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More than four decades after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex body for Sikhs, pushed for Amritsar to be declared a “holy city”, a BJP leader has revived the demand, something the party had opposed in 1981.
On Saturday, state BJP general secretary and former IAS officer Jagmohan Singh Raju protested against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and demanded that it be designated as a holy city. Raju had earlier announced a hunger strike at the Golden Temple complex, among the holiest sites in Sikhism, but later decided to recite from the Guru Granth Sahib after the SGPC informed him that hunger strikes do not align with Sikh traditions.
If designated as a holy city — past demands have asked for the walled city around a one-kilometre radius of the Golden Temple complex — the sale of liquor and tobacco will be banned. At present, there are several such vendors at the entrance of the walled city. In 2022, Raju requested the National Commission for Minorities to direct the state government to ban the sale and consumption of liquor and tobacco products within a one-mile radius of historical gurdwaras, including the Golden Temple. The commission issued a notice to the Bhagwant Mann-led government but it did not respond, according to Raju.
Raju who unsuccessfully contested the Amritsar East seat in the 2022 Assembly elections has said his protest was a “personal initiative”. The BJP opposed the same demand back in 1981 when the SGPC led the push.
“It is my personal programme as a Sikh to demand holy status for Amritsar city. But at the same time, I don’t see any problem with my party, as the party has no issue with granting holy status to places like Haridwar, Varanasi, and others. Why will the party have any issue with Amritsar?” asked Raju, who claimed he was unaware of what transpired over four decades ago.
Other BJP leaders, however, did not back Raju. Senior BJP leader from Amritsar and former Rajya Sabha MP Shawait Malik said, “The demand has been raised by Jagmohan Singh Raju in personal capacity. I won’t comment on this.”
The AAP said it supports holy city status for Amritsar but criticised Raju’s protest. “We agree with the demand for holy city status for Amritsar. But what Jagmohan Singh Raju is doing is nothing but politics,” said AAP MP and spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang.
In September 1980, the SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra demanded that then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declare Amritsar a holy city. The All India Sikh Students Federation and pro-Khalistan outfit Dal Khalsa called for a march in May 1981 to press for their demand.
However, at the time, the BJP was opposed to this movement. Just two days before the march, then BJP MLA Harbans Lal Khanna led a separate march in the city against the demand, displaying tobacco products. This march led to some violence and Khanna emerged as a divisive figure in Punjab’s polity. In February 1984, a mob led by Khanna destroyed a model of the Golden Temple complex at the railway station in Amritsar. Months later, in April 1984, militants assassinated Khanna. The BJP’s Amritsar office is named after Khanna.
Since then, the BJP has changed its stance on several issues, including those of the Dharam Yudh Morcha, a state-wide movement launched in 1982 that demanded, among other things, the declaration of Amritsar as a holy city. The Morcha, led by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), sought the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib resolution that broadly demanded greater autonomy for Punjab and Sikhs.
On many issues, the state BJP has aligned itself with former ally Akali Dal, such as the status of Chandigarh as a shared capital with Haryana and inter-state river and water-sharing issues.
The BJP has also boosted its outreach efforts to Sikhs in recent years, looking to expand its footprint in a state where it still carries the image of being a party of Hindus and one mostly limited to urban areas. The 2019 opening of the Kartarpur Corridor, allowing access to the Kartapur Sahib in Pakistan, was one such move. In November 2020, the BJP released a 44-page booklet on the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, highlighting the Narendra Modi government’s work for the Sikh community. In 2022, the BJP also began marking December 26 as Veer Bal Diwas to mark the martyrdom of Guru Gobind Singh’s sons. The BJP has also adopted a sympathetic approach toward the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh violence and their demands for justice.
While the BJP has made efforts to connect with the Sikh community, some new ones have since cropped up. Chief among them were the farmers’ agitation in 2020-21 and the one currently going on. In late 2021, although the Union government withdrew the three controversial farm laws at the centre of the protests, it was perceived as a reluctant acceptance of defeat.
The BJP’s open support of Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda and a rape-and-murder convict, has also emerged as a point of contention. Even the Akali Dal has been struggling to recover from the damage caused by its move to seek Rahim’s support in 2017. This year, party chief Sukhbir Badal was declared guilty of religious misconduct by the Akal Takht citing the party’s past association with Rahim. While the Dera has been excommunicated by the Akal Takht, one of the five seats of power in Sikhism, Rahim himself is accused in a sacrilege case in Punjab.
