The Sikhs are known for their love and struggic for freedom. This new policy the Sikhs feel is aptly described by Machiavelli’s observations (II) “Those states which have been acquired or accustomed to live at liberty under their own laws there are three ways of holding them. The first is to despoil them; the second is to go and live there in person; the third is to allow them to live under their own laws taking tribute of them and creating within the country a government composed of a few who will keep it friendly to you. Because this government being created by the Prince knows that it cannot exist without his friendship and protection will do all it can to keep them.” We shall see if the events of the subsequent years justify the feelings and apprehensions of the Sikhs.

The struggle starts:

Following this complete change in the Central policy and disregard of its commitments the Sikhs started an agitation for creation of a Punjabi speaking linguistic state in the North West. The Congress had been committed to creating homogenous linguistic states in the country and reorganizing provincial boundaries. Accordingly a States Reorganization commission was set up to propose boundaries of new linguistic states. But strangely enough while it recommended the for nation of other linguistic states it specifically suggested that Punjabi linguistic state should not be formed. Another indication of central policy was that in 1956 instead of forming a Punjabi linguistic state as in other areas it merged the Pepsu State in which the Sikhs were in a majority in Eastern Punjab thereby reducing the Sikhs to a minority in the new state. The struggle for Punjabi speaking linguistic state continued for over a decade. In 1965 the war with Pakistan broke out and against all apprehensions the Sikhs suspended their agitation and wholeheartedly supported the war effort. This they did in the national interest merely on a promise of the Prime Minister that their demand would be considered later on. The Sikh contribution to the War was so impressive both by the people and the soldiers that after the War the Prime Minister appointed a Parliamentary Committee to report regarding the formation of a Punjabi speaking state. At the same time the Congress Party also resolved that a linguistic Punjabi speaking state should be carved out of the then Punjab. But it is very interesting and revealing to know of the mind of Mrs. Indira Gandhi then Information Minister and Sh Gulzari Lal Nanda the then Home Minister to the Government of India who was at the government level to give effect to the proposal of the Parliamentary Committee. Hukam Singh (12) then Speaker of the Lok Sabha writes: :

The Prime Minister was reported to have observed on November 261982 when releasing some books published by the Delhi Gurdwara Committee (HT. Nov 27) that “When the Punjabi speaking State was formed the suggestion made by the committee headed by S. Hukam Singh had been accepted. This was not so. According to her statements in My Truth (p.117)”Unfortunately Mr. Shastri had made S. Hukam Singh the Speaker of the Lower House Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Punjabi Suba although he was very biased in favour of Punjabi Suba……..

I went to Mr Chavan and said I had heard that S. Hukam Singh was going to give a report in favour of Punjabi Soba and that he should

Once the Prime Ministers appointee had declared himself in favour of Punjabi Suba how could we get out of it .

Mrs Gandhi along with Mr. Chavan could see Mr. Shastri with much difficulty and when they did Mr. Shastri just said he was fully in touch with the situation and we need not bother. (p. 118 ). “But I was very bothered and 1 went around seeing everybody. Of course once the report came it was too late to change it.” “Lal Bahadur Shastri continued the policy of Jawahar Lal Nehru and was as dead against the demand of Punjabi Suba as was Nehru. So when he was urged upon by Mrs. Gandhi to stop Hukam Singh he did not waste any time Mr Shastri called Mr Gulzari Lal Nanda then Home Minister to his residence and conveyed to him the concern about the feared report. I was contacted on the telephone. Mr. Shastri disclosed that Mr Nanda was with him and had complained that he had suggested my name ( Hukam Singh) for the Chairmanship of the parliamentary committee under the mistaken impression which he had formed during a casual talk with me that I believed that Punjabi Suba would not be of any advantage to the Sikhs ultimately but that now I appeared determined to make a report in its favour.”

Government’s intention:

I answered that the facts were only partly true I had told Mr. Nanda that Punjabi Suba would not ultimately be of much advantage to the Sikhs. But I had also added that the issue had by then become one of sentiment and had roused emotions Therefore it was not possible to argue with much less to convince any Sikh about the advantages or disadvantages of Punjabi Suba Every Sikh considered the denial as discrimination. I further enquired from Mr. Shastri whether I had not expressed the same opinion to him and his answer was in the affirmative. I myself offered to confront Mr. Nanda by immediately rushing to Mr. Shastri’s residence but he said there was noticed This disillusioned me. The intention of the Govt. then was to use me against my community secure an adverse report and then reject the demand.” “The Govt. has never seen merit in any Sikh demand. The Das Commission in 1948 recommended postponement of reorganization on the plea inter alia that if once begun in the South it might intensify the demand by Sikhs in the North. The J.V.P. Committee (Jawaharlal Vallabh Bhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya) when reviewing the Das report gratuitously remarked that no question of rectification of boundaries in the provinces of Northern India should be raised at the present moment whatever the merit of such a proposal might be.” “And this became the future policy. Nehru stuck to it Shastri continued the same and Indra Gandhi has made no departure.” “Every effort was made by Mrs. Gandhi Mr. Shastri and Mr. Nanda to stop me from making my report.— “Why the government had been so strongly against the parliamentary committee making a report in favour of Punjabi Suba and why MFS Gandhi had felt bothered and ran about seeing everybody to stop Hukam Singh” has been explained by Mrs. Gandhi herself. “The Congress found itself in a dilemma to concede the Akali demand would mean abandoning a position to which it was firmly committed and letting down its Hindu supporters in the Punjabi Suba (p.117 My Truth).” The government has always been very particular about not “letting down its Hindu supporters.  The Congress could not depend upon Sikh voters and out of political considerations could not suffer losing Hindu votes also. Therefore the Congress failed to do justice to the Sikhs.” “The first schedule of the Regional Committee Order 1957 contained Ropar Morinda and Chandigarh assembly constituencies in Ambala district in the Punjab region.”

The subsequent reference to the Shah Commission was loaded heavily against Punjab. Making the 1961 census as the basis and the tehsil as the unit was a deliberate design to punish the Sikhs. The language return in the 1961 census was on communal lines Therefore the demarcation had to be on a communal rather than on a linguistic basis.”  “Consequently merit was again ignored and justice denied. Naturally tensions between the two communities increased. If the Sachar formula worked out in 1949 had been accepted there would not have been any further conflict if the Regional Formula had been allowed to be implemented there would not have been any further discontent. And if Punjabi Suba had been demarcated simply on a linguistic basis and not on false returns in 1961 there would not have been any extremist movement.”

It clearly shows that the demand for a linguistic state a policy which was an old one with the Congress and which had been implemented in the rest of India was to be denied in the Punjab because Sikhs would become a majority there and come in power under the democratic process. Hence forward it would seem that the Central Government has been following the three pronged policy of despoiling Punjab ruling it by stooge governments and imposing the Presidents rule if and when by the democratic process anon-Congress government came into power in the state The subsequent history of the Punjab has been just a struggle between the Sikhs historically known for their love of liberty and the Centre pursuing the above policy. Both

Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Shri Nanda were concerned and worried about the proposal for a Punjabi Suba having been accepted by the Congress. The proposal had been conceded after over fifty thousand Sikhs had courted arrest and scores had died during the peaceful agitation.

A Sub State Created:

The Parliamentary Committee having recommended the creation of a Punjabi Suba the Home Minister got passed an Act the Punjab Reorganization Act 1966 which in its implication was not only a denial to Punjab of a status equal to that of other states in the country but also involved a permanent ceiling on the economic social and political growth of the state and its people. The Act had the following crippling provisions and limitations:

1: For the development of every State in India two things are basic namely water and energy. As it is Punjab because of its rivers and very great hydel power potential is fortunate. Under the Constitution of India and everywhere under international law and practice Irrigation and Power are state subjects (Item 17 of the State List read with Article 246 of the Constitution). These are under the exclusive executive and legislative jurisdiction of the states. But by the provision of Section 78 to 80 Reorganization Act the as unconstitutionally kept the intendance and development of waters hydel power of the Punjab rivers this was a clear violation of the Constitution. In other words Punjab became a stale which could do nothing for the control and development of its rivers utilization of their waters and exploitation of their hydel power potential. Thus Punjab became administratively and legislatively an ineffective and inferior state which could do nothing for the economic development of its people. The question of political growth could not arise because it had permanently been reduced to a sub state without scope for regaining control of its waters and hydel power. Hence progress towards autonomy became out of question.

The second limitation concerned the territorial boundaries of the state. In 1949 under the known Sachar Formula the state government indicated up to a village the boundaries of Punjabi speaking and Hindi speaking areas. Later under an Act of Parliament known as the Regional Formula Punjabi is speaking and Hindi speaking areas of the old Punjab were demarcated and separate legislative Committees representing the two areas were constituted. The Sachar Formula and the Regional Formula had been accepted and worked without any objection from the people legislators or Ministers of the areas concerned until 1966. Instead of accepting the settled boundaries as had been recommended by the Parliamentary Committee proposing the formation of the Punjabi Suba Government appointed a Commission to redertermine the boundaries reopen and make controversial a settled issue. In fact areas which were Punjabi speaking or were under the functional control of Punjab were excluded from the Punjabi Suba and the Commission excluded not only settled Punjabi speaking contiguous areas but also the State capital from the Suba even though it had been constituted by acquiring Punjabi speaking villages and in every other reorganized state the capital had remained with the parent state. An area almost equal to half of the present Himachal Pradesh was transferred from the Punjab to Himachal Pradesh including known Punjabi speaking areas. Even the site of Bhakra Dam which was constructed solely by the Punjab Government and had always been under its functional control was kept out of Punjab excluded from the Punjabi Suba and the Commission excluded not only settled Punjabi speaking contiguous areas but also the State capital from the Suba even though it had been constituted by acquiring Punjabi speaking villages and in every other reorganized state the capital had remained with the parent state. An area almost equal to half of the present Himachal Pradesh was transferred from the Punjab to Himachal Pradesh including known Punjabi speaking areas. Even the site of Bhakra Dam which was constructed solely by the Punjab Government and had always been under its functional control was kept out of Punjab although the area is Punjabi speaking and even though Shimla and other hill stations Were transferred to Himachal Pradesh.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 31, 1992