Jalandhar: The sweeping victories of pro-Khalistan activist Amritpal Singh, the jailed chief of ‘Waris Punjab De’ and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa–son of one of the assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi–in the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab are propelled by the state’s unsolved issues spanning decades, which have left a section of the Sikh community distrustful of traditional political parties such as the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
While Amritpal, who is presently lodged at a jail in Assam’s Dibrugarh after being booked under the National Security Act (NSA), won the Khadoor Sahib seat by a margin of more than 1.9 lakh votes, Sarabjeet won the reserved Lok Sabha constituency of Faridkot by a margin of more than 70,000 votes.
A resident of Mohali district near Chandigarh, Sarabjeet is the son of Beant Singh, one of the assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. While Amritpal contested and won his maiden elections, Sarabjeet has been contesting elections since 2004 and comes from a political family.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
His mother Bimal Kaur Khalsa had contested the Lok Sabha polls from Ropar parliamentary seat in 1989, when Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) leader Simranjit Singh Mann had won from Tarn Taran Lok Sabha seat.
Sarabjeet’s grandfather Sucha Singh had also won from Bathinda parliamentary seat on a SAD (Amritsar) ticket in 1989. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sarabjeet’s campaign picked up from Faridkot in the last one week of polls.
His emergence from Faridkot was seen as a result of the long-standing feeling in the Sikh community that they have not gotten justice in the sacrilege cases of Sri Guru Granth Sahib dating back to 2015, when the SAD-BJP coalition was in power in Punjab.
On the other hand, Khadoor Sahib, from where Amritpal won, is a panthic seat (related to Sikh religious affairs) and it was an epicentre of militancy in Punjab during the 1990s.
Memories of 1989 Lok Sabha polls and the rise of panthic politics
The victory of both Amritpal Singh and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa has brought back memories of the 1989 Lok Sabha elections in Punjab, when the Simranjit Singh Mann-led Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) had won six out of the 13 parliamentary seats in Punjab.
The only difference was that militancy and separatism was at its peak in the state at that time. Thirty-five years later, panthic politics has reasserted itself with the victories of Amritpal and Sarabjeet at a time when there is no militancy in Punjab.
It is pertinent to mention here that behind the victories of Amritpal and Sarabjeet was the ghost of Punjab’s unsolved issues such as the farm crisis, SYL canal row, transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab, justice in the extra judicial killings of youth during militancy, slapping of UAPA and NSA cases against youth.
All these issues collectively created a political void, which, coupled with the mistrust on traditional politics by a section of Sikh voters led to the two independents winning big in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
After victory, Amritpal’s family holds prayers on 40th anniversary of Operation Bluestar
After Amritpal’s stunning victory, when The Wire spoke to Tarsem Singh, the father of Amritpal, he said that he was in the gurdwara attending a religious ceremony, hence could not talk much.
Later, Amritpal’s media liaison officer Surinderpal Singh Talabpura termed his win as ‘people’s victory.’
“Amritpal’s family was busy in the gurdwara as they had organised Akhand Path on the 40th anniversary of Operation Bluestar. His family did not celebrate the victory and rather kept it a low-key affair. Since they cannot even speak to Amritpal over the phone in jail, his family will go to meet him in Dibrugarh soon. Amritpal’s victory is people’s victory,” said Talabpura.
When this correspondent had visited Khadoor Sahib constituency a week ago, voters ranging from the elderly, to youth, women and even children had hinted at the likely victory of Amritpal from his home turf.
“We have decided to vote for him because we want him to come out of jail. He was wrongly framed because he was stopping drugs and that is what the traditional parties never want to happen in Punjab. We are not going to vote for either the congress, SAD, AAP or the BJP”, the voters had said at the time.
When The Wire had visited Amritpal’s house, it was seen that people from not only from Khadoor Sahib but even from different regions including Amritsar, Bathinda, Anandpur Sahib, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Mansa and other districts had also arrived at his house to meet Amritpal’s father, hinting at the fact that many voters were disassociating itself from the traditional parties.
When asked why a group of men came to meet Amritpal’s family from Sri Muktsar Sahib, they said, “We came to support Amritpal. He is the only hope left now.”
Another key factor that cannot be ignored is that there were many people including youngsters and the elderly in other constituencies such as Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and Kapurthala, who shared that they even went to campaign for Amritpal Singh.
“I went to campaign for Amritpal Singh and I would be going to motivate voters to vote for him on polling day too. Mark my words, not only Amritpal, even Sarabjit Singh Khalsa and Simranjit Singh Mann would also win this time. Traditional politics cannot address Punjab’s issues,” Jaspal Singh, a taxi driver from Kangniwal village in Jalandhar had told The Wire.
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Such was the excitement around jailed Amritpal’s candidature, that many voters in the region had proclaimed him the winner even before the results were declared on Tuesday.
“Amritpal is winning from Khadoor Sahib. It seems that you have not visited Khadoor Sahib yet. Amritpal is already a winner, and we just want to ensure that he gets the highest lead. Do you know voters in Kapurthala district (part of the Khadoor Sahib seat) have already declared their support for him? Amritpal alone can save Punjab,” Arshdeep Singh, a young farmer from a village in Kapurthala had said.
“Decimation of Badal-led SAD to continue in Punjab”
Speaking to The Wire, former president of All India Sikh Students Federation and editor of Sikhsiyasat.com, Paramjit Singh Gazi said that the victories of Amritpal and Sarabjeet, along with the fact that SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann polled more than 1.8 lakh votes from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat have proved that the decimation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) led by the Badal family was ‘continuing’ in the state.
“It is a clear indication of what lies ahead. This might lead to factionalism and rift within the SAD in the future. Amritpal’s victory also shows that a fourth platform other than his independent outfit, the SAD, SAD’s splinter groups and SAD (Amritsar) was possible. Now, there will be more claimants for leading the Sikh politics. The way Amritpal came, gained traction, announced his candidature, and won in his maiden contest, has created space for another faction in Sikh politics”, he said.
Gazi added that there was a section of Sikhs, who believed that by not supporting the candidature of Paramjit Kaur Khalra, the wife of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, they committed a big blunder.
“Most of the Sikhs wanted to correct this mistake, and hence there was a collective agreement over the fact that Amritpal should win this time. However, with this development, polarization will increase in Punjab. This will also have an impact on Punjab’s Dalit politics. The way AAP won in the 2014 parliamentary polls–the party had won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab–shocked the entire nation, the same way radical politics is rising in Punjab now”, he added.
On Sarabjeet’s victory, Gazi said that ideally there was no wave in his favour till a few days ago.
“Sarabjeet Khalsa won purely on an emotional appeal and it is a sign of the desire to do away with traditional politics to address Punjab’s unsolved issues. The ghost of sacrilege cases and delayed justice by the then SAD-BJP, Congress and AAP led to his victory”, Gazi added.
Gazi also termed the win of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from Bathinda Lok Sabha seat as a ‘breather’ for the SAD, failing which it would have been difficult for Sukhbir Badal to claim presidentship of SAD.
“Many changes in the politics of Punjab can take place in the near future”, said Gazi.
Read all of The Wire’s reporting on and analysis of the 2024 election results here.
