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Liberhan's unintended target:
Akalis' alliance with the BJP
“The RSS
is a tightly structured organisation with BJP as its political
wing.”
Sach Kanwal
Singh
 What has the
brouhaha over Justice Liberhan Commission's non-report about
demolition of a holy 17th century shrine of the Muslims got to do
with Prakash Singh Badal? On the face of it, perhaps nothing. But
scrape a little, and you will find Liberhan hitting directly where
it hurts the most. In no uncertain terms, and at more than 80 places
throughout the 1029-page report produced in 17 years and after
4,000 sittings, Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan has minced no words
in saying that there was no difference between the RSS and the BJP,
and that the BJP was just a face of the RSS, and in no way and in no
aspect could the BJP go outside the pale or command of the RSS.
That leaves a
major problem of humngous dimensions for Sardar Prakash Singh Badal
to chew on. For this patron of the Shiromani Akali Dal who claims to
have guarded the Sikh interests all his life, and who has thrown his
entire family into the sewa of the panth in the ways that he knows
best, it has become almost second nature to periodically and
frequently reiterate that the ruling Akali Dal's alliance with the
right-wing Hindutva-minded ultra-nationalist BJP is not just
political but "an alliance of two brothers."
 Just when Indian
parliament and polity were exploding over Liberhan Commission's
damning remarks, and the BJP was trying to raise a ruckus to drown
the din that seemed set to forever taint the one face it had tried
to save from muck in the last two decades, that of Atal Behari
Vajpayee, the Badal father-son duo was busy scribbling and sealing
the envelope that carried the name of the SGPC chief.
But the Badals
jolly well know that Liberhan was speaking not only sense but
something that any student of average intelligence knows about
Indian polity.
What however
surprises is the candidness with which Liberhan went about
underlining the organic linkages between the RSS and the BJP. It is
well known that the Akal Takht has repeatedly termed the RSS the
enemy number one of the Sikhs. It is also pretty clear that many of
the bitter disputes within the Sikh community are because of a lobby
being backed, supported and incited by the RSS. The creation of the
Rashtriya Sikh Sangat under the umbrella of the Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh was the ultimate proof, if proof indeed was
required.
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"It
cannot be assumed even for a moment that L K Advani, A B Vajpayee or
M M Joshi did not know the designs of the Sangh Parivar... they were
party to the decisions which had been taken," said the Liberhan
Report. Badal claims Vajpayee as close friend and BJP as its brother
partner. |
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Not once has the
RSS denied its links with BJP, nor once has the BJP repudiated this
relationship with the RSS. Mohan Bhagwat of the RSS openly and
publicly comments on who will be the RSS chief. Men like former BJP
minister and currently the party MP Arun Shourie ask RSS to take
over the BJP.
Amid all of
this, Sardar Badal has an alliance with the BJP, and calls it an
alliance of the "brothers."
With whom, then,
is this alliance? Clearly, with a force called by none other than
the Akal Takht as the Enemy Number One of the Sikhs!
While you can
read extensive reporting of the Liberhan Commission's efforts on
page 6 and 7 of this edition, and also glean substantive excerpts on
pages 20 and 21, can anyone get more explicit than this telling
remark from the report:
 "The RSS, Shiv
Sena, Bajrang Dal, BJP etc... are collectively an immense and
awesome entity with a shrewd brain, a wide encompassing sweep and
the crushing strength of a mob....The BJP was and remains an
appendage of the RSS which had the purpose only of providing an
acceptable veneer to the less popular decisions and a facade for the
brash members of the Sangh Parivar."
Sardar Badal is
never tired of underlining his love for Pakistani Punjab; it was
with much gusto that he had gone to
Pakistan
in Vajpayee's bus and wantedthe limelight for opening the route to
people-to-people diplomacy. With what face will the Sikh jathas now
demand and command respect among Pakistan's Muslims if Sardar Badal
insists on a political tie up with a party that not only has been
blamed for the demolition of the babri Mosque but even now takes
pride in it.
"The blame or
the credit for the entire movement at Ayodhya must necessarily be
attributed to the Sangh Parivar... As the inner core of the Parivar,
the top leadership of the RSS, VHP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and the
BJP bear primary responsibility," Justice Liberhan wrote. If the
Badals and the rest of the top brass of the Akali Dal did not read
the writing on the wall, it will not be long before they too will be
identified with forces that hardly command any respect in the
community of those who care for the ideas of justice and human
rights.
25
November 2009
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