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Flogging dead
horse to life, again
Sach Kanwal
Singh
 Of
the many political footballs that Punjab's Akali politicians kick
from time to time, Harchand Singh Longowal has had a long innings
much after his death. Various hues of Akalis spasmodically remember
their connection with the late Akali Dal leader and then forget it
conveniently whenever it becomes politically a luggage too
burdensome to carry.
At times, even
the Congressmen have kicked around this football to score a goal
when the in-house games became too boring or difficult for them.
A few years
back, Amarinder Singh, then the chief minister of Punjab, pulled
Longowal out of the woodwork and decided to have a state-level
function in his memory, a move that pushed men like Prakash Singh
Badal to re-adopt the man lest the Congress walks away with a
moderate face more acceptable to constituencies that Badal had been
trying to woo for years.
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The
late leader's legacy was kept only symbolically alive, and its
use-by date extended from time to time. The Barnalas have now
found that the Longowal brand can be once again used to do some
Badal-bashing since the Dhindsas are not ready to yield any turf
and the Badals have always loved a winner. |
On its own,
Longowal's is a troublesome legacy. At times he is sold as a messiah
of unity who prevented fissures from becoming too big during the
Dharam Yudh Morcha, while at other times he is seen as someone who
signed too easily an accord which had little hope of succeeding and
on which the community had not formed an informed opinion.
During the fag
end of his life, Longowal received little support from the likes of
Badal and it was mostly Surjit Singh Barnala who continued to recall
the man and his achievements, whatever they were in his view.
With
Barnala being so completely becoming acceptable to the official
Indian establishment and looking for a career in gubernatorial turf
where at least his and his family's upkeep was guaranteed by the
Indian state, Longowal became a dispensable commodity. So the late
leader's legacy was kept only symbolically alive and all efforts
were aimed at ensuring that its use-by date is extended from time to
time.
 That proved to
be a very intelligent and shrewd decision since the Barnalas have
now found that the Longowal brand can be once again used to do some
Badal-bashing. After Gaganjit Barnala's lackluster performance in
the Assembly during 2002-07 regime and then his recent defeat, and
the refusal of the Badals to accommodate the family in the Akali
scheme of things where turf was at a premium and the Dhindsa
father-son duo was not ready to concede an inch, the Barnalas had
little option but to turn to rub the Longowal lamp again.
So this August
20, as Badals and his acolytes gathered at the state-level function
and sang hosannas to Longowal, of which they did not mean a word,
the Barnala family along with a bunch of loyalists, claimed that
only they were the inheritors of the legacy of Longowal and revived
a party named after the late leader.
The Shiromani
Akali Dal (Longowal) was re-born with the Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit
Singh Barnala's family and loyalists acting as the parents and
midwife to bring the party to birth on the 24th death anniversary of
the Sant.
Bibi Surjit Kaur
Barnala, wife of the Governor, was made president of the new SAD (L)
while supporter of the Barnala family, Baldev Singh Mann, was made
secretary-general. Former MLA Gaganjit Singh Barnala, son of the
Governor, former minister Baldev Singh Mann, president, Delhi Sikh
Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), Paramjit Singh Sarna, former
Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana and president, Haryana Akali
Dal, Kartar Singh Takkar were present on the occasion.
Baldev Singh
Mann said the party’s main aim was to get the Rajiv-Longowal Accord
implemented but did not say how has it been debated that flogging
the dead horse will bring it back to life or what were the Barnalas
doing all these years to achieve the objective if indeed it was of
such paramount importance.
26
August 2009
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