All The Pardhan Ji’s Men
S P Singh
Poor old dead Gurcharan Singh Tohra! All his life the man was known as Pardhan ji, even when he was defeated by such political pygmies as Kirpal Singh Badungar. The man made a name for himself for remaining the uncorrupted and perhaps even incorruptible Akali, stuck to his stand in his tiff with Parkash Singh Badal, stood for some time for the supremacy of Akal Takht, remained in political wilderness till he ensured the defeat of Badal and his party in 2002 even though his own All India Shiromani Akali Dal did not win a single seat. Then he even tried taking away the control of the SGPC with some proxy help from Amarinder Singh’s regime but failed.
Soon Badal needed him, hassled as he was by Amarinder Singh. The problem was that some around Tohra also wanted to encash the profits likely to emerge from a Badal-Tohra clasp. The “unity” happened. It decimated Tohra nearly completely.
Now that Tohra has been dead for a few years, and his name not even recalled in this election, just have a look at what happened to his sipah-salars. Manjit Singh Calcutta was shown the door by Badal as he seemed to send signals of having a mind and an aspiration of his own. Karnail Singh Panjoli was sidelined and became an odd voice. Tohra’s permanent shadows and spin masters Malwinder Singh Malhi and Gurdarshan Singh Bahia became foot soldiers in Amarinder Singh’s commander-in-chief Bharat Inder Singh Chahal’s battalion of spin masters and advertising planners. Prem Singh Chandumajra finally swallowed pride (wisdom too?) and merged his party with Badal’s for the Lehra Gaga ticket and a Dirba crumb. Inderjit Singh Zira was left in the pits. Good old Sukhdev Singh Bhaur waits quietly in the queue, hoping that some day Badal will throw a glance sideways which he will catch. After all, Avtar Singh Makkar personifies the benefits of waiting quietly.
Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal used to take the credit for unity. He was fielded from Payal.
Fate answers many a dilemma. It is not known whether the Calcuttas, the Mahesh Grewals, the Chandumajras, the Malhis and the Bahias ever faced a dilemma, but the February 27 results showed that fate certainly answers. You just have to wait.
A Tohra-loyalist losing to a progeny of late Beant Singh in Payal is a fate that will sear the great Akali leader’s soul, but does it bother Grewal? Defeat may sadden him, not the convulsions of Tohra’s soul. Chandumajra lost to Bhattal in Lehra Gaga; even his Dirba crumb was snatched away by Surjit Singh Dhiman of Congress. Calcutta is forced to join forces with Congress-tagged Paramjit Singh Sarna and Malhis and Bahias will have nowhere to go except in the direction that Chahal points.
Was Akali unity a panthic unity? And pray! What did those who helped bring about such a clasp gain?
And we had almost left out one Harmail Singh Tohra who lost in Dakala. To be fair, he was the only one who remembered during the campaign Gurcharan Singh Tohra, the man who always slammed politicians for puttar-moh, the son-love. Maybe Harmail did so, because he was a son-in-law. All the Pardhan Ji’s men!■
February 28, 2007