Why SIT summons to Vijay Sampla is about more than just 2015 sacrilege probe

Officially, the Special Investigation Team’s (SIT) summons to former Union minister and senior BJP leader Vijay Sampla is another step in the continuing probe into Punjab’s 2015 sacrilege cases. Politically, however, the development has raised a different set of questions.Why has the SIT chosen to summon Sampla nearly 11 years after the sacrilege incidents, over a memorandum allegedly submitted in 2018? Why is he the only leader being questioned when the BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) were alliance partners, and such representations to the Governor were generally made jointly? And why, despite repeated requests, has the SIT allegedly failed to provide the very document based on which it wants to question him?Sampla was first summoned on June 20, while asked to appear before the SIT at the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) complex in Jalandhar on June 23. According to him, there was confusion over where his statement was to be recorded; only after several calls to senior officers was he directed to the investigating team. The SIT also told Sampla that he will be questioned regarding a memorandum submitted to the Punjab Governor on November 12, 2018. He sought the documents, including a copy of the memorandum, based on which he was to be questioned. However, the officers present did not provide the document. Sampla said that without seeing any document, he could not provide a justified reply and left. A few days later, he received another summons directing him to appear before the SIT on June 28. Sampla did not join the investigation on the second date, and insisted on seeing the documents first. Later that day, Model Town police station in Hoshiarpur recorded a Daily Diary Report (DDR) noting his absence. Ironically, the DDR itself has now become part of the political controversy.Story continues below this ad While the original summons allegedly referred to a memorandum dated November 12, 2018, the DDR records that the SIT wanted to question Sampla regarding a memorandum submitted on January 12, 2018. Both, however, are linked to the investigation into the 2015 sacrilege cases. For Sampla, the appearance of different dates is central to his argument. “The SIT itself is not clear about what exactly it wants to question me on. If the basis of the summons keeps changing, how can I give a proper statement?” he said. He also questioned why the investigating agency was unwilling to provide the document that forms the basis of its questioning. “If I am being summoned because of a memorandum, why can’t they provide me that memorandum?” Sampla’s larger political argument goes beyond procedural inconsistencies. In 2018, when the alleged memorandum was submitted, the BJP and SAD were coalition partners in Punjab. Story continues below this ad Representations to the Governor on issues were usually made jointly by leaders of both parties. “If there was a memorandum, leaders from both parties would have been there. Why am I alone being questioned after all these years?” Sampla has also linked the timing of the summons to the recent political controversy surrounding Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over the alleged sacrilege videos. The summons were intended to divert public attention from an issue that had become politically uncomfortable, he alleged. The Punjab government has consistently maintained that the sacrilege investigation is proceeding independently and that the SIT is carrying out its legal mandate. SIT officials have, however, remained silent on the reasons for summoning Sampla. Yet, political observers believe the summons cannot be viewed in isolation from Punjab’s changing electoral scenario. If the investigation has acquired political significance, it is because of who Vijay Sampla represents in Punjab politics. A former Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, former Punjab BJP president and former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Sampla remains one of the BJP’s most recognisable Dalit lead