Educational institutions, markets, business establishments and road transport system remained paralysed in Punjab on Tuesday as a near total bundh was observed on the call of the Sikh clergy to protest against the alleged blasphemous acts of a sect. 

The ruling Akali Dal and the SGPC — which manages the Sikh holy shrines in northern India —  also extended support to the bundh called by the Akal Takht, the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs after it issued an edict on Sunday for the closure of all branches of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect in Punjab by May 27.  The Sikhs are protesting the Dera head’s alleged imitation of the tenth Sikh guru, Gobind Singh.

Ambala clash
While the bundh was largely peaceful in Punjab due to heavy security deployment, tension prevailed in Ambala township in neighbouring Haryana where the Sikh protesters clashed with the police leading to a cane charge by the latter in which at least 10 persons were injured.

This correspondent, during a tour of the state, saw the Sikh protesters marching on the roads, carrying placards and raising slogans against the Dera Sacha Sauda sect. Protests were organised at several places including at Amritsar, the seat of the Sikh religion, Bhathinda — where the Sirsa-based Dera has its biggest branch,  Sangrur, Ludhiana, Gurdaspur and Patiala.  Schools and colleges remained closed and the university examinations scheduled for the day were postponed.

Intra-state as well as inter-state buses remained off the roads as the state-owned Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation buses were not plying. Haryana and Himachal Pradesh had also suspended its buses on the inter-state routes to Punjab. Railway traffic was disrupted at several places as protesters squatted at the railways lines at Ludhiana and Amritsar.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had virtually extended his support to the protesting Sikh organisations by seeking, an apology from the Dera chief.

Politics of religion
In fact, religion and politics is intricately woven in the Akali polity for several decades. The Akali Dal, which is the political front, has been in firm control of the SGPC for several decades. The observers of Sikh politics are, however, surprised by the Akal Takht’s seemingly political call for a state-wide bundh in Punjab.

The current situation presents a challenge to the Akali government since any action emanating from the Akal Takht and the SGPC would be seen as having Badal’s tacit support, observers feel.

The two-month old Badal government was given a jolt by its alliance partner, the BJP, which cautioned that the chief minister would be responsible if Tuesday’s bundh turned violent.


CBI court ajourns hearing to June 9
Ambala, PTI:  A special CBI court on Tuesday adjourned the murder case of a former manager of Dera Sacha Sauda to June 9.
The Dera has been involved in a stand off with the Sikhs on the alleged depiction of its head as tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.
The five accused Kishan Lal, Sabdal Singh, Avtar Singh, Inder Sen and Jasbir Singh were present in the court of special CBI Judge R K Saini. The CBI claimed the accused Lal, who is one of the prabhandhak (managers) at the Dera Sachha Sauda was allegedly involved in the murder of a former manager Ranjit Singh in July 2002. Singh, who was in the 10-member committee looking after the functioning of the Dera, was murdered on July 10, 2002 as the inmates believed that he was behind the circulation of the anonymous letter in May 2002, according to the agency.