Ajit Singh Bains used to be the most patriotic of Indians. He served fora decade as a member of the High Court for Punjab and Haryana states. But all this was before Bains, a Sikh, became a human rights campaigner. Today he fears that India doesn’t have much of a future as a single nation. “The Indian state is no longer democratic, secular or socialist. The government wants to rule by the aid of bullets. “There is unrest not only in Punjab and Kashmir, but in Assam, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh as well. The central government, now led by the politically weak cabinet of Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh, is trying a variety of techniques to deal with the crisis. Singh, a Hindu, recently visited Punjab to appeal for peace. He plans to return this month to take a weeklong walk through the province. Bains says such theatrics won’t work. He claims the rule of law has disappeared in Punjab under the weight of draconian measures that have locked up 15,000 Sikhs in their home state. “It’s a political problem. (The New Delhi government) is treating it like a law and order situation and things are getting worse. “The central government says it’s fighting Sikh militants by its tough actions, but Bains says the result has been to radicalize the majority of Sikhs. “The people want freedom,” he said. “The people have voted against State terrorism, against the siege of religious institutions.” The Sikhs’ Golden Temple in Amritsar, site of a bloody shootout in 1984, is today guarded by armed police who check people as they enter. “If there’s no change, India will disintegrate. Power must be decentralized. The government must recognize the multinational, multicultural nature of the country. If they don’t, India will be partitioned into many different countries.” India sees the hand of Pakistan behind much of the unrest, especially in the northwest states of Punjab and Kashmir. The issue is the main source of tensions between the two neighboring states, with India telling Pakistan to stop butting into its internal affairs.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 14, 1990
