News that Amritpal Singh finally been arrested after an almost month-long chase has led to stern editorials on at least three English newspapers, on the condition of law and order and its rapid politicisation.
‘Political class must draw the line harder’
The Indian Express editorial noted that despite the furore surrounding the chase and his sudden rise, Amritpal’s recent presence in public life has led to more suspicion than reverence. It noted how Amritpal (identified as Singh in the paragraph below) was keen to forge something of a legacy for himself, even while surrendering:
In keeping with the rebellious bluster that marked his public style, Singh sought to leverage his arrest on Sunday morning as an act of defiance – he gave himself up at a gurudwara in Rode, the birthplace of Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, who ran Sikh militancy for Khalistan until he was killed in an attack by the Army on the Golden Temple temple. Singh had anointed himself leader of the Sikh pride group Waris Punjab De at the same gurudwara some months ago.
The editorial questions why neither the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab, nor the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi had been alert to the fact that the radical leader was building himself up, despite Punjab being an important border state. It observes that this failure comes at a cost:
“Now that the hunt for Singh has ended, it is time for the political leadership both at the state and Centre to take stock of their own long-standing failure to address public resentment in Punjab, especially among the youth, a failure that opportunistic rabble rousers seek to channel for their own ends.”
The editorial also blames the short-sightedness of Punjab’s political parties who have not woken up to the fact that separatist bluster cannot capture the imagination of a state beset with agrarian woes.
“The political elites of Punjab have to do better by their constituents than engage in constant calculations on how to combine or divide Sikhs and Hindus for a winning ticket at elections,” it says.
The editorial also calls on the Sikh clergy and asks it to not allow itself to be guided by charlatans to seek to use religion to forward nefarious agendas.
‘Any efforts to inflame passions must be acted against’
The Hindustan Times editorial notes that the details are still sketchy on Amritpal’s surrender, but that he did deliver a speech at a gurdwara before his surrender, in a possible attempt to “fuel comparisons with separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.”
Like Express, this editorial too observed that Amritpal’s move to surface at Bhindranwale’s ancestral Rode village in order to cement his credentials as a separatist of similar calibre is an attempt “that an alert government must nip in the bud.”
“Any efforts by his followers to inflame passions or invoke the support of the Sikh clergy must similarly be acted against,” the editorial noted.
‘Less drama please’
Times of India, in its editorial, noted that Amritpal’s arrest led to breathless television coverage.
“Post-arrest, there was a special flight from Bathinda to Dibrugarh, roads were cleared from the airport to the prison – all this made for breathless television coverage, further feeding the dangerous legend of Amritpal as a separatist to be feared,” it said.
The editorial recognised how multiple Sikh leaders came together to play peacemaker and refused Amritpal’s attempts to coerce them into deepening divisions.
However, it notes: “Their demand that the Punjab government release those arrested in the Amritpal crackdown is more circumspect. Their attempts have segued into the political space too with the Jalandhar parliamentary bypoll slated for May 10. For instance, influential ex-SGPC chief Jagir Kaur has made it clear “excessive action” must be stopped.”
The editorial wonders if Amritpal has the capacity to grow based on how police treat him and the role that the drama can play.
“Amritpal’s reach is yet limited. But how events unfold in days ahead matters – will he become a symbol around which Punjab sees more trouble? The danger is to make him appear a hero for the disaffected. To avoid that authorities have to stop staging high drama and treat him fairly but also speed up the process.”