FROM the way the Indian authorities try and try again to nitrify the Sikhs around the world, one would suppose that the Sikhs are their sworn enemy. These Indian officials go to great lengths to discredit all Sikh activism, insisting that what may appear to the West as innocent dissent is in reality some ugly form of nihilism. Not surprisingly, the Indian legation are becoming increasingly more vigilant and alert to each and all Sikh activism for fear the Sikh cause may, inadvertently, become legitimized in the eyes of the outsiders.
For a long while the Sikhs have been their own worst enemy. Images of unbounded and uninhibited joy of a few of the Sikhs, sparked by the slaying of Mrs. Gandhi made overly King Kongish by color T.V. offended most Westerners. However, the tears of joy lasted only a couple of winks. As the eyes looked helplessly at the unpardonable deadly deeds in India’s streets which would have even put Satan to shame the teary water now seared the same eyes.
Flushed with anger, the Sikhs went every way, to whosoever will lend a sympathetic ear, to express their anguish. But the words that flowed from their lips were the words spoken in aggressive fury. For a people known for their tradition to appeal to the sword. their idiom of time reflects what the poet Khalil Gibran pictured as “a truth that has lost its temper”. But such hyperbolism pained the Western ears. Sadly, the West rushed to a conclusion believing that somehow the angry words will get translated into promised action. It is true that one measures another’s behavior or wrath in terms of one’s own moral code and mind culture, and when the two behaviors are not the same, one instinctively assumes the other to be moral. It was thus that the uncalled-for swashbuckler of some Sikhs lost for the many their well-meaning friends. By an odd quirk of fate the victim had become the malefactor. Sensing the falling away of West’s support for the Sikhs, the Indian authorities, with satanic cunning, quickly seized their opportunity to further smear the already soiled Sikh image. To this end gratuitous support came from an unexpected quarter. The 1985 Air India downing, off the Irish coast, intuitively awakened suspicions of Sikh complicity. Sikhs were the only game in town, and everyone took potshots at them. What of it, if one fifth of the dead happened to be Sikhs! Even the media spun yarns no less tantalizing than any in the Arabian Nights.
Everybody knows that Punjab is classified information and that no newsman dare speak his mind damned be the newsworthiness of the event for fear of being charged for sedition. Instead the Indian authorities calibrate, fine-tune and time-release information that would influence public opinion. For example, Hindu slayings resulting from violence of a personal nature are given high visibility, while Sikh killings, generally sanctioned for political ends, are greatly downplayed. Most people understand personal crime (murder), and abhor it; few people understand institutionalized killings (fake encounters) and generally accept these because they honestly believe that the State can do no wrong. The net effect is to promote mental linkage of Sikhs with terrorism. Tagging the Sikhs as “terrorists” in fact forced all Sikhs to an adamant tribal defensiveness. The Sikhs joined hands with one another to correct their distorted worth. For example, outsiders were invited to Gurdwaras to learn, at first hand, key, characteristics of Sikh religion and culture. Some Sikhs discovered the raw power of lobbying politicians, Others took to writing to show the large scale subversion of truth by the authorities.
Fearful of a change in focus on Punjab, with the consequent collateral damage to India’s image of a secular democracy, the Indian authorities mounted an offensive simultaneously on a number of fronts.
On the major front Congress (I) resolved to pierce Punjab’s heel of Achilles, that is its Punjabi character. From antiquity Punjab has been a secular land, Before they were Hindus, Sikhs, or Moslems, they were Punjabi first bound together by language, culture or tradition. Punjabis usually astonished other Indians for the uniqueness of their camaraderie. Now those centuries old bonds of “yaree” are becoming irreparably damaged. Cannily, the Congress (I) has intensified northern Hindu perceptions that they are the innocent victims of Sikh radicalism and that unless they become politically vocal and alive they, too, will surely go the way of an endangered species.
The killings in Punjab are of Punjabis, be they Hindus or Sikhs, even if the killers are generally assumed to be Sikhs. Hints that some of the killings may be the work of Pakistani agents wanting to make Punjab India’s Bangladesh, or that they bear the sinister hand of a Ultra-rightist Hindu group, dreaming of an imperial Hindu rule, are quickly brushed aside as being the stuff of fiction. Whichever way one looks at it, the killings are primarily politically motivated. A sense of betrayal pervades all over, founded on telltale signs — that go back to 1951 — what the Punjabi Hindus never truly identified their interests with those of Punjab, preferring instead the’ tutelage of the Center, and when the going got tough they Jumped ship. Now more than ever and unluckily for the Punjabis, the Congress (I) has hoodwinked the Punjabi Hindus by conjuring up the spectre of Khalistan, It was thus that the Punjabi Hindu peeled his skin of Punjabiness and bare his latent Hindu fundamentalism. Some concerned Punjabi Hindus are already stricken with nostalgia for Punjabiness which had set them apart from all other people. Now that it seems too late, these same concerned Punjabi Hindus are raising their voices, not so much to redeem their Punjabiness, but to cast the first stone. They lay the blame for the loss of Punjabiness squarely on the Akali Dal. Yes, to an extent Akali Dal can be faulted for failing to draft their twin brother (Punjabi Hindu) in their quest for seeking realignment of the powers of governance. However, to make the Akalis the scapegoat is a “lame and impotent conclusion” (Shakespeare), an excuse to rid one of one’ s guilt. The beginnings of the schism are rooted in times past. However, the critical rot set in soon after independence. All along the Punjabi Hindus have been less the practitioners of their religion than most other people. Now some frenetic questioned their fidelity, and in time the Punjabi Hindu got forced in the throe of an identity crisis. Being Punjabi was not enough it did not nourish his alter ego, his compact with Hinduism. Fora time the Punjabi Hindu flirted between his wanting to remain a Punjabi and his natural pull to Hinduism. And it was the Congress (I) which finally put an end to this flirtation by forcing him to forsake his Punjabiness. Though fiercely faithful to their religion, the Sikhs are also staunchly loyal to Punjab, since in their eyes Sikhism and Punjab are inseparably indivisible. Their history has molded them into a closely-knit land. Even though long treated as a step child of India, Sikhs have continued to do well owing to their ambitiousness, self-reliance and hard work. For example, an inordinate number of Sikhs form the higher ranked officer cadre while many more are to be found as administrators. technocrats and entrepreneurs. Raising the specter of Khalistan, the Congress (1) has placed these eluent Sikhs. most of whom serve at the Center’s pleasure. in a quandary. Indians remind these Sikhs that they owe their ultimate loyalty to India, never mind that India is getting less and less secular and more and more Hinduised. Of course, these Sikhs have been put in a spot, not unlike a child made to choose between one parent or the other while living under the same roof. Such a Hobson’s choice has exacted too heavy a price. Although some of the Sikhs have chosen to sink into a painful silence, suffering quietly the barbs of communal stigma, others have boldly decided to hang together. with their Congress (I) sponsors. It was from among these quisling that the Indian authorities built up their intelligence network. : On another vital front the Congress (I) has sought to create disharmony within the Sikhs. To divide the house against itself, knowing full well that Sikhs are a tightly knit group, the Congress (1) realized that they will need to recruit agent provocateurs from within the community. The instigators were charged principally with the task of so destabilizing their Sikh community that faithful Sikhs would fail to form any coherent, worthy opposition. These mischief-makers toyed with the historical and geopolitical inner conflicts to deepen the feud among the various Sikh subgroups. Except for their getting together regularly at the Gurdwara for prayer services. when they all merge into one the Sikh panth Sikhs have seldom formed themselves into organized groups of any other kind. However, in hot blood because of the Bluestar and the November carnage. and deeply agitated, the Sikhs set afloat various societies, associations and what not for divers purposes, from religious renewal and political reforms from one end to separatism on the other end, Although well-intentioned, these Sikhs suffered’ from infirmity of purpose. Unschooled in the art or organizing, and suffering from bloated egos, these Sikhs got into each others way. One problem is that each one of the Sikhs wanted to be a chief, no one wished to be a soldier, something condemned by the Sikh tenet of “kar seva”. Another problem is the questioning of one another’s intent and motives. It was thus that the Sikh cause got lost in a cacophony of quarreling voices.
The deepening disarray and the lack of unity of purpose made it simpler for the agent provocateurs to infiltrate all of the various Sikh bodies. In some cases they even took outright charge of the organization. But their major thrust was directed towards taking over the control and management of Gurdwaras. A Sikh temple is the only place where all of the Sikhs get together regularly making it easier to size up the temper and general thinking of the congregation. Also, Gurdwaras can be easily turned into hotbeds of intrigues to destabilize the community; and, management can select what needs to be said from the pulpit to try and sway the gathering. After all is said and done, it is the Gurdwara treasury which is of all absorbing concern, based on a false belief that temple funds are somehow funneled to aid and abet separatism. Slowly but surely the Sikhs are getting wise to those who are the fifth columnist. Some of the suspects are now keeping a low profile while others are acting as informants. Having lost these valuable insiders and worried of being upstaged in the West by some Sikh group or the other causing untold embarrassment the Indian strategy is to warn the West against recognition of any one of these groups fearing that it will legitimize the Sikh cause. Failing friendly persuasion, the Indians then go all out to belittle the Sikh groups hoping for their being blacklisted. The irony is that in disowning the Sikhs, the Congress (I) are indirectly endorsing the Sikh view that, as a minority they are treated as second-class citizens. Se India’s paranoia reached scandalous heights at the First International Immigrants Parade, held in New York in mid-October, 1986, when the Indian delegation staged a noisy walkout from Marriot Marques Hotel in protest not only for the inclusion of Sikhs as a distinct group but also for allowing them to fly “Nishan Sahib”, the Sikh religious flag. Apart from bad manners, the Indian delegate showed an abysmal lack of knowledge of history considering that many of the Sikh participants originated from countries other than India (e.g. East Africa, Fiji) and who have never ever held Indian citizenship. As for the Nishan Sahib, it flies from rooftop of every Gurdwara in India without being viewed as embodying the spirit of Khalistan. It was all there for everyone to see “the emperor’s new clothes”. India’s indecorum will be viewed by sensible people as being more dangerous than bemusing.
Another of the critical front opened by Congress (1) is to send on a mission to the West, so-called goodwill ambassadors, consisting mainly of “prominent” Sikhs, for unabashed propaganda. Post Bluestar and under the aegis of Rajiv a number of organizations have mushroomed into existence (Sikh Forum, Punjab Unity Forum et al). Committed to a single plank, they try to deal with one or another of the Sikh issues. Their primary purpose is to sell India’s viewpoints on Punjab and on Sikhism and to encourage reconcilement between Hindus and Sikhs, but on India’s terms.
Lest they are accused of acting as India’s proxy, these Sikh missions avoid making themselves conspicuous. Drawn mainly from the intelligentsia or from the ranks of high-profile political’ posts, their mission is to influence and win friends for India. These showcase Sikhs are Rajiv’s answer to score over the offshore Sikhs and talk one around into believing that everything is hunky-dory with the health of the nation. Suave, knowledgeable, articulate and noted for having written a number of highbrow books, these Sikh delegates hope to tum the scale.
Packaged into two groups, these missions have been drafted to mount a two-pronged assault on the minds and hearts of their audience. One group is made up of star quality politicians some have been even dug out of retirement who are usually courted by some Indian association or the other, almost always at the urging of their local Indian legation, to address. open forums midst noisy loyalists. As always, these meetings are marked by a conspicuous absence of a majority of the Sikhs who. refuse to turn Iscariot. The other group is composed of academicians who are invited by some university or college, usually egged on by a resident Indian professor, to participate in panel discussions on the problems of Sikhs in Punjab. All this leads one to believe, Congress (I) disclaimers to the contrary, that the Punjab Sikh battle is being fought across the seas.
Pre Bluestar no one in the West had ever heard of any Sikh missionary from India trying to chalk talk to Westerners on Sikhism or on Punjab. Why now? Because unlike the past India can no longer create a crucible of shifting alliances and abrupt betrayals within the Sikh ranks. And as the offshore Sikhs assume a more threatening visage, India will keep on sending caravan upon caravan of Sikh missions to try and reverse the swelling tide.
The offshore Sikhs is not unlike Menschen’s cynic who “smells flowers, looks around for a coffin”. Why? Because he sees no genuine exchange of views. For example, no Westerner savants have been invited to India to talk to Indians about proven Western concepts such as human rights, rule of law, social justice or separation of powers. It stretches the imagination to see the Indian intelligentsia hard at work on redundant issues overseas when they should spend that time and effort in tidying up their own yard.
For example, Congress (I) alleged terrorists (Bhagat, Tytler, Shastri), the architects of the ’84 November carnage sit in inner sanctum sanctorum while Julius Ribeiro is reenacting the Gunfight at the OK Corral in the fields of Punjab. The killing of Sikh you thin fake encounters, death by torture of Sikh suspects, and the alleged slow arsenic poisoning of Sikh internees in Rajasthan prisons, goes unchallenged. Commission of Inquiry reports Mathew and Justice Venkataramiah on Chandigarh; Mishra Commission on November ’84 carnage; and even the Thakkar report on Mrs. Gandhi’s slaying have all been hidden from view including that of the Lok Sabha, the supreme Indian constitutional authority. Incidentally no one seems to have lifted an eyebrow when the Mishra Commission, for example, held its meetings in camera and denied tights of cross-examination or access to documents to any of the civil right groups.
Congress (I) has repeatedly gang raped India’s fragile democracy. In cahoots with powerful criminal bosses a legacy of Sanjay Gandhi Congress (I) has shamelessly turned India into a kingdom. The brutal prejudiced handling of the situation in Punjab, rooted in caste vote consciousness, has dented India’s moral stature and credibility. In not seeing the warmth in the rose, Congress (I) Sikh loyalists very likely have been duped by Rajiv Gandhi into believing that communal harmony is just around the corner. If so, these gullible Sikhs appear to be no different from the rabbit, who in an eye to eye encounter with a snake gets so mesmerized, that it instantly freezes in its tracks, knowing full well that it is at death’s door but unable to shake off its paralytic stupor.
Flushed with anger, the Sikhs went every way, to whosoever will lend a sympathetic ear to express their anguish. But the words that flowed from their lips were the words spoken in aggressive fury.
Most people understand personal crime (murder), and abhor it; few people understand institutionalized killings (fake encounters) and generally accept these because they honestly believe that the State can do no wrong.
Unschooled in the art of organizing and suffering from bloated ego, these Sikhs got into each others way.
One problem is that each one of the Sikhs wanted to be a chief, no one wished to be a soldier.
Before they were Hindus, Sikhs, or Moslems, they were Punjabi first bound together by language, culture or tradition. Punjabis usually astonished other Indians for the uniqueness of their camaraderie. Now those centuries old bonds of “yaree” are becoming irreparably damaged.
Some concerned Punjabi Hindus are already stricken with nostalgia for Punjabiness which had set them apart from all other people. Now that it seems too late, these same concerned Punjabi Hindus are raising their voices, not so much to redeem their Punjabiness, but to cast the first stone.
Although some of these Sikhs have chosen to sink into a painful silence, suffering quietly the barbs of communal stigma, others have boldly decided to hang together with their Congress (1) sponsors. It was from among these quislings that the Indian authorities built up their intelligence network.
These showcase Sikhs are Rajiv’s answer to score over the offshore Sikhs and talk one around into believing that everything is hunky-dory with the health of the nation. Suave, knowledgeable, articulate and noted for having written a number of highbrow books, these Sikh delegates hope to turn the scale.
In cahoots with powerful criminal bosses a legacy of Sanjay Gandhi Congress (I) has shamelessly turned India into a kingdom, The brutal prejudiced handling of the situation in Punjab, rooted in caste vote consciousness, has dented India’s moral stature and credibility.
The irony is that in disowning the Sikhs, the Congress (1) are indirectly endorsing the Sikh view that, as a minority they are treated as second-class citizens.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 2, 1987
