The reappearance of the Delhi edition of the Indian Express after remaining out of publication for forty-seven days is most welcome. The reprehensible attack on the Express group, engineered and executed by the Indian rulers, left no one in doubt about the extent of the freedom enjoyed by the press in the so called Indian democracy. Freedom of the press is fundamental to a democratic ‘system. In fact, democracy can never take roots in a climate where rulers tend to grow hostile and revengeful when their misdeeds are exposed. The staff and the management of the Express group deserve congratulations for the Valiant fight that they put up against such repressive measures as raids, show cause notices, enquiries under the Companies Act, credit squeeze and withholding of imported machinery all aimed at stifling the voice of truth.
Yet in the context of the epic resistance and defiant resilience being put up by the Sikh youth in facing State terrorism, the Express group’s tenacity can at best be described as a mock-heroic. How pale and impotent appear raids, show cause notices etc. before the harrowing tale of deaths in torture cells, coldblooded murders in fake encounters and wanton destruction of homes and hearths all committed in the name of myths created and fostered by the rulers. Mr. Arun Shorie in his front page editorial says, “We have experienced many of us for the first time what it means to be dumb, what it means to have calumny upon columny heaped upon one and not have a voice to fix the lie”.
Sikhs have been subjected to slander after slander for a long time without ever a voice attempting to fix the lie. Mr. Shorie laments over the extent of incomprehension among the intellectual elite of the real issues and feels sore at the massive disinformation of the facts and deliberate clouding of the real issues. He looks forward to a time “when the dust settles down on the events, there is some professional and soul searching not to mention some attempts at intellectual honesty and clarity waiting to be undertaken”.
Mr. Shorieand others of his ilk need to do some real soul searching and ask themselves as to how much intellectual or professional honesty they have shown in dealing with the Sikh problem. How parrot like they have been repeating the canards spread by the ruling quarters rather than fixing the lie. Mr. Shorie has been vying with Sikhbaiters Giri Lal Jain in distorting and twisting the facts. Perhaps the experience will make Mr. Shorie review his own role and help to remove the communal bias that made him a party to the vicious campaign of maligning Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
The speed with which Sant Bhindranwale captured the imagination of the Sikh masses and emerged as a powerful leader who could never be tempted to compromise his principles so shook the rulers in Delhi that they conspired to expeditiously dispose of by hook or crook. To achieve this objective a well-orchestrated plan of disinformation was set in motion which found in Shorie and others willing and vocal accomplices. Disregarding Subramaniam Swamy’s categorical statement after his stay in the Golden Temple that no wanted men were hiding there, Mr. Shorie to this day continues to repeat the government story as faithfully as any crony of Rajiv Gandhi. The traumatic experience of forty seven days seems to have left Mr. Shorie a sadder and wiser a man and it is hoped that henceforth he will be more sensitive to the pain of others and demonstrate greater professional integrity. Since media is equally responsible for the present situation in Punjab, morality demands absolute intellectual honesty from people like Mr. Shorie. Otherwise history will record their names along with murderers like Ray and Ribeiro.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 18, 1987
