Happy Hundred, Sardar Badal! Panth Be damned

It was with great fanfare that Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal listed out his government’s achievements on the day the SAD-BJP/RSS regime completed its 100 days in power. It was also a day after Sirsa Dera Sacha Sauda head did a repeat performance of the so-called Jaam-e-Insa ceremony, an imitation of the Amrit Sanchar ceremony. Independent of the lackadaisical approach of the Akali Dal, the SGPC and the government, Sikhs across Punjab were taking their line from the Akal Takht, boycotting the social functions and nam-charcha dramas of dera followers and resisting attempts by dera men to install the Guru Granth Sahib for their functions.
Clever Badal knew it was such an advent of the panthic sentiment which may prove to be his undoing. So, hours after celebrating his government’s achievements (whatever they are), Badal was confabulating with the members of the SGPC, asking them to ensure that requests from anyone for borrowing the bir of Guru Granth Sahib are not denied!
Badal must be the first Sikh chief minister asking the premier religious shrine management body not to follow the directive of the Akal Takht.
In turn, the SGPC members were no less worried about the supremacy of the religious body. Their prime demand? “The SGPC members should be allowed the use of red beacon lights atop their vehicles,” member after member of the SGPC urged Badal. They said the officers in the area should extended the same courtesies to them as they do to the area MLA.
“They should be included in district level grievances committees, district planning boards etc and should be allowed access to the Punjab Civil Secretariat,” the SGPC members collectively demanded. Flush with happiness on his 100th day in power, Badal acceded this demand. He was, in fact, even more kind: “You can all convey your special demands to my advisor Daljit Singh Cheema.” How kind!
On the same day, his attitude towards the most pressing problem of Dera Sacha Sauda’s Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s antics was nothing but casual. The SGPC members did not mention the fact that the man who apologized to none other than Guru Gobind Singh only a few days ago was again back to his theatre of the absurd and had carried out the ceremony only 24 hours earlier in Sirsa. Badal seems to have also forgotten the glaring reality all too conveniently.
And to the only people who could have reminded him, Badal was even more casual. That very day, he met a panthic delegation (He did. Thank God for small mercies!) He said the sedition case against Bhai Daljit Singh was a non-issue. “You know, the Congress in any case would not have registered it,” Badal told the Akali Dal (Amritsar) leader with an unimpeachable reputation. Good. Very Good. 100 days do a lot to a man if he wants to be drunk on power.
Now, let’s come to the achievements on the ground: Beant Singh’s statues dot Punjab, Simranjit Singh Mann in jail, Sukhbir Singh Badal is undisputed leader, ministry is stuffed with relatives, relations with Congress are good (Rajinder Kaur Bhattal is closer to Badal than to Amarinder Singh), Dera Sacha Sauda row is abating, clergy is in vice grip, Daljit Singh is facing a sedition case and SGPC members can hope for red lights on cars. And, oh yes, Bharat Inder Singh Chahal is nabbed. Happy Hundred, Sardar Badal. At this rate, the Indian establishment won’t grudge you a few more such occasions.

Written by world Sikh news Editorial Board.