The spectre of its past now haunts Punjab

Rising Khalistan sentiment is rooted in a failure of the state's political class in maintaining the delicate balance between politics, religion, society and national integrity

- Shashi Shekhar

Some incidents resurrect ghosts of the past, hitting you in your face and haunting you for a long time. I would put the assassination attempt on Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal among such incidents for good reason.

Four decades ago, in April 1983, the then deputy director general of Punjab police, AS Atwal was murdered at the same spot. His body lay unattended for hours on the steps of Sri Harmandir Sahib. Those were the days when pro-Khalistan extremism was at its peak.

However, what does the attack on Badal indicate? Is terrorism rearing its ugly head in Punjab once again? Absolutely not. A return to those bloody days looks quite unlikely. Still, the attack on Badal and the changing mood and secessionist voices indicate efforts to revive a buried past.

Self-styled preacher and now Member of Parliament Amritpal Singh Sandhu's sudden arrival from Dubai to lead a pro-Khalistan separatist campaign in the garb of religious concerns was the beginning of the conspiracy. He knew there were still many people who nurtured anger and grudges after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi. These people may have grown old, but their bitterness hasn't gone away.

Badal's assailant Narayan Singh Chaura is one such person. Chaura is one of those who took up the baton of the separatist movement after Operation Bluestar.