By inducting nine divisions of army, in addition to the presence of more than one lakh armed police force, what does India want to achieve in Punjab? Delhi’s proclaimed purpose is to hold the long delayed election to the state Assembly which it dissolved in May 1987. The state has been without an elected Assembly and government for more than four years. The last elected state government was dismissed on ground of failure to maintain law and order. The level of violence in May 1987 by no stretch of imagination could be regarded as worse than what it is today. Should not the government of India pay for its failure? The Indian Constitution is heavily tilted in favor of the federal government and it no one can make it answerable, And, why was the Punjab government dismissed in 1983, when the level of lawlessness was not as unsatisfactory as it was in 1987? Again, one may ask: why was it necessary to dismiss yet another Punjab government in March 1980 when the law and order issue was not even the bone of contention?
In fact, Delhi never allowed any elected Assembly in Punjab to rum its full term of five years ever since the state was reorganized in 1966, except for once for the 1972-77 period 4 part of that period being the infamous state of Emergency of Indira Gandhi.
India’s propaganda that it has a plan to restore democracy in Punjab allegedly mauled by Sikh militants is thus clearly misleading. It is India’s ruling establishment, including its bureaucracy posted in Punjab that has been responsible for not permitting any elected government to be run. Delhi’s interested only in looting Punjab, its finances and resources. A truly representative government in Punjab will never allow any such swindling. That is precisely why India has all along been trying to plant, through devious means, its own agents who could pass as elected representatives of Punjab. For that purpose, it has always tent on a prior political agreement with the dominant leadership of Sikhs at any given time. For the first time in four decades, dominant Sikh leaders, namely the militants, have made it clear that they are not for sale. They would not like to be taken for granted by Delhi. No wonder any state government with militant’s domination would not be permitted to be formed.
That is precisely why most Sikhs are today averse to forming a government. When they are not interested in forming a government, where is the point in participating in any elections? Hence the call for boycotting the poll. It is wrong to believe that only militants are in favor of a boycott. Even such traditional pro-Delhi politicians as Parkash Singh Badal, Jagdev Singh Talwandi and even Surjit Singh Barnala dare not utter a word against the boycott proposal. Badal, indeed, positively backs the boycott. The allegation that the so-called moderates are afraid of the militants is irrelevant and perhaps even false. The traditional Alkalis could not be unaware of the ground realities in Punjab. India’s policies towards Punjab and Sikhs during the past decade in particular, have nothing to do with democracy. Indian security forces rule the roost in the state. The only consolation is that a few human rights groups are allowed to function. The pinch of India’s policies towards Punjab is being felt as much by the Sikh youths as by elected representatives of the people. Almost all the 70,000 village headmen are angry. They want to resign their posts. Most of them have, in fact, already done so. Even the elected mayors and municipal commissioners of towns are unhappy with the police raj in Punjab. Besides, there is no money to run administration in the state. Punjab is under a heavy debt because over the years its financial resources have been diverted to Hindu states through salaries paid to Hindu officers and members of India’s vast military and police establishments in Punjab and through unchecked corruption.
Thus any unbiased and informed observer will hardly find fault with the Sikhs of Punjab for not joining the electoral farce. But India wants to parade its loyalty to democracy by seeking to project the myth worldwide that it has sent the army and other security forces to hold elections in Punjab. The reality is that Delhi has a sinister plan to eliminate a few thousand more Sikhs to silence the voice of Punjab against its exploitation and for the establishment of an independent, egalitarian, democratic order to be known as Khalistan.
India would not have dared to execute its diabolical plot against Sikhs had it not been tolerated and encouraged of late by certain western nations. The U.S. administration has much to account for its silence in public over the unending violation of human rights and enforcement of fascist laws in respect of Sikhs. It is surprising that the ‘e Sikhs. Those who are genuinely concerned about human rights should take the first opportunity to tell the western democratic governments to intervene infamous of Sikhs and against Indian oppression of this small community.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 22, 1991
