened to the BJP Gurdaspur candidate Dinesh Kumar Babbu whose campaign was disrupted by a group of protesting BKU members. Both the BJP leaders accused the protesters of being members of the ruling party in the state, the Aam Aadmi Party.

It is pertinent to explain here that farmers from Punjab have been demanding a legal provision for minimum support price — a government market intervention that ensures that farmers get a minimum price for their produce.

On their part, farmer bodies said that they had invited BJP leaders for an open discussion in Chandigarh but that no important leader came forward.

Former diplomat and BJP’s Amritsar candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu’s roadshow was also halted by protesting farmers and even pelted with stones. The incident led to the former US envoy being provided Y+ security cover from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Similarly, BJP’s Bathinda candidate Parampal Kaur led to a clash between the protesters and the police.

BJP’s Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar claimed last month there was a “hidden conspiracy” behind the renewed farmers’ protests.

The June 1 polling scheduled for tomorrow also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Indian Army’s Operation Blue Star launched in 1984 to flush out militants who were sitting holed up inside the sacred Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple. Operation Bluestar, ordered by the-then Congress Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to wipe out the Khalistani militants holed up inside the Golden Temple complex, saw the death of hundreds of civilians, militants and military personnel. The Khalistan movement, Operation Bluestar, Indira Gandhi’s assassination, the anti-Sikh massacres — 1984 is etched in public memory as a disastrous, tragic year for India.

The Shiromani Akali Dal and the hardliner Khalistan protagonists in poll fray are now pushing the narrative to draw the attention of the voters towards the atrocities on the Sikh community under the-then Congress regime.

The SGPC and the Jathedar who is the head priest of the Akal Takht are asking people to wear black turbans from June 1 to June 6 as a protest against the 1984 military operation.