The circle has turned full Circle. Mann is out of favor in Delhi. The goodwill gestures are now to be replaced by tough measures under the protection of an extended President’s rule, Actually, Mann’s political fortunes had been decided some time ago itself. The euphoria of the postelection scene had rapidly dispelled. The new Panthic committee containing the Babbar Khalsa, Khalistan Commando Force, Khalistan Liberation Force and the AISSF (Daljit group) took up a position against the assembly election fever.
Since it now commands decisive say in the matter of armed Resistance, with Baba Manochal more or less sidelined, this position had a telling effect. It’s assassination of Harminder Sandhu and the AISSF Sukhwant Singh spread its position through terror. Meanwhile the Manjit Singh faction of the AISSF locked in a contradiction with the Baba Joginder Singh’s UAD was forced to keep this aside and join up under the aegis of the Damdami Taksal to face the threat of the new Panthic Committee. On the other hand Baba Manochal linked up with the dominating capitulations trend in the Taksal. The scene was set for armed conflict and resolution of the collaborationist and militant trends within the Khalistan movement. The rapid pace of these developments has left Mann marginalised and of low value for Delhi.
On the other hand, an election in Punjab will definitely push one or other section of Akalis, most probably Mann and his people or the Baba faction into power, even in this marginalised state. Like the Lok Sabha elections, the assembly poll would also be used by the masses to pass their verdict against state terrorism. Even while they have no faith or expectation of Mann and Co. and others, they would become the medium to express this verdict. In that event, Delhi would be faced with an Akali government which has really no significance political influence within Punjab but is forced to ease the suppression campaign. It seems the shift in the National Front’s stand has resulted from such calculations, actively promoted by the BJP and the CPM.
Mann is now talking about preach of faith and is making a big noise about the issue of wearing a kirpan within the Parliament. His meeting held in Delhi was attended by Laldenga and even a representative of the LTTE, who declared their support to the Sikh cause. But the new enthusiasm over the struggle against Delhi is suspicious. Just a month back or so, Mann was actively engaged in trying to persuade the Kashmiri militants to withdraw their struggle. Reports indicate that he was released from jail following an undertaking with the previous Rajiv government. Anyway, what remains are the fact that the collaborationist trend is still forced to speak in terms of struggle. Neither the situation in Punjab nor Delhi’s demands allow them to come out with an openly capitulationism position. Now that Mann has formally broken away from the National Front, he could very well move closer to the new Panthic Committee for sheer existence and to improve his bargaining power. Such strange combinations are nothing new in Punjab.
The new Panthic Committee is proving to be as committed to purely militarist approach as its predecessor. Its killing of Sandhu was an example. The cloud of being a suspected agent hung over Sandhu till his end. But all the same, in the brief period he was out of jail, he had tried to articulate a plan of action to translate the Khalistan ideal into a mass movement. Since it has no such plans of its own, the new Panthic committee’s action of killing him as a collaborator seems to be equally directed against such ideas. The call of one of its members, AISSF (Daljit), to drive out Hindu students from professional colleges, clearly shows that no lesson has been learned from the past, A sharp criticism in Paigam and condemnation by the DPSU has provoked threatening letters. So too is the Paigam’s criticism of the Sandhu assassination.
In the field of armed struggle, the new Panthic Committee has scored some major victories. A number of hated, torture tyrants have been executed in daring actions showing good support from within the police forces. Despite the continuing high toll of ‘encounter’ deaths, ambushes, actions against paramilitary forces have gone up. But these gains are still offset by the reactionary incidents of killing and terrorising the masses and the dominating militarist anarchy. It is not surprising that none of the militant factions or AISSF have done anything about the struggle in neighboring Kashmir, Similarly they are giving a silent welcome to the World Bank inspired Pepsi project.
(The Mass Line)
Article extracted from this publication >> June 1, 1990
