By our special political correspondent
Chandigarh, June 07 (IVC) The most disheartening feature of the elections to the 18th Lok Sabha, results of which were declared on June 04, was that two Khalistan activists were elected from Punjab to the Parliament of India.
The victory of Amritpal Singh , a jailed pro-Khalistan propagator and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa , son of Beant Singh, assassinator of the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi , have negated that judgment of the electorate upholding democracy and anti-t dictatorship in the country.
Amritpal Singh was elected from the Khadoor Sahib constituency with a majority of 1,97,120 votes over his rival Congress candidate , Kulbir Singh Zira .
Khaalsa was elected from Faridkot with a majority of 70,053 votes of his rival Karamjit Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party. Both have registered their maiden entry to the Parliament.
Political commentators and police experts say that with the people rallying behind the radical elements , a feeling of disquiet will certainly prevail in a State such as Punjab which has gone through a traumatic phase of militancy between mid-1980s and early 1990 for demanding Khalistan State from Punjab, though the movement has lost popular support.
Amritpal has been facing criminal charges for allegedly spreading disharmony, attempts to murder and attacks on police personnel. His prominence to notoriety began in 2022 after being anointed as the head of Waris Punab De , a social organization established by actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu. Mr Singh’s growth was immense with symbolism from the very beginning when his anointment took place at Rode village in Moga district, the native village of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the extremist leader who was killed in 1984 .
Following “immense” pressure from the people of Khadoor, Singh contested the election, according to his mother , Balwinder Kaur. . Khalsa restricted his campaign to pant hic (Skh) issues, raking up the kotkapura—Behbal Kalan police firing of 2015 after the sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib at Bargari village in Faridkot.
Two persons were in the police firing during protests. Widespread protests were witnessed in th State and since then it has remained a key political issue surrounding panthic politics. He raised the issue of the release of Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners ) who had completed their terms. His mother Bimal Kaur was MP for Ropar in 1989.
“The moderate space is weakening and the fringe radicals are gaining space in the religious or panthic constituencies in Punjab. The worrying factor is that people have rallied behind them- be it Amritpal or Sabarjit. The counter narrative appears to be weak in Punjab. The moderate panthic politics has gone weak and that space is being occupied by radicals,” according to the director of the Institute for Development and Communication, Pramod Kumar.
“The fringe radicals got a notable response from the youth. Their main emphasis is on the denial of justice to Bandi Sikhs, the exodus of youth from Punjab and the migration to the State of laborers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The negation of the agenda of peace and communal harmony and one-upmanship in power politics has weakened the moderate space”, he added.
Simranjit Singh Mann, a known hardliner and chief of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) from the Sangrur constituency , who has time and again been raising the bogey of Khalistan, though lost the Lok Sabha election this time, garnering 1,87,246 votes. Shashi Kant, former Director General of Police, said the victory of radicals would embolden the hardliners as they would propagate the message that they are getting strong which is dangerous.
