One of the roles the media often plays is not to give you the news. What else can explain why this development, which happened in the full presence of the media and thousands of people, did not make it to newspaper pages the next day? Of course, local scribes discussed it hotly, but filed heart-warming stories like 'Democracy under threat in Punjab, says Bardhan'! The two twains were meeting in the heartland of Malwa. The radical right was matching tunes with the Left. But perhaps it was only better that the story did not make it to the media. For who knows, you may well have read a thriller: "Khalistani on communist stage, Bardhan may be in trouble". May be media corps that day decided to be more sanely and did not file the story. I won't put my money on that though.
Political revolution in Malwa heartland as Bardhan clasps Daljit Bittu
S P Singh
Bathinda: The blazing red banner formed an unmistakable background for a communist stage, and with the hammer and sickle thrown in at this February 2 rally of CPI candidate Jagjit Singh Joga, there was no doubt that only a Left spin will be allowed from this stage. But there was that man, with a long beard and a long chequered past, whose presence on the stage triggered rumblings among the crowd.
For twenty years, the Sikh militants and the communists were two different twains, never shall they meet under any political paradigm. But evolution of politics and political aspirations has a logic which brings together seeming rivals not only on the same platform, but also along similar political articulation.
Many in Punjab were shocked when Akali Dal (Amritsar) senior vice president Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu sauntered on to the CPI stage, his 100 supporters in tow, and sat besides CPI secretary general A.B. Bardhan, former state secretary Joginder Dayal, incumbent state secretary Jagroop Singh, CPI(M) state secretary Balwant Singh and an extended Left's top brass. The tension in the Leftist hearts was palpable, of course. No one knew what Bittu may have to say.
After all, the Sikh militancy movement had witnessed the Left always standing on the other side of the fence, refusing to see the expression of genuine political aspirations even while recognising the overly-powerful Centre repressing regional desires.
But years have passed, and everyone grows. Evolves.
As Bhai Daljit Singh Bittu took the mike, a hushed silence fell upon the restive crowd. Bang in the middle of Malwa, the two twains were meeting. "Indian society, India's population, India's culture is a story of diversity. There are diverse political colours, diverse cultural consciousnesses, diverse aspirations. Then why is the politics of this country being conducted in a narrowly defined line of uniformity?"
This made sense, but Bittu was to articulate the point further. "The issue of alliance is not just an electoral problem. The UPA and the NDA are shameless enough to actually state in public that they were facing compulsions of alliance politics. Firstly, the alliance is a compulsion for them; then their actions are compulsions of the alliance. Clearly, this is not an alliance of conviction," he said.
"What the Indian people must understand, what the Left and others desirous to breakout of the death clasp of Congress and the BJP must realise, is that an alliance is an expression of diversity and must be borne out of conviction, not compulsion. We have many cultural differences. We have different traditions, different histories, different memories, and different perspectives on many issues. The politics must have space for expression of this diversity and the politics of alliance of conviction is the way forward for this expression," Bittu said, striking a chord with the crowd as well as the Left brass.
He said even if one party was to theoretically, or in reality, get a majority, the ruling structure at must reflect the diversity which only an alliance can provide.
"We have come a long way when the will of the ruler used to decide the thought of the masses. Yatha Raja Tatha Praja is an outdated concept and it is time we move towards a Yatha Praja, Tatha Raja line of polity. The rulers would have to mirror the reality; the reality can no more be tweaked to the will of the rulers," Bittu said. He hailed the way the alliance in West Bengal was being run.
The moment he took his seat after appealing to the crowd to vote for candidates of the third front, Bardhan moved forward to sit beside him, the Left leaders hailed his ideas and Bittu had accomplished what many had thought was near impossible -- an articulation of Sikh aspirations in terms which others not only accept but also appreciate.
"Evolution of thought is a two way process. I was sure that even as my own thoughts have evolved, the communists and many others would also have grown to understand things better," Bittu told me later over the phone after the Bathinda tête-à-tête with the Leftists.
He said his experience of having the lunch that day with the Left leaders, including Bardhan, was more educative. "I can't imagine a Badal or an Amarinder stopping by a roadside dhaba and having a lunch just as a common man does, but for Bardhan and rest of his comrades, this was just the way life is lived," he said. Political lessons come in many forms. CPI rallies and dhabas could be equally educative..
February 9, 2007