Jaibans Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh – An Iconic Leader of Punjab
“Punjab is facing a crisis of leadership.” These words are often spoken in political, social and intellectual circles. Lack of leadership is held responsible for the many problems that Punjab is facing currently. There is a need to clearly define this leadership crisis and correctly assess its impact on the socio-economic, political and religious landscape of the region.
The Prehistoric Era
Punjab is the cradle of one of the oldest civilisations of the world. The last serious attempt made in Punjab to maintain sovereignty is recorded in the 6th century BC when Puskarasarin, the King of Gandhara attempted to halt the expansionary ambitions of the Achaemenid Empire. Later, before Alexander came to the doors of Punjab, Gandhara was already paying tribute to Darius.
The post Alexander era witnessed many small principalities, many ruled by the Greeks but paying homage to the all-powerful Gupta and subsequent dynasties. Later, the region remained under the suzerainty of the Hindu kings of Delhi, followed by the Islamic Sultanates and the Mughal dynasty who also ruled from Delhi.
The depth of a civilisation and culture is measured by the degree of autonomy and sovereignty that it has enjoyed over time. For more than two millennia, Punjab was administered by Governors and overlords who were mere servants of Kings and Emperors of other regions. It did not experience rule by an indigenous sovereign. Thus, Punjab remained bereft of indigenous leadership.
Evolution and Downfall of Punjabi Sovereign Leadership
A serious attempt to change the situation was made by Guru Nanak. He chose the path of religion and spirituality to pass on the message of religious and cultural autonomy. The message of Guru Nanak evolved under the watchful eye of the succeeding Gurus till Guru Hargobind raised the mantle of sovereignty and suzerainty by introducing the concept of Miri and Piri (religious and temporal power with a single leader of the people.) He also adopted the accoutrements of royalty. From there started a more than two century period of conflict spearheaded by Guru Gobind Singh.
The powers that had subjugated Punjab for millennia used the most brutal means to suppress the leadership aspirations of the people. Initially, Punjabi Khalsa warlords commanded Jathas (small group of soldiers) which then graduated to two main formations called Buddha Dal and Taruna Dal and finally they were reorganised into a confederacy of 11 Misls under the overall control of Maharaj Jassa Singh Ahluwalia. The Misl leaders maintained regular armies and controlled vast tracts of land which they administered as Kings. With leadership came the mantle of royalty which peaked under Maharaja Ranjit Singh who joined everybody together to create an Empire in the name of the Khalsa.
Sadly, the Empire could not sustain itself beyond him and was annexed by the British who systematically broke down the aura of the Sikh leadership from which they felt a mortal danger. They denied the progeny of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, their legal right over Punjab as had been given to so many other princely states.
Thus, the leadership mantle gained after so much effort and sacrifice over many centuries withered away. The Punjabi valour and spirit was exploited by the British in maintaining their control over their Indian assets and also during the two great wars.
Leadership During the Freedom Struggle
Leadership in Punjab raised its head yet again during the freedom struggle. Many personalities like Lala Lajpat Rai, Saheed Bhagat Singh, Saheed Sukhdev became icons of the freedom struggle. In true Punjabi spirit they fought, not for their region but for the nation, and sacrificed their all. The Nation gained from Punjab’s contribution to the freedom struggle but Punjab was left bereft of tall leaders, while the leaders of other regions became masters of the destiny of Independent India.
When the Machiavellian British establishment in India and the megalomaniac so-called Indian leadership of the Congress party put on the drawing board the framework of partition on religious lines they looked at Punjab as the cannon-fodder. If the Punjabis had rejected the partition formula, there was no way that the British would have carried it out since they were mortally scared of the Sikhs. The Pakistani Nation would have come up anywhere other than Punjab.
The Hindu-Muslim problem that was being witnessed in central India during pre-partition days had no impact in Punjab, yet, Punjab became the focal point of this divide. Punjab failed because the leaders of the time, especially the Sikh leaders failed to register the spirit of Punjabiat based on the concept of “Punjab Vasda Guruan De Naa Te” (Punjab thrives in the name of the Gurus) which implies that while all Punjabis follow their religions, yet, they retained their faith in the Gurus and Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Partap Singh Kairon & Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Congress Leadership in Post Partition Punjab
Congress has remained the ruling party of Punjab by fair means and foul for a major period post the independence of the country. This period has been marked with a distinct leadership deficit and remote control by the centre.
The performance of the party in the first two decades’ post-independence when it held complete control over Punjab is summarised below: –
- Creation of the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) which was unviable from the word go. Predictably, on 1 November 1956, PEPSU was merged following the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
- For about a decade from 1947 to 1956 the chief ministership ping-ponged between Gopi Chand Bhargava and Lala Bhimsen Sachhar who could not see eye to eye. In between, the Punjab Legislative Assembly was placed under suspension for nine months.
- The first stable government came from Partap Singh Kairon who completed one term but was removed halfway into the second term, in the year 1964, on frivolous charges. Kairon was assassinated in 1966. At the time of his death, he was a very disgruntled man.
- What followed was another period of turmoil for three years from 1964 to 1967, wherein, two chief ministers’, Ram Kishan and Giani Gurmukh Singh Musafir were tried out by the Congress along with a second 119 days Presidents rule stint in between.
- On 1 November 1966, the state of Haryana was partitioned from Punjab and some other districts were given to the state of Himachal Pradesh in accordance with the Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966. This was a mortal blow for the Punjabi civilisation and a deceitful roll back from all assurances given to Sikhs at the time of partition.
The foregoing clearly proves that in the first two decades’ post-independence, when there was a critical requirement of dynamic leaders to steer the state, the Congress proved to be many notches worse than the British and kept Punjab leaderless. The so-called leaders could not stand up to the hegemony of the central leadership of the Congress party.
Shiromani Akali Dal Joins the Fray
The Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966, paved the way for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to open its electoral account in Punjab. Justice Gurnam Singh of the Akali Dal Sant Fateh Singh faction became the first non-Congress chief minister of Punjab on 8 March 1967. Within 262 days, his own cabinet minister, Lachman Singh Gill, defected with 16 MLAs and formed a government with support from the Congress. The Congress allowed Gill another 272 days before pulling the carpet from under his government and imposing President’s rule for the third time for 172 days.
Legislative Assembly elections were held in Punjab in 1969. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) emerged as the largest party, winning 43 of the 104 seats and formed the government in coalition with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Justice Gurnam Singh got a second chance that barely crossed a year when he was compelled to make way for Parkash Singh Badal. The infighting in SAD did not stop, leading to dismissal of the government and imposition of President’s rule for the fourth time on 14 June 1971, it lasted for 277 days.
Thus the worthy leaders of the SAD who had first allowed the division of Punjab between India and Pakistan and then division of Indian Punjab into three segments could not sustain themselves in power for a mere three years. The Congress, of course, hijacked them but only because they gave to the party the opportunity to do so. The situation does not speak highly of the leadership skills and political acumen of the Akali leadership.
The Congress-SAD Political Face-off
Having politically butchered the SAD, the Congress managed to install Giani Zail Singh as chief minister on 17 March 1972. He became the second chief minister in the history of Indian Punjab to complete the mandated five-year term till 30 April 1977. During the period of emergency, Giani Zail Singh put his best foot forward in implementing Sanjay Gandhi’s draconian five-point program, including compulsory sterilisation.
It is also alleged that, in connivance with Sanjay Gandhi, Giani Zail Singh extended political and financial support to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale with the intention of nullifying the Akali presence in Punjab. That the experiment went horribly wrong to the detriment of Punjab is well known. Giani Zail Singh can, by no means be termed as a great leader of Punjab.
When Giani Zail Singh proceeded to the greener pastures of Delhi, the game of musical chairs between the Congress and the SAD commenced from 20 June 1977 and continued for a decade till 11 June 1987.
This period witnessed two SAD members (Parkash Singh Badal and Surjit Singh Barnala) and one Congressman member (Darbara Singh) adding their names on the chief minister’s name board of the state. Darbara Singh holds the honour of serving the maximum period of three years and 122 days. There were also two periods of President’s rule to complete the cycle.
The complete lack of credible leadership within Punjab and the proclivity of the Congress national leadership to interfere in the affairs of the state with the objective of retaining control over the sensitive border state by fair means or foul led to the advent of militancy in the state.
The exit of Darbara Singh paved the way for President’s rule for a record eighth time since independence. This time the duration was also for the maximum time frame of four years and 259 days, which can easily be termed as the worst time in the history of Punjab.
S. Beant Singh and S. KPS Gill
Elections were held in Punjab in 1992, in which the Congress won with an overwhelming majority. The party fielded candidates in 166 constituencies and won 87 seats with a vote percentage of 43.83 percent. A senior Congress leader Beant Singh was made chief minister by the party. It is alleged that the elections were rigged by the Congress led Union Government
The new chief minister, like his predecessors from the Congress party, turned out to be nothing more than a rubber stamp of the central Congress leadership. He gave all powers to his Director General Police, KPS Gill, to make the state free of militancy. Gill launched a brutal, opaque campaign in which thousands of Sikh youth, many totally innocent, were eliminated.
The expected breakthrough in Punjab soon became a virtual breakdown of the administration and culminated with the assassination of Chief minister Beant Singh on August 1995. Beant Singh served as chief minister for 3 years and 187 days which the state would like to forget, being very painful.
The remainder term was covered by two Congress chief ministers, Harcharan Singh Brar (one year and 82 days) and Rajinder Kaur Bhattal (82 days). This traumatic democratic cycle that left Punjab leaderless and desolate culminated on 11 February 1997.
Elections were held in Punjab for the 11th Punjab assembly in 1997, on schedule after five years and without any intrusion of President’s rule, which, by itself, was a great achievement for the trouble-torn leaderless state. It was so because the Congress was not in power in the centre, where Shri HD Deve Gowda was the prime minister. He facilitated the conduct of free and fair polls.
SAD fought in alliance with the BJP with SAD fighting from 94 seats and BJP contesting 23 seats. In the final result SAD won 74 seats and BJP won 18 which constituted a clear majority. Congress was reduced to 14 seats.
Prakash Singh Badal became chief minister for the third time and completed his term, mainly because the centre continued to be ruled by non-congress prime ministers to include Shri Inder Kumar Gujral and Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This was only the third time since independence (55 years) that a chief minister in Punjab completed his term.
It is to the credit of the Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee led Union government of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that elections were not disrupted in 2002 even though there were indications of the defeat of the SAD-BJP alliance in the state. The interest of Punjab was kept paramount by the central government and dirty politics were not played.
Captain Amarinder Singh & S. Prakash Singh Badal
Poor Leadership Despite Electoral Stability
From 1997 onwards, to date (2024), state assembly elections have been held in Punjab on schedule. The Congress party won the state elections in Punjab in 2002 and Captain Amarinder Singh formed the government.
In the 2007 elections the SAD-BJP alliance, under Prakash Singh Badal came back to power for two terms. In 2017, the Congress under Captain Amarinder Singh formed the government. Captain Amarinder Singh could not complete his term due to internal issues of the Congress party and he was replaced by a lightweight, Charanjeet Singh Channi for the last 177 days of the term.
Punjab thus witnessed a semblance of democracy and political stability for a quarter of a century, but the leaders failed to lead the state on the path of progress and development. Even under the worst political and social circumstances, the state topped per-capita income rankings within the country until the year 2000. Its position declined thereafter under the cycle of Akali-Congress rule over two decades to the present situation of a deep rooted administrative and socio-economic catastrophe accentuated by the looming shadow of a debt-trap.
Prakash Singh Badal and Captain Amarinder Singh, therefore, did not emerge as tall leaders because they could not move above their limited political agendas. They failed to bring about affirmative and progressive change. They have, in fact, presided over the degradation of Punjab. They were repeated only because of a lack of alternatives.
Punjab voted overwhelmingly for change in 2022 and brought in the Aam Aadmi Party with Bhagwant Mann as the chief minister. Sadly, the new chief minister, on whom the people of Punjab had reposed so much trust, has failed to take a grip of the state and address its multiple problems and challenges with clean hands and good intentions. Like the Congress leaders of old, he too takes his orders from New Delhi where his party supremo, Arvind Kejriwal resides.
Conclusion
The dismal condition of the post-independence leadership as explained above is summarised below:-
- In the last 77 years, Punjab has been ruled by 18 chief ministers, mainly from three parties. They flip-flopped on the chair 25 times
- Under Congress rule in the centre, the state was put under President Rule eight times, the longest being for four years and 259 days
- On 20 occasions chief ministers have not completed their full term in office.
- Only on six occasions chief ministers have completed their terms.
While the leadership deficit in Punjab over millennia is a matter of grave concern and further study, the post-independence leadership breakdown is a catastrophe that needs immediate attention. The people of Punjab need to rise above personal agendas and take affirmative action in the short, medium and long term towards identifying and nurturing dynamic leaders who work for the development of their home land with honesty and dedication.
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