Dear Sardar Simranjit Singh Ji Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh

History, as you already know, is a strange discipline, it demands that it should not be forgotten. It also dictates that if benefit of humankind is to be obtained, it should not be repeated. This is evident more than anywhere else in the events of Punjab especially since 1947 when partition was heaped upon the Land of Five Rivers and we the Sikhs were compelled to pay the highest price for the withdrawal of British domain from South Asia. Freedom that was promised to us and, indeed, to all the various peoples of India has remained an empty illusion with all the trappings of a democratic State. In reality, however, and you know it better than many, the regime that runs the affairs of the peoples of South Asia from New Delhi is repressive, oppressive and tyrannical. It is not so because the people who sit in the chairs of authority are tyrants or perverts. It is so because they themselves have become tools within a system that cannot survive without dividing the society between the tyrannized and the tyrant. I am talking about the system that confuses a “market” with a nation; marketing strategies with politics; and rationalization of market forces with progress. For such a system to exist and to thrive, it is essential that the identities of diverse peoples be suppressed under the yoke of economic, political, cultural, academic and psychological domination. In fact an in effect, the Union of States called India can survive only if it becomes and remains the purveyor of uniformity under the guise of unity.

It is my considered opinion but then you know better than I do because you are at the grassroots that New Delhi will not further amend the Constitution to keep Punjab under the President’s Rule. The last time round, Rajiv Gandhi and his party needed time for reorganization in the electioneering process in Punjab. Hence they supported the Government. This time they will force the hands of Vishwanath Pratap Singh. And the voter of Punjab would once again be placed in the position of either quietly acquiescing to the tyranny of domination or throwing up a challenge. Which way the vote is cast will depend upon the awareness the leaders can impart and the platforms they can erect. The flow of history places upon your shoulders today that unenviable responsibility. It is for you to choose between the two on the one hand creating in Punjab a platform that is dedicated to reorganization of power structures in South Asia and on the other, submitting to existing structures and forces. The former is the need of history. The latter is merely a personal convenience.

 Any movement of Punjab and I would include the Khalistan Movement in them has always been the vanguard movement of revolution in that area, this is true since recorded history. Yet, since 1947, when the British left India, every peaceful protest in Punjab has been throttled mercilessly. Anandpur Sahib Resolution has been branded a terrorist document inspite of the fact that its contents are not very much different from the terms of reference for the Sarkaria Commission. The years of negotiations and hope during which Alexander II (who now sits in Tamil Nadu Rajbhavan) inspired every sabotage to frustrate any kind of settlement led to the terrible events of June and November 1984. Someday, when the dust has crystallized, we would know the reasons for the massacre of Amritsar on the birthday of Guru Arjun Dev ji. The much acclaimed accord signed by Rajiv Gandhi and Longowal was, on the face of it, unworkable ab initio. Yet it is true that both of them had the advantage of best legal minds of the sub-continent if they so wished. The series of events that has since then followed shows quite conclusively that New Delhi is not resolving the conflict in Punjab because in that case it will have to give in to the will and wish of the people of Punjab. It must colonize the State. It must make the State submit. It is also clear from events in Punjab that the freedom movement there is not going to abate. Inspite of inhuman repression, the peoples of Punjab have kept the flame of freedom alive by supporting those who have laid down their lives to protect this flame. Time and suffering has hardened the people of Punjab. Give them patience and tolerance. And while the regimes in New Delhi come and go, the people of Punjab are going to be there at the end of time. The Sikhs met in a Sarbat Khalsa in the prescient’s of Akal Takht Sahib and they proclaimed to the world that enough was enough. They wanted independence. They wanted sovereignty. They wanted the right to life with dignity. That was the historic day of 26th January 1986. This struggle like many before is the vanguard struggle for the peoples of South Asia to awaken, to stand up and be counted; to express their emotional and cultural difference and recognize them in others; and then come together on a common platform to achieve that which is for the common good without subjugation of any peoples. That was, indeed, the spirit of Sikh faith Sarbat Da Bhala. In order to achieve that, the yoke of New Delhi has to be removed not only from Chandigarh but from all the other capitals of the Union of States.

The Sikhs all over the world either individually or in groups have been active for some time now to create external pressures that will give life blood to the struggle in Punjab. The Government of India has publicly proclaimed its interest in resolving the conflict in Punjab. Yet, in reality, no administration in New Delhi could take the bold step of vacating aggression against the people of Punjab. It is this internal paradox within the ruling philosophy in New Delhi irrespective of who is in power that creates inner tensions. An example is the relationship of the Government with BJP. These inner dissensions destroy the fabric of issue based politics and encourage the cult of personality. I am sure it is not hidden from you that in the last decade there has been a constant overflow of Sikh leaders who have been hailed and then nailed. However, the vacuum created by Delhi needs to be filled. And it will not as it cannot be filled by the one that becomes the leader of the quom. To fill that vacuum we all need the sevadar of the quom in its real sense and interpretation. Any person who creates the means and the platform for achieving the aspirations of the people expressed democratically like, for instance on 26th January 1986 at the Sarbat Khalsa will be the one who would become that Sevadar. If you opt for that path, then my best wishes go with you.

Jagjit Singh Chohan

 NEW DELHI: A producer of the government owned television network “Doordarshan” station in Bombay alleged to have accumulated assets worth over Rs 2.8 million is among 142 government Officials against whom the corruption cases have been registered.

Article extracted from this publication >> August 17, 1990