Rajinder S. Taggar
Politics without pressure tactics does not succeed. It is the pressure of popular mandate to oust a regime or the pressure of a certain party to snap ties with the other, which pedals politics in a democracy. Even Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence movement created a silent yet uneasy pressure on the British to leave the country. There was another kind of pressure exerted by Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s brand of freedom fighters that helped to speed up British’s exit from India.
Not much dissimilar was the pressure put by the beleaguered president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, on National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the center. As the Punjab Vigilance Bureau went on to register an FIR against the Badal family on the basis of allegations of corruption and amassing of disproportionate assets, the coalition partner BJP did not seem to be coming out with support to Badals.
Shrewd Mr Badal used pressure tactics to force center’s BJP led NDA to come out of its inertia. Media was fed with the information that the SAD office bearers favoured snapping of alliance with the BJP as it was not supporting the Badals in their hour of crisis. A day later, the Deputy Prime Minister Mr L.K.Advani flayed the Punjab government led by Captain Amarinder Singh for its alleged vindictive attitude towards the Opposition in Punjab.
As every force is required to have an equal and opposite reaction, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) too responded by extending full support to the Punjab Chief Minister in his campaign against corruption.
Coming to the Badal-BJP relationship again, one could discern that the pressure exerted by the SAD had a desired outcome because of the scheduled Assembly elections to four states, where Sikh voters hold the balance. Especially, in Congress ruled Rajasthan, each constituency has 10 to 12 thousand Sikh voters who could be a decisive factor in formation of the next government. In Delhi too where Congress is ruling, the Sikh voters are important to the BJP. Had the Akali threat to snap alliance with the BJP materialised, the post election scenario in these states could have been adversely effected for the BJP.
As there are no permanent friends and foes in politics, the parties are governed by the political interests vis-à-vis electoral alliances. Suppose, elections were not scheduled in the four states, the BJP might not have thought it necessary to extend support to the Badals propagating that amassing of disproportionate assets was an individualistic matter.
On the other hand, it is the pressure on Badals, which seems to have hastened the unity between the Tohra and the Badal factions. Even as many imponderables still remain glued to the relationship between the two Akali stalwarts, the SHSAD and the SAD decided to announce unity in Patiala last month. Mr Tohra had suffered a heart attack and was in the intensive care unit of a hospital, while Captain Amarinder was hell bent to push Badal behind bars, overtly or covertly.
Again, pressure was playing on the mind of Mr Tohra who had been branded as a Congress stooge following police interference in the last elections for the post of SGPC president. Apparently, the aged leader did not want him to be dubbed as a Congress tool, which would have disgraced him in the annals of Akali history. This very pressure seems to have forced Mr Tohra to hurriedly agree for unity.
Pressure is palpable on the mind of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh too. He had made repeated announcements that Badals had amassed properties worth Rs 3500 crore and on attaining power he would put them in jail. After lapse of over one year in office, the Congress government could not fulfil its proclamation, wherein the credibility of Captain Amarinder Singh as a leader was at stake. It is a political necessity to somehow or the other put Badal behind bars, at least for once. While not much concrete evidence is available against Badals, the police are frustrated with mounting pressure from Captain to deliver results.
While pressure and counter pressure is at play in politics, one who masters the use of pressure tactics would achieve the victory. Definitely, Mr Badal has for the time being used this tool to best of his abilities by forcing BJP to come out of its inertia.
