This is what happened during last week's two-day visit of the BJP President Nitin Gadkari to Chandigarh. Being the national president of the BJP who earlier had held several important public offices in Mahrashtra, he did not need any gimmick to get into public eye. But his utterances not only kicked up unsavoury controversies causing embarrassment to his party but also exposed the fault lines in the ruling Akali-BJP relationship.

It began with his address to a public meeting. Speaking about the RJD and SP chief Lalu Prashad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav's U-turn on their earlier stand of opposing the cut motion in the Parliament, Gadkari said “bade dahaarte thhe sher jaise, aur kutte ke jaise ban kar Soniaji aur Congress ke ghar par talve chatne lage” (these leaders were roaring like lions but later bowed like dogs to lick the feet of Sonia and the Congress). Not only in bad taste and not expected from the chief of the country's main opposition party claiming to be the upholder of India's rich cultural and social values, the derogatory remarks also reflected a politically immature mind. Obviously it was the BJP leadership's frustration over losing the opportunity to defeat the UPA government on the cut motion which prompted Gadkari to make the derogatory remarks.

The remarks which created a furor evoking condemnation from the non-BJP parties also caused dismay among the sober sections of the BJP. Realising the damage caused by the remarks, Gadkari apologized and withdrew the remarks with the BJP also offering a meek defence.

Apparently not adequately briefed about the Punjab situation and Sikhs psyche, Gadkari's utterances at two other places also kicked up controversy widening the area of alliance partners differences. At his Meet the Press at Chandigarh Press Club, the BJP President pleaded for interlinking of the country's rivers and incorporating irrigation in the concurrent list. The second issue was his description of Banda Singh Bahadur during the tercentenary celebrations of the 'Sirhind Fateh Diwas' at the historic Sikh gurdwara of Fatehgarh Sahib.

The Akali Dal is a strong opponent of rivers interlinking. An uncompromising votary of state's riparian rights, it has been refusing to share the river waters flowing through Punjab with other states.

At the Fatehgarh religious congregation, Gadkari and BJP general secretary Balbir Punj and Punjab's BJP minister Manoranjan Kalia repeatedly referred to the Sikh general as “Banda Veer Bairagi”.

Minutes before their address, Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh while reading out his message on the occasion, had warned the Sikhs about “distortions in history showing Banda Singh Bahadur in bad light and to present him as “bairagi” (ascetic) swaroop (identity) instead of the Amritdhari Sikh that he had become.”

It is a tragedy of Punjab's post-Independence history that in order to ride to power the state's mainstream parties Akali Dal, Congress and BJP's predecessor Jan Sangh had been pursuing communal politics. This took a virulent form during the Akali-led Punjabi Suba agitation in the fifties. State's politics continued to be afflicted by communal virus in different forms after the bifurcation of Punjab on November 1, 1966 leading to the creation of Punjabi-speaking and Hindi-speaking states of Punjab and Haryana. But later Akali Dal and Jan Sangh/BJP formed united fronts claiming that their joining of hands was a guarantee for Hindu-Sikh unity. The claim was reiterated at Gadkari's Meet the Press at Press Club.

No doubt, the Akali-BJP handshake did contribute to a semblance of communal peace in Punjab. But ironically sporadic communal incidents, sometimes even turning violent have been taking place even during the last three years of Akali-BJP rule. Besides the Akali-BJP's alliance, basically it is the state's historic and ground realities which have played a major role in creating communal amity.

The Akali-BJP alliance has been a product of their power ambitions. Punjab's demographic arithmetic is such that neither the Akali Dal nor the BJP with their separate communal bases can come to power on their own. It is their unity which can and has often helped them capture power. The Congress has almost alternatively been coming to power with the support, whatever it is, of all the communities.

It is the realization by Akali Dal and BJP leaderships that they cannot ride to power independently if they do not expand their respective narrow communal bases. This led them to open their parties doors to non-Sikhs and non-Hindus respectively. Thus it is their attempts to encroach upon each other's rural and urban areas of influence which is contributing to the widening of differences between the ruling allies. Besides, some other factors like the BJP's grouse that the dominant ruling partner which depends on the 19 BJP MLAs support to retain power has been giving inadequate representation in governance to the saffron party are also responsible for the growing irritants between the alliance partners. These feelings were also reportedly conveyed to Gadkari by Punjab's BJP leaders.

The test for Gadkari, yet a political lightweight, will be how he is able to ensure a trouble-free relationship between his party and the Akali Dal in the politically sensitive border state which has been alternatively handing over power to the Congress and Akali-BJP allies. (IPA Service)