Punjab Must March On Without Concealed Hatred And Prejudices By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Punjab Must March On Without Concealed Hatred And Prejudices

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

07 June, 2014
Countercurrents.org

Almost 30 years ago Punjab was burning and Sikh were the target of the
'nationalists'. The issue of Punjab and Sikh identity were much larger
and need a proper analysis whether the promises made during the
transfer of power were fulfilled or not. The demand for autonomy of
the states grew. On June 3rd, 1984, Indian army was asked to
'flush-out' 'terrorists' holed up in the campus of Golden Temple. No
news was coming in. The only resource for credible information was BBC
and its two reporters from India Marc Tulley and Satish Jacob who
reported the entire event boldly. Mrs Indira Gandhi came on All India
Radio and spoke to the nation about the necessity of 'army action' as
innocent lives were being lost in the firing from the Golden Temple
Complex.Many senior persons died including DIG J.S.Atwal who was
killed outside the complex when he came out from worshiping.

The problem was not about the gravity of the situation but why did it
happen and why was it allowed to go that much out of control ? Was
Congress unable to fight Akalis without creating an alternative of the
party. Was not Jarnail Singh Bhindarwale, a creation of former Chief
Minister and later home minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet before
becoming the president of India, Gyani Zail Singh ? These are serious
issues which reflect how we create such a situation for political
power and use the religious card.

The killings of innocent Hindus in Punjab had put the nation on brink
of a bigger disaster. The BSF and other paramilitary forces were
already there and we know what happen in war zones. There have
been huge human rights violation in Punjab during those days in the
name of fighting against insurgency. Punjab police became notorious in
collecting 'chanda' and innocent youths were arrested and dumped. The
real number of killed people is still not known. Punjab people still
feel emotional and hurt remembering those days when they were not just
pushed to the wall, when each one of them were made a 'terrorist' and
when the news media too played its dirty games in polarizing the
debate.

Operation Blue star was a highly mismanaged effort by the political
leadership of that time Mrs Indira Gandhi. Appeasing to the Hindu
fanaticism, she ordered the raid on the holiest shrines of Sikhs. It
was the greatest disaster though political leaders of mainstream
political parties supported the government action except for Mr
Chandra Shekhar.

The repercussions were wider and Sikhs felt betrayed. There was anger
and despair all over. There was revolt everywhere. Hundreds of people
were killed and a large part of the Golden Temple was also damaged. It
resulted in much bigger gap between the Sikhs and Hindus. The
political party of the day used the Hindu card for the power. The end
was more painful as Mrs Gandhi was assassinated in October 1984
creating more anger and violence against Sikhs all over the country
with Indian state simply turning into a Hindu state. The whole decade
of 1984 was great betrayal and disaster when for the power politics
such things were allowed to grow and ended up wounding the entire
community.

The issue of Punjab is not that simple to tell us that government had
no option to throw away the 'terrorist'. The first question should be
asked as who allowed them to gather there ? And whether Hindu fanatic
newspapers such Punjab kesari and its 'preaching' editors had no role
in igniting the communal passions. There is no doubt that every body
was playing political game right from Indira Gandhi to Akali Dal and
it ended up in greater disaster.

There are loads of lessons learnt from these dark chapters of our
history that it is the duty of the state to protect its citizen and
negotiations are the best way to resolve a crisis. Develop and support
democratic groups and individuals. It is important to understand why
Sikh psyche was hurt but rather than making any positive effort, every
Sikh was turned by the Hindu newspapers as terrorist. Those who have
witness those days can realise how painful it was. How uncertain the
life was for every one. It is time to move on. For the people also,it
is important not allow religious leaders to dominate your political
discourse. Punjab has seen the damage done to it.

It is time religious parties are kept aside and ask them to work for
the people and not to bring religion for their failure. Today on this
day, I can only say that let us move with peace and hope that whether
people dead for a cause or whether they were Indian soldiers who were
following the instructions of the state or whether they were innocent
people and Children, each death is a death. The families lose their
person. Hundreds of children became orphan, women were widowed, older
people lost their loved one. So, let us moan for each death and hope
that we will all agree that there is no solution to any problem
through guns and army. The only solution to human problems is through
negotiations and understanding each others in the spirit of give and
take. Also not to make the political goons as symbol of our 'national
pride' in the sense of making them identified with the community and
religion. It is time we monitor our political class and try to
understand from a rational perspective as how can the situation be
brought to under control. We must also be careful of the rumor
mongering machines who sale hatred. It is time to make them irrelevant
and it is possible only with a vibrant civil society and not through
religious organisations.

Let Punjab move on with peace and prosperity. Do not hand over your
dignity, freedom, love and compassion to political thugs. Let the
people remain vigilant to politics of opportunism. Let none die for
political gains of a few. This is the main theme of Operation Blue
Star. It was the saddest part that I as a young boy heard, listened
and saw. Hope we will learn better lessons from them and move ahead
without concealed hatred and prejudices. There are more important
issues in the state. Migration has not helped the people though it
might have helped a few. The violence against Dalits in the state
continue and Jat dominated Punjab religious leadership has not at all
addressed this issue resulting in huge growth of 'Deras' for the
Dalits and marginalized people.

The gender gap in the state is very high and a matter of concern. It
is rather shameful that a bold community like Sikhs have allowed this
happen in their society where people are killing their daughters.
Punjab's water level has depleted and farmers are in distress. They
are selling land and moving elsewhere. It is time that these issues
now become the major issue in Punjab and the beautiful inclusive state
should again show to the world that their model is much better and
powerful than the so called Gujrat model which was never inclusive.
Let Punjab prove that the real teachings of Gurus are secular to the
core and anti thesis of the brahmanical system which encouraged
superstition and discrimination based on your caste. It is time for
Punjab to rise and challenge all those who want to deviate from the
path of its glory by using religion for political gains. It is time to
marginalise those regressive political social forces who have kept
Punjab subjugated for long.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social and human rights activist.
He blogs at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com twitter @freetohumanity
Email: vbrawat@gmail.com