Coalitions, agitations, and President’s Rule: A short political history of Punjab

Punjab began its journey in independent India with a slew of coalitions, short-lived governments born out of fractured mandates, punctuated with spells of President’s Rule, as several agitations rocked the state.

It was only after the end of militancy in the mid-1990s that the state enjoyed political stability, with power alternating between democratically elected governments of the Akali Dal-BJP and the Congress.

In 2017, as the Congress swept to power winning 77 of the 117 seats in the Assembly, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made it the state’s first three-cornered election.

And next month, Punjab will vote in the first multi-cornered contest in its history — in an election that follows the longest agitation by farmers in independent India.

Post-Partition Punjab

The first Punjab government in independent India was born out of an alliance between the Congress and Akalis under the chief ministership of Dr Gopi Chand Bhargava. But the uneasy relationship came undone in April 1949 after the Constituent Assembly refused to provide the safeguards for Sikhs that then Akali leader Master Tara Singh demanded. The state had its first brush with President’s Rule in 1951.

The Akalis fought the 1952 elections on the issue of Punjabi Suba (a state on linguistic lines), but the Congress won — and Bhim Sen Sachar became Chief Minister. In 1956, Sachar was replaced by then PCC chief Partap Singh Kairon, an economics postgraduate from Berkeley who was in charge of rehabilitating refugees from Pakistan.

Kairon won two successive elections for the Congress. The party turned the elections of 1962 into a referendum on the Punjabi Suba movement, and Akalis could win only 19 of the 154 seats. Kairon remained Chief Minister until 1964, a year after which he was tragically assassinated.

Reorganisation of the state

The Akalis under Sant Fateh Singh continued the agitation for a Punjabi Suba, suspending it only during the 1966 Indo-Pak war. Finally, in September 1966, the state was bifurcated into Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh on linguistic lines. Coinciding with the advent of the Green Revolution, it led to a new political discourse in Punjab, marked by a focus on Centre-state relations and opposition to the Congress, a party that was identified with the Centre.

This era saw four short-lived post-poll coalitions.

The first, an alliance of anti-Congress parties led by Chief Minister Gurnam Singh, fell after eight months in 1967 after Akali legislators defected and formed a government with outside support from the Congress.

This government, under CM Lachman Singh Gill, lasted for only nine months, and was followed by mid-term polls in 1969 that ushered in an Akali-Jana Sangh coalition government headed by Gurnam Singh.

But this government too collapsed after a little more than a year, when the Jana Sangh pulled out.

This was followed by the elevation of Parkash Singh Badal as the CM in March 1970. But his government too lasted only 15 months. President’s Rule followed.

The next elections in 1972 returned a Congress government helmed by Giani Zail Singh.

The Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi led to a strong anti-Congress wave in Punjab. The party was all but swept away in the 1977 polls which the Akalis contested under the umbrella of Janata Party in alliance with the CPI and CPM, winning a record 58 seats.

But soon, the Parkash Singh Badal government with a very small ministry of 16, fell foul of the Nirankaris and the Jana Sangh.

1980s: The dark decade

In this phase, extremists who favoured secessionism over the demand for autonomy that moderate Akalis espoused, took the upper hand. Indira returned to power in 1980 and dismissed nine non-Congress state governments, including that of Punjab. President’s Rule was followed by elections on May 30, 1980, and the Congress returned to power with Darbara Singh as CM. But by then, Punjab had slipped into a spiral of violence.

The ruling party appeased extremists such as Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The policy backfired, violence spread across Punjab, and the Centre had to impose President’s Rule in October 1983. The on-off talks between the Centre and Akalis made little headway as the Centre let the situation drift, leading to Operation Bluestar in June 1984, followed by the revenge assassination of Indira by her bodyguards, and the anti-Sikh violence in October that year.

The 1985 elections were held in the backdrop of the Rajiv-Longowal accord, and the Akali Dal led by Surjit Singh Barnala took over the state. But by then, the “boys” — “munde”, as the militants were called — were running amok in the countryside, using arms and ammunition acquired from across the border. As killings escalated, Barnala was removed and President’s Rule imposed in the summer of 1987.

The 1990s: Return to peace

After five years of President’s Rule, Assembly elections were held in 1992. The Akali Dal boycotted the polls, and only 24 per cent turned out to vote, but it was an important first step.

Beant Singh of the Congress, whose term saw a crackdown on militancy coupled with popular disillusionment with the separatist movement, remained Chief Minister from 1992 until his assassination at the Punjab secretariat in Chandigarh in 1995. He was succeeded by Harcharan Singh Brar, and the first woman CM, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, both of whom remained in the post for a year.

Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh with PV Narasimha Rao. (Express Archive)

This period also saw the panthic Akali Dal transform itself into an inclusive Punjabi party. In the 1996 Moga Declaration, then party president Parkash Singh Badal said the Akali Dal stood for “Punjab, Punjabi, and Punjabiyat”. This was followed by a pre-poll tie-up with the BJP.

The SAD-BJP combine came to power in 1997, and Badal became the first CM since Kairon’s resignation in 1964 to serve a full term. He also introduced the militancy-scarred state to populism by offering free power and water to its farmers, setting off a trend of doles that continues to date.

The SAD-BJP alliance came to power twice after this stint, ruling for 10 years from 2007 to 2017, the first full double term for any government in the state.

In 2002, Badal was succeeded by the Congress-CPI combine headed by CM Capt Amarinder Singh, who also served his full term. In 2017, he returned as the CM for the second time with a record mandate in an election fought on the twin issues of drugs and sacrilege. But Amarinder’s tenure was cut short due to a revolt in the party caused by his alleged inaccessibility and inaction on important issues plaguing the state.

With barely months to go for the elections, the Congress replaced Amarinder with Charanjit Singh Channi, making him the first Dalit Chief Minister of the state that has the highest percentage (32%) of Scheduled Caste population in the country.

2022: A crowded field

The state whose farmers spearheaded a year-long agitation against the three farm laws, finally forcing the Modi government to relent, is now poised for its maiden multi-cornered contest amid changing political equations.

While the Akalis, who divorced the BJP following the protests against the three laws, have decided to ally with the BSP; the BJP has tied up with Capt Amarinder’s new Lok Congress Party and S S Dhindsa’s SAD (Sanyukt).

AAP appears to be going it alone, as the farmer union-driven Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) is yet to show its cards.