Elections for the Sikhs under the Indian Constitution are an exercise in futility but even so to ignore them would be at our own peril. This dilemma cannot be easily resolved. We are striving for independence. This struggle has cost us dearly in terms of precious human lives even when our elected representatives “ruled” over the state of Punjab. At the moment we may join in the electoral process to decide who our next tormentor is going to be.
Before going any further it is pertinent to point out that all is not what it seems. Sheshan may have his political masters and may have made this play for time. If in the meanwhile the Congress comes to power it will take care of the problem itself.
We elected Barnala to power. That was a black chapter in contemporary Sikh history. Then Mann and his people were sent to Parliament with an unprecedented mandate. They did not help the Sikh cause or take the movement forward. Now Mann says his platform is sovereignty knowing very well what that entails. The Indian Govt does not even entertain talks on the subject. The Panthic Committee seems to have assessed the situation well and has thus called for a boycott.
Punjab has only 13 seats in a House of nearly 545 and if all 13 were to speak up for the Sikh cause their voice would be dinned out. But even a single voice raised in Parliament ‘could draw the world’s attention to our valiant struggle and perhaps lessen the terrible atrocities let loose by India on the Sikhs.
No matter which party comes to power the situation in Punjab does not change. Under Rajiv Gandhi a sworn and bitter enemy of the Sikhs state terrorism was expected at its worst and it was. Sikh youth held by the Congress I regime are still rotting in Indian jails. Thousands were killed in coldblooded encounters which the police stage-managed. Young girls were raped and paraded naked in police stations before their relatives. Young men were tortured till they became insane. Never before even during the darkest periods of Sikh history was such terrible repression let loose on innocent people. Rajiv Gandhi the butcher has only one parallel Adolf Hitler.
When VP Singh came to power the Sikhs hoped for an end to state terrorism. Their hopes were sadly belied. VP Singh perhaps preoccupied in trying to keep his own prime minister ship left Punjab alone. No Hindu prime minister would like to go down in history as the one under whom India disintegrated but sooner or later India will be made to face this reality. The way things are shaping up we have reason to believe that it is going to be sooner than later. VP stated that he would not allow India to break-up but he was willing to negotiate with the Sikhs. The only thing which the Sikhs had to negotiate haying been precluded there was no ground left for talks. The repression meanwhile carried on of its own momentum during The 11 months of VP Singh’s rule.
Chandra Shekhar was hailed as the only Hindu leader who had condemned the dastardly Operation Bluestar the attack on the holy Harmandir Sahib and 40 other Sikh places of worship in 1984. But he sent in an army general as the governor and deployed the army in strength in the state. And all the while he kept inviting freedom fighters for talks knowing very well that there could be no talks under the terms of the Constitution to which the Sikhs were not signatories in the first place. By now Sikh freedom-fighters are convinced that India has as yet to go a bit farther down. The statement of a Hindu chief minister that the only salvation for India lay in its breakup should be a sign to Delhi that the days of the Hindu empire are numbered. Biju Patnaik of Orissa is going to the people with secession as his main electoral plank. His complaints against Delhi are barring the religious issue are identical to ones the Sikhs have been fighting for–a callous disregard of the states in development. Orissa is the poorest state in per capita income despite the fact it is perhaps the richest in mineral wealth.
Whatever motley group forms the Govt its policies in Punjab are predictable and could not be any worse than those already experienced. If Khalistan can be achieved through elections we will appeal to all Sikhs to participate in them whole-heartedly. That would call for a national celebration of freedom and an end to so much bloodshed. We must concentrate on keeping up the freedom movement. It is the matter of a little more time for us to achieve our objective.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 19, 1991
