BJP may lose Punjab for a long time
tively.
Kartarpur Sahib is next door to our Punjab, just across the Ravi. On clear days, devotees climb to any little mound along the Ravi river for a “darshan” of the shrine across the borders. A proposal for the construction of a causeway and visa-free access to pilgrims has been floating between the two governments for decades. If the borders were opened here, literally millions of Sikhs and Sindhis would go for just a few hours’ pilgrimage. This is what Pakistani Army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, promised Sidhu, who duly wrote to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to move it forward. In Punjab, this unleashed competitive politics. There’s no way the Akalis, the BJP’S allies, would let the Congress run with this credit. The Badals will thwart it, but without seeming to look like they are denying their fellow Sikhs this opportunity. And “jealousy”, as the most recent Sidhuism goes, “is the jaundice of the soul”.
Therefore, the strategy of making it out to be a giant Pakistan ARMY-ISI plot, Sidhu their gullible pawn, if not an agent. Then it grows into a Bikram aur Betal kind of fantasy: This is a ploy to make our Punjab release more water in the Ravi; that the Sikhs going for pilgrimage will be brainwashed by the ISI. The vaults of the intelligence agencies have suddenly been opened, Official Secrets Act lifted, and “files” opened up to prime-time patriots. Of course, our James Bonds, Jack Ryans and Agent Vinods already have all foreign conspiracy plots well-documented. Now, calling the Indian Muslims names, raising questions on their patriotism is bad enough. But you think you can get away with giving the Sikhs the same treatment? And really, do you want to teach the Punjabis in general, and Sikhs in particular, the virtues of patriotism?
You are playing with fire that could burn you, and much else. That an experienced party like the BJP, in power, is falling for this, is disappointing. It could lose Punjab for a long time. Worse, the temptation of also pitchforking the devout Sikhs in this idiotic “patriotism” debate has self-destruction written all over it. A quickest possible retreat is called for. So please call the commando-comedians back to the barracks.
(By special arrangement with Theprint)