Bringing some order to turmoil in Punjab

Gobind Thukral

AT one point of time, the SAD-BJP government had planned big-time governance reforms and hoped to reap rich political dividend. Good governance and development became the buzzwords in 2009.  Voluminous reports were produced and proclamations made. Timely delivery of services was marked out.  Down the line, from revenue offices, police stations and hospitals to petty government offices, all had a declared deadline to deliver services. The police was the special target of these reforms and community policing was to be the cynosure of all.

It was felt that the then Deputy Chief Minister and President of the Akali Dal, Sukhbir Singh Badal would script a new chapter by ushering governance reforms. A commission of experts and retired officers was created to oversee the implementation of these reforms that would take Punjab to the league of modern citizen-centric states. Nobody wished to be left behind. 

The common Punjabi, that forsaken   and hapless individual, would get some dignity and feel the glow of freedom as the father of the nation once promised. Revenue officials, the police and the doctors would not be the arbiters of his destiny. No elemental changes were envisaged, but just timely delivery of services was promised. No rich man would have lost his shirt, but an ordinary individual would have got his birth certificate, copy of revenue or police rerecords or driving license and other services on time, without bribery or favour. What he had been denied for decades and what cost him time and money, he was to get free and in a respectable manner.   

Some services are still working, but most of these reforms were still in the embryonic state, when the public was introduced to a new word “halqa in-charge”. The Akalis, still suffering from a feudal mindset, tough power brokers and consumers, finally had their way.   Under this new concept of "halqa in-charge system,”the Assembly constituency in charge was implemented, no holds barred. It was touted to bring efficiency and responsibility. Middle-level Akali leaders, mostly those who had lost the elections, were made in charge of policing in each assembly constituency, overlapping the police stations. They were supposed to look after development work and groom the assembly segments for the party. Most of them lost the 2017 elections.

The new power centres, they usurped the powers and duties of the legislators. Opposition MLAs, mostly from the Congress, lost whatever clout they had. These new power centres were small fiefdoms, with the police at their beck and call. The already diminishing autonomy of the officers was further reduced. Those who became thick with these new satraps had a merry time, while the others sulked. Community policing took some serious knocking.

Law and order suffered as the promised good governance took a backseat. Particularly in the last two years of the SAD-BJP regime, a worsening law-and- order situation was witnessed. Desecration of Sikh scriptures in the heart of Malwa brought the government to its knees. Hardliner Sikhs, waiting in the wings, suddenly gained an upper hand, though temporarily. The Badals looked helpless. In between. there were high-profile murders, well planned and meticulously executed. Even after two years, the police are clueless as is the Central Bureau of Investigation. 

This is what the new Congress government inherited.

Chief Minster Captain Amarinder Singh had promised during the elections that policing would be fair and responsible, in line with the democratic ethos.  He had police reforms in mind. Now in power, he has taken some steps, among them is abolishing the "halqa in-charge system". Some policemen who were found to be in league with drug smugglers were arrested and senior officers are under the scanner. Large-scale transfers also happened. Some good officers are at the helm of affairs. While no political party allows the police a free hand, yet a degree of autonomy to effectively control law and order is yet to be achieved.  There are several impediments and ruling party legislators would always prefer a "flexible" police.

Last week's killing of a popular Christian pastor in the industrial hub of Ludhiana in a busy marketplace, and that too during noon, has shaken the government as well as people.  Those who thought that the new government would bring an end to such gruesome murders are angry.  

What was the government's response?  The Chief Minister, "taking a serious view," directed the DGP to order a police crackdown on the elements trying to whip up communal passions in the state. Later, he announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh for the Pastor's widow and a government job in the police department for the son. The government was found running for a cover; the cover that was often used by the Akalis.

However, it was just another high-profile murder in a long row of unsolved murders. In April 2016, 88-year-old Chand Kaur, the wife of the late Satguru Jagjit Singh, the head of the Namdhari sect, was shot dead at Bhaini Sahib. The same month, Shiv Sena leader Durga Prasad Gupta was murdered in Ludhiana. The RSS leader Jagdish Gagneja was murdered in August 2016 in Jalandhar. Early this year, in March, Dera Sacha Sauda followers Satpal Kumar, 65, and his son Ramesh, 35 were killed at the canteen of the congregation centre (Naam Charcha Ghar) at Jagera village, near Khanna. Except Chand Kaur — as rivalry among the Namdharis can't be ruled out — the common thread in all the murders is that they were executed on Saturday; .32 bore revolvers were used in all the murders; two motorcycle- borne youths pumped the bullets.

Three cases are now under CBI investigation as the Punjab Police could not make any headway and cited the presence of “a foreign hand” behind the systematic killings.  Punjab Police, that fought militancy not with its back to the wall, has been left searching for an answer ever since the dastardly game started in April 2016.   The similar modus operandi in all the crimes could have helped the police to firm up investigation and solve the crime. But no, only a theory emerged; that it must have been the handiwork of the remnants of the Khalistan movement and so forth.  There is no hard evidence.  

Strong markers pointed towards the involvement of the same gang with the same motive, with the intent to create communal tension. Each of these murders has the potential of disturbing communal harmony. Punjab has passed through a decade of blood-soaked militancy and communal tensions that had caused fissures in the robust Punjabi society.

The CBI and the police, supposed to be working at tandem, might solve the riddle some day. However, the delay shows lack of professionalism, that has been the victim of over-politicisation and corruption — the bane of police in modern-day Punjab. Captain Amarinder Singh knows this very well, but does he have a solution that can work in the short run?  We have plenty of commissions and even the Supreme Court has been monitoring police reforms in the country. The police are at the cutting edge of the administration and have to bear extra roughness. The coming days, with more restless farmers on the roads and unemployed youth marching to the state headquarters, besides foreign-based elements, may ignite some fire. To deal with this would require not only an extremely professional approach but also nerves of steel.  Let Captain Amarinder Singh show that he has both.

The writer is a Chandigarh-based journalist