There is no confusion about Punjab's total debt, which, at present, stands around Rs.65,000 crore, set to go up to Rs.71,000 crore this year and over Rs.78,000 crore by 2011-2012, when the Assembly elections are due. What has made it a riddle are the conflicting claims on the quantum of debt waiver and its nature, the extent to which the Centre may be ready to waive off and the ways to wipe it out.

The crisis in the Akali Dal was triggered by Manpreet's claim that the Centre is willing to absorb almost half of the debt burden if the state observes fiscal discipline for which it laid down conditions including levying of fresh taxes and cutting of subsidies. To counter Manpreet's claim, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal wanted him to show the Centre's offer of waiving off Rs.35,000 crore.

The quantum of the proposed debt-waiver was obviously Manpreet's guess based on his talk with the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and on the deliberations of the central committee meetings. The committee was set up “to explore ways to assist the states (Punjab, Kerala and West Bengal) in getting out of their current fiscal stress along with measures to be taken by them to prevent the recurrence of such a situation in the future”. Punjab's Finance Department whose secretary also attended these meetings prepared a detailed note of the proposed offer listing out the conditions put forth during the central committee's meetings. The note stated that the Centre wanted a response of the state government on the conditions it had listed out. What action the government took on the note which was submitted to the Chief Minister is not clear.

The confusion over the debt-waiver arose not only from the conflicting claims of Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister and Manpreet but also about the nature of the debt. Parkash Singh Badal told Indian Express on October 19 that “that there was no question of any Rs.35,000 crore waiver. The total Central debt on Punjab is a little over Rs.5,500 crore. The rest of the debt is due to our own internal borrowings regarding which the Centre cannot do anything”. On the other hand, in response to Manpreet's claim that the Centre was ready to waive Rs.35,000 crore, Sukhbir wanted the entire debt of Rs.71,000 to be waived without the Centre insisting on the “stringent and impractical” conditions. Manpreet Singh contradicted the CM's claim that the Central debt incurred during terrorism years needing waiver is Rs.5,500 crore, saying it was only around Rs.3,500 crore.

Punjab's demand, that its entire debt incurred during the terrorism years be waived off, is justified. It was the nation's war Punjab fought against terrorism. Besides, of the 12 years of its anti- terrorist fight Punjab was under the Central rule for eight years. In response to successive Punjab governments demand, the Centre had earlier twice waived part of the debt. The remaining debt of Rs.3,500 crore or even Rs.5,500 crore is peanuts, which the Centre should not hesitate to waive.

But, it is not Punjab's debt alone the Central Committee is deliberating. The committee has been tasked to find a solution of the three states huge debts, including Punjab's total debt of Rs.71,000 crore, of which it is to find a solution. Punjab incurred the huge debt mainly because fiscal prudence became a casualty during the two terms of the Akali-BJP's eight years of rule. The alliance government has been living on borrowings.

More than the debt waiver, it is the growing signs of targeting of peoples' democratic rights and freedom of expression which is a cause of worry. The trend had started last year when Punjab was turned into Bihar by the Sukhbir Singh-patronised Students Organisation of India's armed goons, who massively rigged the local bodies and Panchayat elections in the Malwa region where Akali Dal had suffered humiliating rout in the 2007 Assembly elections. The rigging even led some units of Akali Dal's ally BJP raise a banner of revolt against the party's senior ruling ally. After Sukhbir was subjected to universal criticism for his autocratic style of functioning, it was claimed that he had learnt his lesson from the Malwa's happenings. No doubt, Sukhbir has now a relatively sweet tongue avoiding use of harsh language for criticising his opponents.

This is the positive side of the picture. But, history shows that players of power politics usually do not practice what they profess. In the current Akali crisis, the lessons learnt during the local bodies elections were forgotten. After Manpreet's sack from the ministry, a gurdwara was locked to bar his entry, his office room was searched and official machinery was used to stop people from attending his maiden massive public rally in his Gidderbaha constituency. Although, the government has denied the allegation that a DSP ransacked the residence of Manjinder Singh Kang, the rebel Akali MLA and Manpreet's supporter and harassed his family members, a picture published in October 22 issue of Hindustan Times showed the ransacked guardroom of the MLA's Amritsar residence.

Manpreet did not make a revelation when he alleged that Sukhbir had captured the entire electronic media network in the state to “black out the voices of dissent”. Cable operators of some districts had earlier alleged that their networks were being forcibly taken over. The opposition parties had also criticized monopolising of the state's cable networks by Sukhbir and blacking out in telecasting of dissenting voices of the people.

It is for Parkash Singh Badal, who is a believer of democracy-in-action, to check these disturbing trends before it is too late. These trends have hit his government's image. On the other hand, the image of his nephew Manpreet Badal who is seen as a leader who has sacrificed his ministerial chair for Punjab's future has soared. (IPA Service)