Past in Punjab

Akali,Cong are wrong to think that shedding tears for Beant Singhs assassin will pay off

Akali,Cong are wrong to think that shedding tears for Beant Singhs assassin will pay off

Balwant Singh Rajoana,who faces a death sentence for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995,has the right to avail himself of all options provided by the due process of law. But do the government and leaders of Punjab have the right to use Rajoanas predicament to score political points,by invoking a tortured past mercifully laid to rest,in the name of a people who have repeatedly proved their sights are now firmly set on Punjabs future? Going by the statements and silences of the Punjab government,the Shiromani Akali Dals core committee,as well as the main opposition party,the Congress with their or else invocations of Punjabs hard won peace it might be easy to turn the clock back to Punjabs lost decade of the 1980s when terrorism stalked the state. Those ghosts may yet be resurrected by the Rajoana case,the political class seems to say now. That is not just an unfortunate impression,but also quite a misleading one.

It has taken long,but the evidence is clear and irrefutable. Punjab is no longer dominated by its past. One by one,outfits and groups that had grown around the cause of a separate Sikh homeland have submitted to death by irrelevance. In successive elections,the hardliners have lost their deposits. The once-dreaded Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale has become the face on the T-shirt and car sticker. The SAD is more likely to hold its brainstorming in a five-star retreat than on the premises of the gurdwara. In the just-concluded assembly elections,both SAD and the Congress took on each other on issues of development. The debate in Punjab today is about the contested definitions of that word in a primarily agricultural state,where the green revolution plateaued long ago and the economy is taking time to diversify.

So let Rajoanas case go through all the legal steps in a country that still has capital punishment on its statute book. But while this happens,Punjabs politicians must show the maturity and restraint that its people have shown in coming to terms with,and moving on from,a difficult past.