By IANS
New Delhi : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Tuesday refused to support the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), its partner in Punjab, on the strike call against the Dera Sacha Sauda sect as well as the SAD-led state government registering a police complaint against the sect leader.
The Akali protests over sect leader Gurmit Ram Rahim dressing up as the 10th Sikh guru Gobind Singh and the violent agitation by hardline Sikhs against Dera followers in its aftermath has caused serious embarrassment to the BJP and raised questions about the durability of the Akali Dal-BJP alliance.
At a press conference held to condemn the three-year rule of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule in Delhi, Rajnath Singh Tuesday had a tough time fielding questions on the Sikh protests over Dera, and fought shy of defending the Akali Dal. In reply to a spate of questions, he merely said, "I have spoken to Prakash Singh Badal (Punjab chief minister). I insisted that law and order be maintained at any cost."
The BJP chief avoided a direct reply when asked whether he held the Dera chief or the Akali Dal responsible for the prevailing sectarian violence in the state, by saying, "I have said whatever I had to say to the chief minister. I have nothing further to say."
He also refused to give a clean chit to ally Akali Dal when asked if he was satisfied with whatever action Badal had taken, stating, "I have said whatever I had to say on this."
The BJP is caught in cleft on this clash between the Sikhs and the sect followers.
In the late 1970s, Prakash Singh Badal heading the then Akali Dal-Janta government in Punjab had targeted the then Nirankari chief, which later blew into full-fledged terrorism in Punjab. The BJP is worried about a repeat of the events, said a party leader.
Politically, the Akali Dal is annoyed with the Dera chief because in the last assembly elections he had openly supported the Congress party, helping it to dent the Akali Dal base in its traditional stronghold, the Malwa region.
But while the BJP cannot criticise or break away from a trusted and its longest ally (since 1996) at the centre, like the SAD, it cannot also allow the Congress to walk away with all the anti-Akali voters in Punjab, particularly after it won an unprecedented number of 19 seats in the assembly elections this year.
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