A grave situation could have arisen if the Badal faction in the Akali Dal had not postponed the convention it was scheduled to hold in the curfew-bound Malout in Faridkot district on Saturday. This has mercifully been avoided. The decision follows an extremely tough statement by the governor, Mr. Sidhartha Shankar Ray, in Chandigarh on Thursday. The Badal group would have us believe that it has acted on its own initiative in view of the prevailing tension in the town and that its decision is not the result of Mr. Ray’s statement. It is difficult to say whether this is in fact the case. But regardless of the truth in this respect, the decision to postpone the convention is a fortunate one.
To be fair to the Badal group, it decided to hold a convention in Malout before the town was placed under curfew on October 13 following mob violence in the wake of the assassination of a Shiv Sena leader by terrorists. The Barnala faction had held a well-attended convention in the town which Mr. Badal regards as his stronghold. So he thought it necessary to demonstrate his influence in the area. But as his men began to whip up support for the convention, some of them talked of laying a siege of the town, as in the case of Batala some months ago, if the convention was not allowed. Obviously this dangerous talk continued after Malout had been placed under curfew. The threat, on the face of it, was both unauthorised and conditional. Indeed, we can give Mr. Badal the benefit of the doubt and accept that he was not a party to it in any way. But that is not much of a consolation. For, if the convention had been held extremists would in any case have attended it in large numbers. Mr. Badal has in recent months not shown either the will or the capacity to keep them at arm’s length; once in Malout they could have refused to leave and added to the prevailing tension.
It would appear that the Barnala ministry was not willing to face up to the challenge and take the necessary steps to meet it. Or else it would be difficult to explain the chief minister’s silence and Mr. Ray’s visit to the town and subsequent statement. The general secretary of the Badal group has accused the governor of “functioning as chief minister as well”. Members of the Barnala faction have also delivered themselves of a similar sentiment. In technical terms, there is merit in what they have said. But it is plainly absurd for anyone to talk in terms of legal niceties in Punjab. In this specific case, the situation could have got out of hand with serious consequences; the governor could not have sat idly by and let that happen. If the ministry was indeed paralyzed by fear, as it appears to have been, Mr. Ray owed it to the country (not just Punjab) to do what he could to avoid trouble. He has done precisely that. Even if it is true that the Badal group was thinking of postponing the convention before Mr. Ray made it publicly known that the authorities would not allow it, the statement could well have clinched the issue in favour of the saner elements.
It is notable that Mr. Ray issued the statement after his meeting with the chief minister in Chandigarh when he must have briefed the latter on his visit to Malout. We do not know what transpired during these discussions. But there are only two possibilities. Mr. Ray spoke the way he did because Mr. Barnala was not willing to issue the necessary orders banning the proposed convention. Alternatively, the two agreed that a statement by Mr. Barnala could provoke Mr. Badal and that it would be better if the governor owned the responsibility of disallowing the convention. Either way there has been evasion of responsibility on the part of the chief minister which cannot but lower his prestige and reduce his authority. That must be a matter of deep concern since so much in Punjab depends on the courage the chief minister demonstrates and the authority he consequently commands. The two are generally interlinked for anyone in a position of responsibility but seldom are they tied together so inextricably as in Punjab. The people there cry for display of strength and courage and not of humility which incidentally is not a quality Punjabis admire in a ruler even in normal times.