Udham Nagar -- Some in PAC wanted Dhindsa withdrawn from Union Cabinet

Udham Nagar -- Some in PAC wanted Dhindsa withdrawn from Union Cabinet
JAGTAR SINGH

CHANDIGARH, AUG 7: The ruling Akali Dal has expectedly opted for inaction and apparently averted the crisis over the Udham Singh Nagar issue despite pressure from within the party to pull out from the Vajpayee Government.

About two years ago, the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of the Akali Dal had threatened to withdraw support to the Vajpayee Government in case the district was included in the proposed hill state of Uttaranchal to be carved out of Uttar Pradesh. And since then, Akali leaders have been advancing one argument after the other to stress why they were concerned over the issue and also advancing logic against the transfer of the district to the hill state. All the time, the Akali Dal has been hammering the point that the wishes of the people must be respected. Sikh farmers are settled in large numbers in the Terai belt of Uttar Pradesh.

Last night also, the PAC discussed the issue at length. Senior leaders like former Union minister Surjit Singh Barnala and former Akali Dal president Jagdev Singh Talwandi, among others, recalled the resolution adopted in 1998 before the split. These leaders proposed that in case the decision was not to be honoured, lone Akali minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa be pulled out while continuing support to the NDA Government. These leaders cited the example of Haryana where the BJP does not share power in the state with Om Parkash Chautala. However, Chautala's party supports the government at the Centre.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal listened patiently and gave full democratic rights to the members of the PAC to air their views. Then in his own `democratic' way, Badal asserted himself.``Badal emerged more strengthened from the PAC meeting but it is the party which would be weakened ultimately'', said an Akali leader preferring anonymity.

Udham Singh Nagar may not be that important an issue with the people of Punjab but it is the question of legitimacy of the decisions taken by the Akali Dal from time to time. It is not for the first time that the party has behaved in this manner. Historically, political exigency has been forcing the Akali Dal to pass resolutions which are later dropped due to political opportunism.

The Anandpur Sahib resolution and the demand to amend Article 25 are two major examples. The party promised judicial probe into the causes of terrorism and later backtracked. This erodes the credibility of the party. And it is this erosion of credibility which can be exploited by other Akali factions and the Congress in the forthcoming Sunam Vidhan Sabha bye-election.

After the exit from the ruling Akali Dal of veteran leader Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who presided over the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the parallel centre of power in the Akali matrix, there has been no challenge to Badal. Even the SGPC stands marginalised. It was precisely for this reason that he managed to backtrack from the 1998 decision of the PAC, which, his associates say, was adopted under pressure from Tohra.

Badal vaguely talked of setting up of the boundary commission for Uttaranchal last night. But that was perhaps more to assuage the feelings of the agitated activists from Udham Singh Nagar who pressed Badal to help them. Then it is the credibility of the party which has come to be questioned in the process.