In its desperation to hang on to its richest and most productive colony of Punjab, India has again rushed in the army to assist the hundreds of thousands of paramilitary forces and police personnel. This is how the demand to end the repression on innocent women and children by the state has been met. The only foreseeable result of this action will be further suffering for the people of Punjab.
India is hastening its own fate of eventual fragmentation. Sikh history is replete with examples of more and more Sikhs taking up arms in the face of tyranny and oppression. In fact, that can be said to be the essence of Sikh history.
The memory of the invasion of the Sri Harmandir Sahib and destruction of the Akal Takht by the Indian army is burned into the psyche and memory of every Sikh as if it had happened only yesterday. The horror and the pain refuse to go away. The Sikhs know that there is only one remedy for this heartbreaking pain total freedom to practice their religion and way of life in their own land.
The hypocrisy of Delhi knows no bounds. On the one hand there is talk every day of bringing Sikh nationalists to the negotiating table while steps are taken to strengthen the repressive machinery on the other. The longer Delhi refuses to address the Khalistan issue, the more ground it loses. Today the Indian army is out in Kashmir, Assam, Punjab and several parts of Uttar Pradesh. Tomorrow, there will not be enough army to send out to all the areas where discontent with Delhi’s high handedness simmers. The Sikhs and Muslims are not the only victims of Delhi’s petty arrogance and facism. This the current state of affairs in “the democratic and secular republic of India.”
Sikh nationalist leaders are more and more asserting themselves at the expense of Delhi’s authority over Punjab. They have proved time and again that it is their writ which is the law of the land. Chandra Shekhar issued a few insipid, unoriginal and spineless statements on Punjab proving that all he desired was the status quo. Sending the army to Punjab is definitely the word of his master Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi refuses to see the reality or even to learn from his own blunders. In the years after his mother, Rajiv tried every trick in the book to crush, humiliate and kill all Sikhs. He refuses to recognize that his efforts have had the exact opposite effect. The Sikh freedom movement grew stronger. There are only a few Sikhs left who may not harbor feelings of bitterness towards their neocolonial masters. These we leave in the care and charge of Rajiv Gandhi to send to our fold.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 14, 1990
