Is BJP trying to portray pro-Sikh face in Punjab ahead of Assembly polls?

New Delhi: After being marooned by alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal SAD(B), known as a panthic party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab is in a bid to portray its pro-Sikh image with an eye on Sikh vote bank especially after BJP had announced to go solo in Punjab and contest all the 117 seats.

The meeting of Punjab BJP leadership with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a single point agenda of reopening of Kartapur Corridor that too ahead of birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak being celebrated on November 19 is believed to be the part of a well-conceived political strategy to fill the political vacuum left after SAD(B) broke ties with BJP, expressed the political experts.

Punjab BJP leaders including state president Ashwani Sharma, national general secretary Tarun Chugh, veteran leader Harjeet Garewal, Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, state in-charge of BJP's Kisan Morcha etc who met PM Modi on Sunday are also scheduled to meet BJP national president J P Nadda and home minister Amit Shah to discuss the issue.

The meeting of BJP leaders with Prime Minister and other national leaders of BJP was nothing but preplanned political attention, opine Dr Jagroop Singh Saikhon, former head of the Political Science department of Guru Nanak Dev University. 

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Dr Jagroop Singh Saikhon added, “The script of the meeting appears to have been written well in advance, the Punjab BJP leaders were summoned at Delhi darbar with assurance to ‘look into’ their demands so that they could later take credit of the same and widely publicize among people during the election campaign for political gains".

After SAD(B) pulled out of National Democratic Alliance in September, almost a week after the resignation of Union  Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, wife of SAD(B) president Sukhbir Singh Badal in protest against three controversial farm laws, the saffron party had been looking for issues especially the Sikh issues to counter the influence of the panic party- the former alliance partner of BJP- on the Sikh voters.

In the recent past, the party had launched 'Nava Punjab Bhajpa De Naal' campaign to make its inroads in the Punjabi voters especially the Sikh voters, and the meeting of BJP’s state leadership with Modi and other national BJP leaders on the issue of reopening of Kartarpur Corridor is seen in the same context.

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Kartarpur Corridor is an emotional issue and close to the hearts of Punjabis, and the issue will likely pop up in the forthcoming Punjab elections. 

“Why the state leadership didn’t take up others issues with PM Modi and instead focus its attention on the religious issue” questioned state general secretary of Kisan Sangarash Committee Sarwan Singh Pandher while talking to Zee News on Monday.

Dr Saikhon also added that, "Earlier this responsibility was on the Akali Dal to talk about Sikh issues but after the breakup, someone else has to take up the Panthik issues".

He quipped that had the SAD leadership gone to BJP leadership in Delhi to take up the issue of Kartarpur Corridor, then people seem to have perceived perception of incredibility because the political dispensation has lost the credibility. 

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