Badal’s new anti-Sikh riots panel leaves Cong sweating

Ironically, apart from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), it was at the insistence of several Congress MPs from Punjab that the Union Government told Parliament that it would set up a commission of inquiry. A one-man commission under Justice Nanawati followed.

The committee appointed by Badal includes former judges R S Narula and Rajinder Sachhar, eminent journalist and Rajya Sabha MP Kuldip Nayyar, advocate H S Phulka and Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley.

However, Congress circles feel that the findings of the committee will be used to once again whip up anti-Congress feelings in the state. The party is upbeat after it did fairly well in the state in the Lok Sabha elections last yar as well as the recently-held civic elections. Raking up the sensitive issue of anti-Sikh riots could be just the right strategy for the SAD to counter the Congress’s growing influence.

Assembly elections to the state are due by the end of next year, by which time the Commission’s report is expected to be ready. Leaders in the state unit are apprehensive that PCC chief Amarinder Singh will be hard put to defend the party once allegations come to the fore. Singh was himself one of the most vocal critics of the Congress’s role in Operation Bluestar and the 1984 riots. He left the Congress after the Army operation inside the Golden Temple and rejoined the party only in 1998.

Party circles are “concerned” because of the PCC chief’s “stoic silence” over recent moves to declare J S Bhindranwale a martyr. “The party’s ideological stand on terrorism and other sensitive issues in the state is being questioned,” a senior leader said.

Nevertheless, some MPs from the state, who supported the demand for an inquiry commission, feel that it would help the party endear itself to the Sikhs. “The inquiry commission shows that the party wants the guilty to be punished, irrespective of their political affiliations,” a senior MP from the state said.