Chandra Shekhar, has in the opening days of his tenure, set the tone by arresting all the Akali leaders, banning the Sikh public convention in Anandpur Sahib which was scheduled for November 24 and ordering the governor to step up the already inhuman repression in Punjab.
This perhaps goes to show that Chandra Shekhar’s lifelong ambition of being prime minister having been fulfilled he is content to hang in there as long as he can without rocking the boat too much. In a house of over 500 members he had the support of only 56, many of whom were bought over by offers of ministerial posts and large sums of money.
Any serious leader would have tried a different approach in addressing the grave situation in Punjab. For the present approach of ruthless repression has been tried unsuccessfully for over a decade. It has in fact proved counterproductive from the Indian viewpoint as the Khalistan movement has made impressive gains. Chandra Shekhar needs only to look at the track record of his predecessor and new found benefactor Rajiv Gandhi to desist from oppressing the Sikhs any further. But then it may be Rajiv Gandhi himself who wields the whip these days. Hundreds of thousands have died at his behest.
‘What began as a simple demand for justice was turned into a struggle for independence, thanks largely to the pigheadedness of Indira Gandhi. She made the fatal error of desecrating Sikh holy places. It proved fatal not only for herself but for the artificial nation of India as well. After her, her baby faced pilot son proved even more insensitive and ruthless. Since 1984 Rajiv Gandhi has tried in vain to murder, maim and humiliate the Sikh nation with all the power at his command. Not a day was lost by his paramilitary forces to hunt down Sikhs.
Chandra Shekhar is Rajiv Gandhi’s dummy to be flung aside as and when the need arises. The series of cries generated by the well-meaning machinations of VP Singh which eventually sank him in the bog of his own creation are too much in the public mind. The solutions to the burning problems of India invariably involve taking from the rich minority and giving to the underprivileged minority. The fascist Brahmin Bania ruling class has duginits heels and will fight tooth and nail to preserve its ill-gotten gains. Rajiv, therefore, chose to make someone else face the situation.
The change of guard in Delhi will hardly affect the Sikh or Kashmiri struggles for freedom nor assuage the feelings of other minorities kicked about in “free” India since 1947. The ruling coterie is a blood sucking monster which changes its label once in a while, communist, socialist, Congress I Janata.
Chandra Shekhar, Rajiv Gandhi, Devi Lal have only one ideology self-preservation at any cost, under any name. How long can 900 million people, no matter how ignorant, be fooled? The limit in this case was 40 years. The 17 million Sikhs did not take that long nor did the Kashmiris, And others are gradually awakening to the reality that they have been used and abused by a mere 15% of the Brahmin Bania rulers.
The day is not far when India breaks up into the several nations which it really is. The Hindu fundamentalists have opened up two new fronts which will surely prove to be their undoing. The demolition of a 15th century mosque for a temple will alienate not only millions in India but rouse the ire of a rich Muslim nations which India visits with its begging bowl.
The Dalits who are the aboriginal people of India enslaved by the Hindus and a vast majority of the population have also begun to realize their enormous power can free them from the curse of the Hindu caste system forever.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 30, 1990
