Attack on Badal a wake-up call
A state ravaged by militancy where passions continue to run high on hot-button religious issues. In many ways, the failed assassination bid on Shiromani Akali Dal leader and former chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had all the makings of a perfect storm. The stroke of luck, and bravery, on display at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Wednesday should not distract the authorities from training their focus on a string of troubling questions triggered by the unfortunate episode, and the larger responsibility that the ruling class bears to lower the political and social temperature in the sensitive state. Narain Singh Chaura, the man who attempted to shoot Badal while he was serving penance as directed by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhism, has been on the radar of central intelligence agencies over multiple terror-related cases. But this compact has been stretched in recent years over a set of sacrilege issues, rising crime, frustration and anger in young people over problems of drugs and unemployment, the farm protests, and the emergence of radicals such as Amritpal Singh, whose victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls should have sounded a warning.
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