Choosing to party

SATNAM Singh Paonta Sahib, founder member of Dal Khalsa, hijacked a plane in 1981 to protest the arrest of Bhindranwale. He spent 14 years in a jail in Pakistan before being brought back to India. Today, he heads the party and spends most of his time in his Chandigarh home.

Then there’s the case of Rajinder Singh Mehta and Amarjit Singh Chawla. As office bearers of the All India Sikh Students Federation, they were close associates of the Damdami Taksal chief Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Along with Virsa Singh Valtoha and Harminder Singh Gill, they virtually called the shots in Punjab. All four owed allegiance to a faction of Sikh Students Federation led by Harminder Singh Sandhu and were arrested during Operation Bluestar.

After Sandhu’s death, they went their own way. After five years in Jodhpur jail Mehta was released in 1989. He led the Sikh Students Federation for 11 years before joining the Shiromani Akali Dal led by Parkash Singh Badal in 2000. ‘‘The Sikh Students Federation was a platform for carrying out political activity and so is the Akali Dal,’’ he says. Today Mehta is a member of the Akali Dal working committee, political advisor to the party and executive member of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

And Mehta who dismisses allegations of being a separatist, is all set to contest the coming elections, provided Badal grants him a ticket. So considering his hardline image does he think non-Sikhs would vote for him? ‘‘Why not? After all, we don’t differentiate between Sikhs and non-Sikhs,’’ says Mehta.

MEHTA’S close associate Amarjit Singh Chawla joined the Akali Dal and was rewarded with membership of the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC). But that hasn’t stopped his political ambitions and his considerable clout has made even senior Akali leaders uneasy.

Another ex-militant in the Badal camp is Virsa Singh Valtoha. He too attempted to create a new party but later joined the Akali Dal and was given a post in the Punjab Subordinate Selection Board. The Congress government later jailed him on corruption charges. Today, like in 2002, he is a contender for the Akali Dal ticket.

But close associate Harminder Singh Gill decided to join the Congress in 2003. Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh not only welcomed him warmly with but also appointed him member of the Subordinate Selection Board. Just last week Gill got about 80 Akali Dal and CPI (M) workers to the chief minister’s residence where in his presence they joined the Congress.

Another former militant who has joined politics is Amarinder Singh of Chandigarh. Singh who won the SGPC elections from Chandigarh in 1986, joined Gurcharan Singh Tohra when the latter split with Badal. Later he fought the SGPC elections on an Akali Dal ticket but lost.

The stream of former militants joining politics continues. Daljit Singh Bittu, a former member of the Panthic Committee and the Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF), was released less than a year ago. But even while he was in Nabha jail he founded the Shiromani Khalsa Dal in April 2005.

And there are many more like him waiting to join the party.