Pro-India politicians have drawn a great deal of comfort from the conduct of ‘panchayat election in Punjab. Chief Minister Beant Singh calls it restoration of democracy and by implication discredits the February boycott of election I) the Punjab Assembly by Sikh groups as negation of democracy. According to Indian “media, the senate of the state of New Jersey in the U.S.A. bas adopted a resolution to honor Beant Singh for “guiding the state to an 80% reduction of terrorism” in Punjab. The term “80% appears to have been derived from the official Indian statement that 80% voters in Punjab turned up to cast their votes in last week’s poll.

‘It should be noted that the senators of the ‘State’ of New Jersey are minor legislators not members of the U.S. Congress, where in fact, senior members like Dan Burton, Vic Fazio, John Doolittle and Gary Condit have recently petitioned the U.S. state department to invite independent observation of the Punjab clecuons. There is a lot of misunderstanding in the west regarding the nature of the Indian state generally and its behavior towards the minorities notably Sikhs and Muslims. India is viewed as a democratic state where voters have freedom to choose the government of their liking. From this springs the western surprise at the call of boycott of elections by the Sikhs in Punjab. Any call for boycott in the west is seen “as an attack on democracy. This belief is far-removed from the reality on the ground. The public opinion makers in the west must have a Closer look at the Indian scene. They must analyze in greater depth the Indian political phenomenon. A simple point that must attract their attention is the result of the Indian elections, how come the Indian democracy produces Brahmans, who hardly constitute 1% of the Country’s population, as leaders administrators, judges and the like in such disproportionate number? This alone must give a clue to the social system India has been enmeshed in. The plain fact is that a very vast majority of Indian population is still without any meaningful social and political consciousness lo assert its rights. In fact hundreds of millions of the multitude in India are without a proper religion of their own. The exceptions are Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and perhaps Tamils. Brahmanism has used education, media and intellectual for a to impose a system of graded slavery for centuries. It is actually a misnomer to say that Hindus in India are in majority. They constitute hardly 15% of the population. This small minority treats 85% of the population as slaves and a part of the lowest strata of the Hindu faith. The system has an inbuilt mechanism to ensure the maintenance of the status quo in all vital spheres of Indian life. Thus the Indian electoral politics has predestined results: In reality, the Indian democracy in content is hollow. That is why there have been calls for boycott of elections now in Punjab, then in Assam and so on. The widespread boycott of the Republic Day celebrations in Kashmir, Assam, Delhi, Manipur, Punjab and elsewhere is a phenomenon closely related to the people’s attitude towards elections and the functioning of the Indian democracy The February boycott of Punjab election by the Sikh militants was aimed at recording their profound dissatisfaction with the Indian state and its democracy and ‘not to renounce democracy as such. The reality is that the society in Punjab historically has been too democratic to allow any loss of faith in this institution by any section of the population. Panchayats are expression of the masses’ faith in democracy. The panchayats have been in existence for centuries in Punjab. Election has very little to do with the panchayat system as such. The panchayat must Continue with or without election organized by the Indian state. Historically,  panchayats symbolized the unity of the rural society. The Indian state has never liked Punjab’s rural monolith called the panchayat system. Sikhs have all along _ encouraged rural unity and consensus but the Indian state has tried to make inroads _ through factionalism promoted by the corrupt Indian electoral system. India has sought to use the panchayat system to promote the police state while the militants and other Sikh groups have tied to strengthen the rural unity to protect their human isn’t for the first time that 80% of voters exercised their voting rights. The Massive popular participation in panchayat election is a tradition rather than an exception. No one boycotted the panchayat election nor any one will ever do it. In fact, the Indian state robbed the panchayat election of democratic content by Permitting the Punjab police to arrest thousands of candidates and to install puppet I Sarpanchs and panches at many places. Mention must be made of the arrest of former education minister Sukhjinder Singh and his son by the Bhulath police in ‘Kapurthala district to frustrate the electoral chances of Sukhjinder Singh’s son in the panchayat election of their village. Sukhjinder Singh, it must be recalled, was one of the few. Akali Jeaders who had favored participation in the February Assembly election. Yet the police arrested him and his son. The explanation is that any. One speaking against the police excesses must become its target. The massive police intervention in the panchayat election is a grim reminder of the force’s tude towards the Assembly election. The panchayats do not exercise any political power but the Assembly does. One can only imagine the amount of rigging should have been indulged in by the Indian security forces had the Sikh political groups participated in the February poll. ‘The conclusion that the mass participation in the panchayat election amounts to restoration of democracy is devoid of any basis. The conclusion is sinister because ‘it dubs Sikhs as antidemocratic. This is far from correct. That is why most Sikh groups recently apprised the U.S. ambassador in Delhi of the vast rigging by the Indian state in the panchayat election. The Sikhs very much want democracy, areal.

semi line democracy and not fake democracy. The Indian state has vested interests in controlling democracy to fit in it’s could of unity and integrity of the country. The Sikh over ground representatives sought the U.S. administration’s help in organizing a genuine poll under the U.N. supervision to decide the future of this troubled State. The senate of New Jersey would do well not to honor the butcher of Sikhs and democracy but to insist on the restoration of democracy through an election under the supervision of the United Nations. Let the New Jersey senate first send a team of investigators to Punjab to know the truth first hand. The senators must also ask the Indian state as to why it is not permitting the Amnesty International to hold investigations in in Punjab. Then only should they decide to honor Beant Singh, The senate has been misguided in its resolution on the Punjab panchayat election.

Article extracted from this publication >>  January 29, 1993