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Facing split in ranks, BKU Ekta-Ugrahan cosies up to radical bodies
With turmoil roiling its ranks, Punjab largest farmer organisation, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ughrahan), has now found a common cause with the radical bodies who are protesting for release of Sikh detainees.
With turmoil roiling its ranks, Punjab largest farmer organisation, the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ughrahan), has now found a common cause with the radical bodies who are protesting for release of Sikh detainees.
The unflinching support of the ultra-Left leaning union to the agitation of the Quami Insaaf Morcha --- a conglomerate of 12 pro-Khalistan bodies --- that is protesting at the Chandigarh-Mohali border since January 7 has left many surprised.
“We want to expand the ambit of our organisation by including human rights issue in our charter of functioning,” says BKU (Ekta-Ughrahan) chief Joginder Singh Ughrahan, an army veteran. The 78-year-old farm leader adds that his faction is seeking release of 22 Sikh prisoners languishing in the jails despite having completed their jail sentences.
Insiders say Ugrahan has been forced to change tack as he is struggling to keep his flock together. With the voices expressing solidarity with Sikh detainees getting shriller among the cadres, the union’s leadership decided to lend support to the radicals’ agitation, they add. The move is aimed at thwarting any attempts to erode the support base of the farm body and stay relevant, say experts.
“The cadres of the BKU (Ekta-Ughrahan) comprise mostly the peasantry in which Sikhism and the Left ideology is overlapping. So to stay relevant and check the criticism from the religious (Sikh) quarters, the farm body has decided to support the cause of detenues,” says Jagrup Singh Sekhon, retired head of political science department of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.
A section within Ekta-Ughrahan is, however, is not happy with the ‘newfound love for the radical elements’. It has already severed ties with the main body and would announce a new organisation BKU (Ekta-Azad) on Saturday for which a convention has been planned at Longowal, Sangrur. “We have decided to form a separate body as we are having ideological differences, especially in the way how the union is being run currently. We will disclose these issues in the meeting tomorrow,” says Jaswinder Singh, who is the leader of the breakaway faction. He was once a state level leader of Ekta-Ughrahan whose membership was cancelled last month. Singh says he had objected to the functioning of the union for which “he had to suffer the consequences.”
BKU (Ekta-Ughrahan) came into existence in 2002 when Joginder Singh Ughrahan separated from Pishora Singh Sidhupur. Ughrahan had become a farm activist in the 70s and joined a body led by Baldev Singh Mann which he left in the 1980s to form a union along with Ajmer Singh Lakhowal and Balbir Singh Rajewal. Within a few years, he left the duo and joined hands with Sidhupur.
BKU (Ekta Ughraha) was at the forefront of the protest against Centre’s farm laws and the strength of its cadres was witnessed at Tikri and Singhu borders near the national capital.
Last year, Ekta-Ughrahan and ‘Waris Punjab De’ leader Amritpal Singh had indulged in a war of words, rejecting each other’s ideology. Shortly after, Ekta-Ughrahan had applied for more than 150 arms licences for its office-bearers spread across Punjab’s 23 districts, citing threat perception from radical elements.
“By seeking release of Sikhs detainees, we are not adopting anyone’s ideology. We are only concerned about human rights,” says Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan, who is considered Ughrahan’s right-hand man.
