NEW DELHI: The present pain of Punjab and its beleaguered people has been vividly and adequately painted in a book authored by Ram Narayan Kumar a prominent Campaigner for civil rights and social justice and George Sieberer an Austrian scholar and Published by Chanakya Publications Delhi.
The authors have analyzed the Sikh demand for unambiguous recognition of their cultural identity against the background of early and recent history. They have traced in detail how pledges made to Sikh leaders by Gandhi Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other Congress leaders were broken without batting an eyelid and how Sikhs were letdown at every stage since 1947. Trampling under feet their own pledge of 1929 Congress leaders adopted a constitution of free India which was not acceptable to Sikhs and as a result two Akali representatives Sardar Hukam Singh and Sardar Bhupinder Singh refused to sign the document rejecting it totally.
The book brings to the fore the new rulers’ behavior in which they treated with contempt and unfairness the religion-cultural and lingo-cultural demands of Sikhs though these did not impinge on the rights of any other community.
Special mention has been made of the much-maligned Anandpur Sahib Resolution which in all essence deals primarily with center-state relations and all the implications which flow from them Similar demands for losing the central grip over states’ throat and allowing the latter greater say in the conduct of their political economic and cultural affairs had been voiced by other parties Three assemblies of West Bengal Kerala and Manipur had passed resolutions to this effect. But nobody branded these thoughts or acts as secessionist and therefore anti-national This stigma was reserved for Anandpur Sahib Resolution alone and the press as dutiful sub-server of the rulers took up the cry Dalit Voice.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 17, 1991
