'The victory is an expression of agrarian distress and social turmoil.'
"State authorities have to take cognisance of the stress in society -- agrarian, religious, social issues like drugs, alcoholism and economic stress," says former Punjab chief secretary Ramesh Inder Singh and a rare civil servant to receive a Padma Shri while in service.
"If these problems are not addressed, then such kind of individuals will keep coming up through the electoral process... What happens very often is that when such a victory takes place, we concentrate on the individuals and ignore the causes that have led to their win," Mr Singh says in a phone interview with Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
Amritpal Singh has won as an Independent candidate with nearly a 200,000 margin.
He contested from prison in Assam, did not set foot in the constituency and yet won handsomely.
The victory is an expression of agrarian distress and social turmoil.
As a candidate [while filing his nomination], he has taken an oath of allegiance to the Constitution, and his election agenda did not include any separatist declarations, so to that extent, he has joined the mainstream.
Once he enters Parliament, he will again have to take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution.
Similarly, there are examples of Sikh radicals joining mainstream politics in the past. In 1989, seven of them had won the election, including Simranjit Singh Mann, and the wife and father of Beant Singh, one of the assassins of Indira Gandhi, but within five years, their radical stream got dissipated.
Simranjit Singh Mann has continued his ideological utterances, but is totally marginalised. He has lost this election and has come third in the Sangrur parliamentary constituency.
What is the reason for Amritpal's victory?
All radicals take up a reformist agenda when they join the mainstream. His agenda speaks of drug abuse, alcoholism and renouncing religious faith.
These are the social issues prevailing in Punjab. Economic stress is the reason why people are migrating abroad. Therefore, it is a wake-up call for the moderates and for the state to address these issues.
What happens very often is that when such a victory takes place, we concentrate on the individuals and ignore the causes that have led to their win.
What are those causes?
Socio-economic turmoil in the agrarian society of Punjab has to be addressed and moderates must be given space to address the religious issues.
The religious issues were also part of Amritpal's campaign.
Isn't it worrying that a pro-Khalistan preacher is now an MP?
That is why he is under detention under the National Security Act, but during the election process there has been no mention of Khalistan.
There is a Supreme Court ruling which says that merely asking for Khalistan is part of freedom of speech. Simranjit Singh Mann who has been MP thrice still talks about Khalistan and separatism.
That is just noise and maybe there are certain elements behind them which keep making such noise.
Especially in context of the 40th anniversary of Operation Blue Star undertaken to flush out Khalistani militants from the Golden Temple.
The political party (Congress) responsible for Blue Star has won 7/13 seats in Punjab, so what this means is that the public reacts to the present and immediate causes.
Amritpal Singh has defeated Virsa Singh Valtoha of the Akali Dal who is a former militant and was part of the militancy movement in Punjab. Valtoha has come fourth in the constituency.
Therefore, individuals don't matter, but the causes that throw up these individuals are important. If you see the history of Punjab, you will see that from time to time such individuals are thrown up and subsequently get marginalised in the electoral process over a period of time.
But the warning for the state is to address the social and economic distress. If this is not addressed it will keep simmering and God knows where will it lead to.
What accounts for the victory of Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of Beant Singh, one of Indira Gandhi's assassins?
His grandfather and mother both won as MPs and got merged into the electoral process. Sarabjeet's success is partly because of social-economic distress and the burning issue of sacrilege.
He is from Faridkot district where the sacrilege incidents took place. The state has failed to address and close the issues which took place around 10 years ago.
Each party has exploited it over a period of time. They have ordered and reordered investigations; constituted and re-constituted SITs, but there is no closure.
If they had closed this issue through the judicial process and those responsible had been convicted, the issue would have died down.
But the pot is kept churning because political parties draw benefit out of keeping it alive.
Part of his success is because of the discontent that prevails on these accounts.
What larger message does the win of these two radical Independent candidates send to political parties?
Political parties will not learn any lesson because they want to maximise their vote bank. They keep these issues alive because somebody benefits out of it.
The state authorities have to take cognisance of the stress in society, agrarian, religious, social issues like drugs. If these problems are not addressed, then such kind of individuals will keep coming up through the electoral process and over a period of time get absorbed and phased out as it has happened since 1989.
What are your takeaways from the verdict of the multi-cornered contest in Punjab?
One aspect is that Punjab is not a polarised society. There is social cohesion among the Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and Muslims which is reflected in the results.
State authorities have to bring political parties on board to address the simmering youth discontent because it is a national issue.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
